Football Targeting Case Study

his college football season, multiple players have been called out for targeting. The fact that not all of the officials calls have been correct is one of the main issues. According to the AFCA, (American Football Coaches Association) rule 9-1-3 states, “ No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul.” Many officials this year called targeting on players who were not following the outline of this rule. The targeting call should be changed to how the officials are calling it.

One of the many issues with this call is that it is disliked by many fans. Whenever targeting has been called, there has been a lot of negativity toward it. For example, Joey Bosa was
One example is, Florida's Jordan Cronkrite being called for targeting during this year's game against Georgia. Many say that this call was wrong, including Georgia players. The Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst says, “There’s alway the gray, and yet it’s been clear, the officials are always going to err on the side of player safety,(...)” Just like he said, of course officials are going to lean to the side of safety.

One of the other main issues is the fact the players do not like the call either. Watching Bolden’s targeting call during the Michigan-Michigan State game, he was set up for disaster. If you watch the play being reviewed, you see that this senior linebacker was pushed into the Michigan State player after attempting a tackle. Many other college and NFL football players were upset about the call, one of them being Ohio State's own Ezekiel Elliott— agreeing that it was a terrible call. When seeing the call on Bolden, Joe Stanton, quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, agreed this call was wrong. After the call he posted on Twitter giving his insight on the call. He said, “In all honesty, I feel horrible for Bolden right now. That is ridiculous to be taken out of the game your Senior year on a call like