The USC defense is thin. The team’s collection of pass rushers is especially thin and unproven. USC did not need any significantly negative plot twists in this first game against Rice, but the Trojans were dealt a bad hand in the first half.
Rush end Romello Height was ejected from the game for targeting. It’s a very unlucky break since targeting is one of the most controversial and disputed rules in college football, not to mention a rule which is often unevenly enforced.
One of the points of consensus among fans and commentators around the country is that targeting should have a red-card, yellow-card system akin to international football, where one penalty brings a warning and a second targeting penalty within the same game draws an ejection … but we don’t have that yet.
If there is a small degree of consolation for Height and USC, the fact that the ejection occurred in the first half means Height won’t miss the first half of the Stanford game next week.
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