College football’s targeting and related ejection rules in 2023-24, explained

Confused about college football’s targeting rules? We’re here to help.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Are you livid over a college football targeting call or don’t quite understand the penalty? If so, we’re here to help.

It’s no secret that one of college football’s most controversial rules — maybe THE most controversial rule — is targeting, which, if called, results in the ejection of the player who committed the foul.

Some fans hate the rule entirely, some want adjustments made to the rule and others simply just don’t understand what exactly targeting is in college football.

There are essentially two variations of targeting: one that focuses on the crown of a player’s helmet and one that focuses on a defenseless player. We’ll break down both.

As the NCAA continues regularly updating its rulebook, keeping track of what is targeting and the details of that penalty can be challenging. That’s OK because we’re simplifying it and breaking it all down.

What is a catch in college football? How the NCAA differs from the NFL

College football fans may joke that no one knows what a catch is, so here’s how the rule is supposed to work.

It’s a common joke among football fans that no one knows what a catch is. Sure, a catch may be one of the most common and important football moves made in any given game, but does anyone really know what classifies as a catch?

While the joke is all fun and good, thankfully we do know how a catch is as defined in the NCAA’s official rulebook. And given that college football’s biggest games are just around the corner, it’s probably a good idea to brush up on how completing a catch works in the NCAA.

Though officials on the field may rule catches on a subjective matter, here’s now the NCAA defines making a catch in their online rulebook.

2023 FIFA World Cup: What are the tiebreaker rules for the group stage?

Let’s break down how the tiebreakers work.

The 2023 World Cup is going to see plenty of changes, and that will become clear when tiebreakers inevitably come into play.

For the first time in the tournament’s history, 32 teams will compete at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The format — eight groups of four with two teams advancing from each group — will mirror what we’ve seen in recent men’s World Cup group stages. Teams receive three points for a win, one for a draw and none for loss. The top two teams from each group move on. And with that, FIFA has carried over the same tiebreakers that we saw in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

While the knockout stage is straightforward single elimination, the group stage could get complicated as the teams battle for a place in the round of 16.

Let’s break down how the tiebreakers will work.

10 peculiar things you didn’t know about the Indy 500

Brush up on your Indy 500 history with these odd and fun facts.

This story was originally published in 2019 and has been updated.

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the oldest and greatest motor sports events in the entire world, capturing the attention of diehard racing fans and once-a-year viewers a like.

The first Indy 500 was back in 1911, so with more than a century of history, it’s hard to keep track of every detail and quirk related to the race and the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway where it’s held. So here are 10 peculiar lesser-known facts about the race.

MORE INDY 500: Meet the true hero of the Indy 500’s bizarre celebratory tradition: The Veteran Milk Man

Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk?

A perfectly reasonable question.

This story was originally published in 2021 and has been updated.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard that the Indy 500 winner celebrates with a bottle of milk and want to know why. We’re here to help. 

It’s a quirky but perfectly understandable question some people have about the Indianapolis 500: Why does the winner drink milk?

Simply, it’s tradition. And the Indy 500 is all about tradition.

After taking the checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in one of the biggest motor sports races in the world, the winning driver is draped with a giant flowered wreath and handed a bottle of ice-cold milk. The winner typically takes a couple sips, poses for a few quick photos and then proceeds to dump the rest of the bottle on their head — sometimes pouring milk on others nearby.

Meet the true hero of the Indy 500’s bizarre celebratory tradition: The Veteran Milk Man

The whole process makes for some truly spectacular photos, but how and when did this odd tradition start? It’s largely thanks to Louis Meyer back in the 1930s.

Via Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk to refresh himself on a hot day and happened to drink some in Victory Lane as a matter of habit after winning the 1936 race. An executive with what was then the Milk Foundation was so elated when he saw the moment captured in a photograph in the sports section of his newspaper the following morning that he vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years. There was a period between 1947-55 when milk was apparently no longer offered, but the practice was revived in 1956 and has been a tradition ever since.

So if a big bottle of milk on a typically warm or hot Indiana day after several hours of intense racing sounds unappealing, blame Meyer.

But although he drank buttermilk, that’s not one of the options for drivers anymore.

