Hudson Targeting
I’m so sick of this targeting rule. It should not be an immediate ejection. Should be personal foul 15 yard penalty, if it happens again same player same game ejection. My question is why havnt college coaches fought this rule against the ncaa? I find it unfair to the players when 90% of time the player didn’t mean to target....who agrees?
September 22nd, 2018 at 9:38 PM ^
How do you know it's not a deterrent?
September 23rd, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
It rarely happens on purpose.
September 23rd, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
It could be (and almost certainly is) both. Yes it punishes random events unfairly. It also has changed the decapitation style hits that safeties used to level on receivers over the middle, among many other hits.
You can disagree with the ejection, the rule as written, the punishment for those random occurrences, the entire concept of curtailing violent hits.
But it would be ludicrous to think the rule hasn't curtailed violent hits.
September 22nd, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
If an OSU guy did it to Patterson, this forum would be on the barricades presumably asking for a lifelong ban from all organized sports.
It was a dumb hit. He knew he was gonna be in late, he put his head down. He probably also knows what that leads to..
It's really on coaches across college football to coach that, yes, a concern for your opponent's health is part of playing football. Aggression is only good when controlled. That's the whole idea behind playing sports i.e. to channel your aggression in a positive way.
If they don't do that this sport will go extinct sooner rather than later. How many on here have said they wouldn't let their kids play it? I remember it was a significant number of people. So what are people saying, it's okay to have poor kids hit and harm each other for a shot at a better life, but it's too dangerous for middle-class and rich kids?
September 22nd, 2018 at 6:33 PM ^
It was a stupid play by Hudson yes, but not worthy of being kicked out of the game and now forced to sit out another.
September 22nd, 2018 at 6:40 PM ^
It was a play that could have injured an opponent and was made with that knowledge. Sorry, but defense designed to knock out the opposing QB or running back or receiver is on its way out the door and it ain't coming back. I am fine with that.
Hopefully, Hudson will learn his lesson here and play with more discipline going forward.
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:06 PM ^
Last week’s wasn’t.
And there’s a fine line between player safety and destroying the integrity of the game.
BTW, statistically speaking you’re more likely to get a concussion in soccer than football. Yet I don’t hear alarms being sounded off about that.
September 23rd, 2018 at 9:13 AM ^
I think last week’s was more of an illegal hit than this one.
Last week, Hudson took a kill shot on a guy who was wrapped up. Yes, he led with the shoulder, but he didn’t even try to wrap the guy up and bring him down. It wasn’t an attempt at a tackle so much as an attempt to hurt the ballcarrier and make him cough up the ball. Those are the types of hits this rule was created to punish, right or wrong.
September 23rd, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
I don’t think the hit was particularly dangerous to the Nebraska guy. It was dangerous to Hudson because he lowered his head. The targeting rule is intended to protect both ballcarriers and tacklers. If the rule required a danger to the ballcarrier then I would agree with the people saying it was a BS penalty.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:13 PM ^
An OSU player could remove his helmet, throw a 10 pound weight in it, and swing it at Patterson's head like a god damn lumberjack. All of that would still lead to no penalty.
September 23rd, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^
What a presumptuous piece of shit.
September 22nd, 2018 at 6:41 PM ^
You are 100% correct. Go look at what the USC player did last night. It was much worse and no call. Khaleke's was incidental contact at best. The refs are unfairly targeting Hudson.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
The call today was correct, last week was horseshit. I know he sat the first half, but a returning starter didn’t need to be in the game that late. At least Glasgow looked good in the first half, so hopefully we don’t miss him as much as I thought we would this week.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
I don't see it as targeting. It's roughing the passer maybe but not targeting. There was no intent to clock the QB in the head. This is a dumb rule administered by dumb people
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:13 PM ^
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:34 PM ^
Yeah, it's hard to believe how arbitrary that penalty is.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
I’ve been asking my friends the same thing.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
There should be levels. Like the NBA has for flagrant fouls. A level 1 would be for llast week or even this weeks because he wasn’t trying maliciously to hurt him or head hunt. If they review it they can decide. NBA reviews flagrant fouls and usually gets them right. For a player to be ejected AND miss a half in the next game for an accident or unable to correct an angle in time in a game played at high speeds where you are asking them to hit people is ridiculous.
