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By Neil Rudel
nrudel@altoonamirror.com
The answer to today's point-counterpoint question, like the old "Scruples" game, is a definite "depends."
First off, player safety must be paramount so the concept of discouraging targeting is admirable.
The days of players staggering back to the huddle with concussions - players were denied water in the same era, through the 1960s-70s, and given salt tablets instead -- are thankfully gone.
While the targeting rule, in theory, is positive, its administration is not.
Players called for targeting are ejected and also forced to sit out the first half of the following game.
Fox broadcaster Joel Klatt called implementation of the rule "a disgrace" after Penn State's Ellis Brooks was ejected Saturday.
I stop short of saying college football is being ruined by the targeting rule, but Monday night's game between Louisville and Mississippi was marred by it.
There were four targeting calls and accompanying ejections in the first half alone. Of the four, from this view, only one looked like an ejection was deserved.
Same with Brooks' targeting penalty and ejection from the Nittany Lions' 16-10 win over Wisconsin.
Brooks made a hard tackle in the fourth quarter on Badger quarterback Graham Mertz in which Brooks, while leading with his helmet, hit Mertz between the shoulder and his head.
It was targeting but close enough that the officials didn't initially even call a penalty until the play was shown a half-dozen times on the Camp Randall scoreboard, the home crowd booing louder each time.
There are certainly some hits that are blatant and even dirty, and those merit ejection.
Case in point: Two Louisville players spearing the Ole Miss quarterback, who had already given himself up.
When the targeting rule was first implemented in 2019, players were not only ejected, they were immediately banished to the locker room and forced into a walk of shame.
At least that part was changed last year, and the player in question can remain on the sidelines with his teammates.
Another thing: Watch the offensive players. They often initiate the collision by lowering their heads as well.
When you couple the ejection with the added penalty of sitting out two quarters, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
The Ole Miss player - on a borderline call in the first quarter - found himself out of Monday's game in the first quarter and consequently will miss five quarters.
That's about 10 percent of an entire season, which is beyond excessive.
Brooks' hit wasn't Turkey Jones, after the play was stopped, intentionally flipping Terry Bradshaw on his head.
What other sport has a more disproportionate penalty?
College football should take a lesson from the NBA and assess flagrant one and flagrant two fouls and differentiate whether a targeting penalty actually should accompany ejection.
In most cases, it doesn't.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.