The American Dairy Association Indiana is in charge of delivering the bottle of milk to the winner, and before every Indy 500, it polls the drivers to see what their preferred celebratory milk choice would be. But the options are simple: Whole, 2 percent or fat free.

However, there’s usually a write-in or two on the survey with drivers sometimes hoping for chocolate, strawberry or even buttermilk.

When the race is over, the “milk people” — yes, that’s really what they’re called — consult the poll of drivers to see what bottle the winner wants. They then grab one of three bottles from a nearby cooler, and the milk tradition continues.

And what happens if the Indy 500-winning driver is lactose intolerant? For The Win asked legendary racer Mario Andretti about that in 2017, and he explained:

“It’s a tradition. Not everybody enjoys milk but just because it’s happening at that point and because it’s got that meaning, all of a sudden milk tastes very good, even if you’re lactose [intolerant].”

However, the American Dairy Association Indiana does have a secret lactose-free option, should a driver request that.

For the 2023 Indy 500, the majority of drivers selected whole milk, which is typical.

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The Writers Guild of America has gone on strike. Here’s what we know.

Things have gotten complicated as no agreement could be reached.

A minute after midnight ET on May 2, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after its old contract expired. After weeks of negotiations with a trade association that work on behalf of some of the biggest studios in Hollywood, a new agreement could not be reached. This is the second time the WGA has gone on strike, with the last time being in 2007.

The disagreement centers around the continued underpayment of writers within the WGA and the lack of appropriate residuals from studios for streaming programming. The WGA is also pushing to add protections around artificial intelligence that threaten and undermine what writers do and to end what amounts to day-to-day or gig-like work.

College football overtime rules: How overtime works in the 2022 season

A breakdown of college football overtime rules, including (somewhat) recent updates.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Not much is simple when it comes to college football, and that includes overtime rules. So if you’re trying to figure them out for the first time or need a quick refresher, we’ve got you covered.

Long gone are the days when college football games could end in a tie, thankfully, since overtime became part of the regular season back in 1996. And the same is (generally) true for absurdly high numbers of overtime periods — though that’s not always the case.

Still, college football overtime rules can be confusing and challenging to remember, especially when the NCAA updates the rules, as it did in 2021.

We’ve outlined all this below, but the TL;DR version is: A coin toss to see who starts with the ball, both teams get possession and two-point conversions replace traditional drives in the third overtime.

Here are the basics

Per the NCAA:

  • When a game is tied at the end of regulation, there will be overtime. Duh.
  • Teams’ captains will meet at midfield for the overtime coin toss, and the winner of the coin toss can either choose to be on offense or defense first OR choose which end of the field overtime will be played in (and cannot defer). The team that loses the coin toss gets to pick the remaining option.
  • Each team gets one timeout for every overtime period, and unused timeouts from regulation or overtimes don’t carry over.

OK, now onto how this actually plays out on the field

  • Each team gets the ball for a series for the first overtime period, as well as a second one if it’s necessary. Equal chances to score, unlike the NFL.
  • The team on offense starts at the 25-yard line, and it can choose where to start on or between the hash marks.
  • The possession ends either with a score, a failure to get a first down or a turnover, and then the other team gets the ball for a chance to win or score and tie.
  • If the first overtime period also ends in a tie, a second one is played.

How college football overtime rules changed in 2021

For a second overtime period, all the rules from the first overtime period remain the same, except if a touchdown is scored.

  • New in 2021, if a team scores a touchdown in the second overtime, it has to run a two-point conversion afterward instead of kicking for the extra point. Previously, the two-point attempt was required only after the third overtime.
  • Also, now if the game is forced into a third overtime, possessions starting at the 25-yard line are scrapped. Instead, teams have to run alternating two-point conversion plays, which was previously a requirement in a fifth overtime.

And there you have it. These rules apply to both overtimes in the regular season as well as the postseason.

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Why Bubba Wallace is switching car numbers for the last 10 NASCAR races of the season

Same team, same crew chief but a different car number for Bubba Wallace in the rest of the NASCAR season.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard that NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace is switching car numbers for the remainder of the season and have a lot of questions? That’s OK because we’re here to help.

