College Football Can Learn From The NBA When It Comes To Targeting Penalties

The NCAA, much like the NFL, has made significant rule changes in an effort to deter helmet to helmet hits as concussions and head trauma issues continue to be at the forefront of safety discussions.

But the penalties, which have resulted in disqualification since 2013, have been heavily scrutinized by fans, coaches and media alike. The NCAA should look to the NBA as a model for a revised set of targeting rules.

This past week, multiple players were disqualified from games as a result of targeting penalties including Texas Tech’s Jah’Shawn Johnson.

“It’s hard, because if you start not calling that one, I can see it kind of opens up something you don’t want to get into. But it looked like it was just a football play,” Kliff Kingsbury told the Dallas Morning News. “He put his face mask on the other kid [who was] trying to catch the screen. He wasn’t defenseless in my estimation.”

While Kingsbury accepted the punishment for his player, perhaps his comments shed light on the true issue at hand.

The letter of the law calls for a player to be penalized for helmet-to-helmet contact, but should it always result in disqualification?

The NCAA rule states that “No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul,” according to the AFCA.

Perhaps the NCAA should move to a rule that defines a targeting penalty as a flagrant or inadvertent penalties much like the NBA format which defines penalties as a “flagrant one” or ‘flagrant two” foul.

Michigan’s Joe Bolden was disqualified for a seemingly unintentional “targeting” penalty earlier this season:

Under a hypothetical rule change, Bolden would receive a “flagrant one” targeting penalty of 15 yards without disqualification.

A “flagrant two” penalty would be enforced for a hit similar to Clemson’s Robert Smith’s hit against Wake Forrest in 2014:

While a “flagrant one” or “flagrant two” option still leaves decision making in the hands of the officials, it at least allows the officials the opportunity to enforce helmet-to-helmet penalties without the obligation to disqualify the player.