The targeting rule exists with the best of intentions in mind. It hoped to take dangerous hits out of the game and limit head injuries. But good intentions don’t always mean a rule works.
Now, major changes could be coming to the targeting rule.
As it stands now, a targeting call is a 15-yard penalty and an automatic ejection. If that ejection occurs in the second half of a game, it gets carried over, and a player is suspended for the first half of their next game. That’s even if the game is vital, like a College Football Playoff game, or if it’s the first game of a new season.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee has reportedly proposed that first offenders flagged for targeting won’t have their penalty carry over to the next game regardless of which half the infraction occurred in.
