Ohio State’s Shaun Wade ejected on controversial targeting call

Ohio State lost a key defensive starter in the first half of Saturday’s College Football Playoff semifinal after Shaun Wade was ejected for targeting Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Wade made it to Lawrence untouched on a blitz and delivered a …

Ohio State lost a key defensive starter in the first half of Saturday’s College Football Playoff semifinal after Shaun Wade was ejected for targeting Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Wade made it to Lawrence untouched on a blitz and delivered a massive hit, but he made contact with Lawrence just as the quarterback started to drop his head and curl up to defend himself. No flag was thrown on the play, but officials ruled that Wade had targeted Lawrence after a review.

Clemson took advantage of the penalty, and went on to score their first touchdown of the game later in the drive.

Per the NCAA rulebook, the relevant definition of targeting on this play is a player leading with his helmet to make contact with the head or neck area of an opponent, or a player initiating contact with the crown of his helmet. Wade clearly lowers his helmet as he extends his arms to wrap up Lawrence – but many fans argued that Wade’s intent was not to target Lawrence’s head, and that the helmet-to-helmet contact may have only occurred because of Lawrence’s movement in the split-second before contact occurred. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, a player’s intent is not a consideration in a targeting review.

Clear lines were drawn on college football Twitter, with fans and analysts adamantly arguing that the hit was either clear targeting or an awful call. As the foul occurred in the first half, Wade will be eligible to start the national championship game, should Ohio State go on to win and advance.

[opinary poll=”was-this-targeting_forthewin” customer=”forthewin”]

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