Joel Klatt Has Suggestion For College Football's Targeting Rule

Given all that we've learned about the long term impact of head injuries in football, the targeting rule in the college football is well-intentioned. I don't think you'd find many who think that the rule itself is well designed or implemented though. FS1's Joel Klatt has some ideas about how to reform the way it is enforced.

Had Nebraska been able to play against Wisconsin this weekend, it would've been down two starting defensive back to start the game due to targeting calls. There are some hits that are clearly dangerous and avoidable, and those should be penalized, whether or not you agree with the ejection part of the rule. Klatt thinks there's a better way to go about things.

"I think the implementation of the rule is flawed," Klatt told the Big Ten Network. "I understand why the rule exists, and I'm not against having the rule in general. I just think that we need to work on how we are implementing this rule of targeting."

"I believe wholeheartedly that we should have two categories of targeting, in which we are taking the instances in which there is clear intent to use the crown of the helmet as a weapon, and we are ejecting those players, and then in all other instances, instances that I would call 'acts common to the game,' or 'movements common to the game,' almost unavoidable hits to the helmet or neck area, I'm fine even continuing to penalize those. But I'm so tired of seeing kids disqualified for these hits."

"The penal nature of the ejection and then carrying it forward is just too much," Joel Klatt continued. "I'm tired of watching these kids lose opportunities for doing things that coaches are telling them to do." Dave Revsine brought up other ideas, including a hockey-style penalty box for a determined amount of game time for players guilty of targeting, while Klatt floated removing them for the rest of a defensive series after the penalty is incurred. However you cut it, there are better solutions to this issue than the ones that we currently have in college football, which often looks pretty unfair considering targeting is something of a judgment call. [

"I am so tired of seeing these kids disqualified for these hits."

- @JoelKlatt has strong thoughts on the Targeting rule.

Full interview with Joel and @BTNDaveRevsine ➡️ https://t.co/3Fu1Gx4Hlkpic.twitter.com/x9nZhuQJzT

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 28, 2020

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