Consider yourself warned: When you sit down to watch your favorite college football team this season, have a towel handy to scream into, or a piece of plywood to bite, and for heaven’s sake, make sure none of the pottery is within arm’s reach.
This season, college football will implement a new penalty for rule 9-1-4, aka, the targeting rule.
If a player is flagged for targeting a defenseless player with a hit to the head or neck using his helmet, forearm, fist, elbow or shoulder, he will be ejected.
Yep, ejected, as in, go take a powder, young man.
If the play occurs in the first half, he’s ejected for the remainder of that game. If it occurs in the second half, he’s ejected for remainder of that game and the first half of the next game.
“They’re basically making us play flag football,” Florida defensive lineman Dominique Easley said. “It’s hard. You can’t really control where you want to hit. But it’s part of the game. Rules come, you have to follow them.”
Follow this logic, if you can: When a targeting penalty is called, the umpire will announce the offending player has been ejected.
The replay officials will automatically review the play. If they uphold the call, play goes on with no stoppage.
If they determine the ejection is not warranted, they will buzz down to the umpire. The umpire will announce the player has been reinstated. Chaos.
Here’s the clincher: Regardless of whether the call is confirmed or overturned, a 15-yard penalty is walked off. Insanity.
“It’s one of the most major rule changes I’ve ever seen,” said Terry McAulay, the American Athletic Conference coordinator of officials. “There were some options that were talked about like whether to go to the basketball-[like] Flagrant 1 and Flagrant 2 [fouls].
“You can call this the nuclear option.”
Imagine you’re sprawled out in your Barcalounger. With 10 seconds left, your team’s opponent, trailing 30-28, has fourth-and-10 at midfield. One stop. That’s all you need from your defense.
The opposing quarterback throws a 15-yard out to his favorite wide receiver, hoping for a catch and to stop the clock when he goes out of bounds.
Your free safety comes flying in and crunches the receiver. The ball flitters away. You’ve won!
Wait. The flag drops. He’s ejected.
You hit the ejection button on said Barcalounger, the button reserved for when a guest foolishly tries to take your throne. You scream in disbelief. You grab the remote, cock your arm like Joe Flacco and take aim at the HDTV.
Just as you’re about to let loose, the public address announcer says the play is under review. You pump, but don’t throw. There is hope, or so you think.
Now comes the agonizing part. You wait. And wait. And wait.
Here’s where the towel or piece of plywood might come in handy.
The officials return to the field and overturn the ejection portion of the penalty. You thrust your arms to the heavens and celebrate. You look back to the screen: The umpire is walking off 15 yards.
The opposing kicker trots onto the field, paces off seven steps back, two to the side, the snap is good, the hold is good, the 52-yard kick is high and true, and, your team loses, 31-30.
“It’s going to be absolute craziness,’’ said the coach of a big-time program. “And every official I’ve spoken to has said they’ve been instructed to throw the flag if there’s any doubt.”
There’s no doubt player safety should be improved. We’re learning more and more about concussions, how easily they can occur and how hard they can be to detect.
But consider this: A college football player’s season is 12 games and maybe a bowl game. An ejection, especially early in the second half, means a player loses more than one-twelfth of his season.
Some coaches are talking about tweaking their travel roster to add an extra defensive back in place of a receiver. This rule easily could decide a game, a conference title, perhaps even the national championship.
The season begins Thursday night, and by next Sunday morning college football talk will focus more on targeting than highlights, upsets and the Heisman. Where’s that towel?