Ohio State coach Ryan Day asks for 'common sense' with targeting in college football

The Columbus Dispatch Ohio State coach Ryan Day is looking for “common sense” with college football’s oft-debated targeting rule. Appearing on a podcast hosted by FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt that aired on Monday, Day said too much of an emphasis has been placed on video reviews over the vantage point of on-field officiating crews. “We’re getting so much into the weeds on this that we’ve lost why we started on it,” Day said. “What was the reason why we did this? To protect young men. If someone’s launching at someone’s head, and they’re unconscious on the ground, that’s not what we want. “Sometimes we get into slow motion and we start to get so caught up in the little details of everything. That’s not realistic. I think there has to be some common sense and we have to trust the referees on the field and what they see. They’re there for a reason.” An overturned targeting penalty set off a bit of controversy in the Buckeyes’ loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the end of last season. It was late in the third quarter when officials flagged Javon Bullard, a safety for the Bulldogs, for laying out wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. as he tried to bring in a pass in the end zone. The hard hit left Harrison on Mercedes-Benz Stadium turf and prompted him to leave with a concussion. But the replay reviews led the call to be waived off in a momentum-changing sequence. Had it been upheld, the Buckeyes, who were leading 35-24 at the time, would have picked up a first down further inside the 10-yard line. It instead became fourth down, leading them to settle for a field goal. “What we’ve done is put so much into the instant replay,” Day said. “What you see in a slow frame really isn’t what’s going on on the field. We have to go back to the common sense.” Targeting was instituted as a 15-year personal foul infraction in 2008 as a measure to limit head injuries, penalizing players who make forcible contact above the shoulder. More stringent measures were added five years later with penalized players required to sit out the rest of the game or the first half of the following game if it was committed during the second half. Day previously addressed the overturned targeting call from the postseason in February, mentioning that he felt it was targeting.