Now if a player is playing extremely reckless and hits someone clearly targeting then it can be a level 2 with ejection. But still think the league can even review these and decide if a suspension for a half or game is necessary. It’s still a deterrent.
September 22nd, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
My issue is the subjectivity.
If they're gomna call it, call it on both teams.
There were easily 3 on Nebraska in the first half and not a peep.
And Hudson needs to ne smarter than that. Flat out.
Go Blue.
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^
Yeah. The pass interference calls have been equally absurd.
September 22nd, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
Even Sam Webb thinks this one was targeting.
September 22nd, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
You can end this thread at "that call was bullshit"
September 22nd, 2018 at 9:41 PM ^
i don't have problem of the targeting rule. The only problem and the biggest problem i have is the ref didn't call it when our QB got targeted last year. The didn't necessarily always put the player's safety at the first place. Many of those no call, the ref was jsut standing right next to where the hit happened. It's a shame on those refs.
September 22nd, 2018 at 9:43 PM ^
To all the people upset about the ejection:
Why can't Khaleke Hudson just learn to tackle legally?
There are lots of players who play a bunch of football without getting booted for targeting. Maybe Hudson should just be better, rather than having every 4 tackle attempts turn into a targeting call.
Here's a list of every Michigan player who has not targeted in the time span that sent Hudson to the showers twice, aside from Hudson:
All of them.
The end.
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
To you:
Why can’t officials be more judicious and more discerning between “bang-bang” incidental plays and true, intentional targeting?
September 23rd, 2018 at 8:49 AM ^
a) Some calls are missed, and that goes for everything - offsides, holding, pass interference, etc.
b) "Intent" is not a part of the rule. It would require a rule change in the off-season.
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^
To Magnus:
Your list of no names is false, what is true is that no other player has been called for targeting. I'm sure in the course of real speed game it happens multiple times for incidental reasons. The refs are keyed in on Hudson to make a point. There is clear, absolute video proof that Nebraska targeted today, however no call = no foul.
Truth!
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:37 PM ^
People might not like the draconian nature of the rule, but presumably the NCAA and all the programs are on board with it since it has been adopted.
consistent application of the rule would be great, except we are relying on refs to make judgment calls on the fly....hell, refs don't apply holding rules consistently
I agree that last week's call was garbage, but like the other poster said, the best way to judge fairness is what would Michigan fans think if Patterson was the recipient of a hit like that? Would we see it as targeting worthy of ejection, or just a football tackle?
and the penalty is automatic ejection by rule
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:28 PM ^
At that stage of the game, Hudson should not even have been in there anyway. The game was well in hand and there should have been 3rd stringers getting reps. Now he's out for the first half of NW. Dumb.
September 22nd, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
I was thinking that too. But he hadn't played in the first half so he was probably getting some reps.
September 22nd, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^
It should have some sort of common sense clause. It definitely does not get the job done as a rule.
September 23rd, 2018 at 12:26 AM ^
Football is a contact sport. I certainly understand the need to protect players (especially the head), but there is a lot of accidental contact that players are getting ejected for.
I strongly feel that intent needs to be factored into ejection decisions. Did the player in question visibly “target” another players head or did their helmets accidentally touch?
September 23rd, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Coaches are too busy going to the bank.
September 23rd, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
I am confident these targeting suspensions will turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
Hudson is a very good player but he does not display good fundamentals with his tackling. When you try and blast a guy with your shoulder or helmet, not only are you asking for the flag, you are also putting yourself and your opponent at heightened risk of injury--and you are not wrapping up and so there's even an increased chance of missing the tackle. Form up, strike the ballcarrier with your shoulders square, head up ("see what you're hitting”), and drive through the tackle.
I've got to imagine the coaches will work with Hudson on this--and any other players displaying iffy tackling methods--this week and get this straightened out. Yes, there do seem to be lots of questionable and inconsistent targeting calls and there's no guarantee another one won't happen. But Hudson can do a better job and hopefully he approaches the issue with that attitude in mind rather than "these refs are idiots, I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing."