During a Clemson touchdown drive shortly after the start of the second quarter of the National Championship, Alabama linebacker Mack Wilson put this hit on Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, who’d kept the ball on an option and barreled back toward the line:
Alabama’s Mack Wilson is really lucky he didn’t get tossed for targeting on this play
Debate the rule, by all means. But under the current rule, this should’ve been clear as day.
Officials didn’t flag Wilson for anything, nor did they stop the game to ask for a review. But it sure looks Wilson was guilty of targeting, as the NCAA has the rule written now.
By that rule, he should’ve been thrown out of the game.
There are two ways a play can be targeting. Wilson appears to check one box, and that’s all a play needs to be targeting.
The full rule is here, but I’ll sum it up. Targeting is either:
- a forcible hit to the head of a defenseless player, or
- a forcible hit with the crown (top) of the helmet
The second one is what I think should have gotten Wilson in trouble here.
Wilson definitely hits Lawrence hard and, I’m 90 percent sure he does it with the top of his helmet, as shown here. The other 10 percent is because, sure, you could argue it came from the side of the helmet ...
... but if there’s any question, officials are supposed to rule targeting.
Lawrence lowered his head a bit, and in an ideal world, hits like this would not subject some players to ejection.
Ejections should be for intentional bad conduct, not incidental. Basketball has this right. Football does not.
Let’s fix it. And in doing so, it could make the game even safer by helping to truly change behavior, allowing coaches to more clearly teach the rule and setting more clear standards.
But as the rule is now, it’s pretty surprising Wilson didn’t get thrown out. It’s downright stunning the game didn’t stop for a review.
It didn’t turn out to matter on this particular drive. Lawrence didn’t appear to be hurt, and Clemson scored a touchdown four plays later.
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