For any college football fan, the lead-up to the College Football Playoff is a magical time of year.
Between all the conference championship games, jockeying for playoff berths, debate shows and social media highlights, there is an almost never-ending amount of content for fans to consume.
Case in point: The Pac-12 championship game on Friday between the University of Utah Utes and the University of Southern California Trojans has produced quite a bit of discussion, despite the lopsided 47-24 win by Utah.
Typically, there’s not a whole lot to discuss after a blowout of that magnitude. But in this case, one harrowing play became instant fodder for debate.
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising was scrambling when he got annihilated by USC linebacker Ralen Goforth. The hit sent Rising’s helmet flying.
It was one of the more savage hits of the entire year, and you can see it below:
This was not ruled targeting. pic.twitter.com/iln6KQGkx3
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 3, 2022
Rising was trying to eke out as many yards as he could in a game that hadn’t quite been blown open yet (Utah was actually only up 3 points in the fourth quarter before some giant plays iced the game).
Given how savage the hit was, it naturally led to a discussion of targeting, which is called when a defender leads with the helmet to make a tackle. A targeting penalty grants the other team 15 yards and, more significantly, is an automatic ejection for the offending player.
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