Since joining 23XI Racing, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s team, ahead of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Bubba Wallace has been behind the wheel of the team’s No. 23 Toyota. He won his first career race with that car number last fall at Talladega Superspeedway.

But for the NASCAR playoffs — which begin Sunday with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway — Wallace is switching to 23XI’s other car, the No. 45 Toyota.

Some quick background: Wallace in the No. 23 car did not qualify as a driver for the 10-race playoffs. His teammate, Kurt Busch, the regular driver of the No. 45 car, did by winning a race in May at Kansas Speedway.

But Busch has been sidelined since July following a wreck at Pocono Raceway, and he still has not been medically cleared to race after experiencing “concussion-like symptoms” and withdrew himself from the playoffs. In his absence, second-tier Xfinity Series driver Ty Gibbs has been filling in behind the wheel of the No. 45 car.

Although Busch is no longer part of the postseason and his timeline for returning remains unclear, the No. 45 car itself is still eligible for the owners’ championship in the playoffs, while the No. 23 car is not.

So, instead of having Gibbs — who does not race full time in the Cup Series currently — continue competing in the No. 45, 23XI is opting to put its more experienced driver in that car to compete for the owners’ title, the team announced Wednesday. It’s a move that the team said offers it “the best chance for the highest possible finish at the end of the season.”

Wallace’s sponsors and his crew chief, Bootie Barker, will remain the same for the last 10 races of the season – only the car number is changing.

“After consulting with NASCAR, we made this decision in the best interest of the entire organization and for all our employees who helped earn a spot in the playoffs for the Owner’s Championship through their hard work,” team president Steve Lauletta said in a statement. “While Ty has done a great job for us in the No. 45 car, we feel that Bubba’s experience in this car, at the upcoming playoff tracks and his recent momentum will give 23XI the best chance at maximizing our points each weekend. We recognize that this is a unique opportunity in the Cup Series, and we’re grateful to our employees and partners for standing with the team and supporting this decision.”

But this adjustment is only for the rest of the season, after which Wallace — who recently signed a multi-year contract extension with 23XI — is expected to return to the No. 23 car.

23XI’s No. 45 car is currently 12th in the owners’ standings, putting it 33 points behind the leader, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

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Cale Gundy’s Oklahoma resignation and its subsequent conflicting statements, explained

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said Cale Gundy said “not once but multiple times, a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone”.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. If you’ve been reading the latest college football headlines this week, you’ve no doubt come across the news that longtime Oklahoma assistant coach Cale Gundy resigned from his post suddenly, and you’re wondering what the deal is. We’ve got you covered.

Cale Gundy is no longer an assistant coach with the Oklahoma football team. He resigned Sunday, and in a statement he tweeted late Sunday night, he admitted to using an unspecified but “shameful and hurtful” word during a film session last week.

Gundy’s statement led first-year Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables to release his own statement Sunday night about accepting his assistant’s resignation.

However, Venables then offered another statement Monday afternoon, which most notably says that Gundy “chose to read aloud to his players, not once but multiple times, a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone”. Venables’ second statement implies Gundy’s use of the offensive word in question was less of an error than Gundy and co. initially suggested.

Let’s take a look at what we know and how these statements seem to tell varying versions of the situation.

Why the NFL docked the Dolphins a 2023 first-round pick for violating the ‘integrity of the game’

Six months after Brian Flores’ accusations the league determined the Miami Dolphins were, indeed, a dumpster fire.

The Miami Dolphins traded away their 2022 first-round draft pick in order to acquire Tyreek Hill. On Tuesday, the NFL took away their 2023 first-round pick after announcing the results of a months-long investigation into former head coach Brian Flores’ accusations of tampering and intentionally losing games.

The Dolphins lost next year’s Day 1 selection, as well as a third-round pick in 2024. Team owner Stephen Ross, the man at the center of Flores’ claims, was suspended through October 17, 2022, removed from all NFL committees indefinitely and fined $1.5 million. Bruce Beal, the team’s vice chairman/limited partner and Ross’s second-in-command, was barred from league meetings throughout 2022 and fined $500,000.

Ross will be eligible to return to work after Week 6 of the NFL regular season.

Here’s what the league investigation found and how this all began.