Targeting.... - Printable Version

Targeting.... - Printable Version

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Re: Targeting.... - Bosco - 09-25-2016

I always have a mixed feeling about football. I love the game. For me it is like the most exciting thing in the world to watch. On the other hand, if you ask me if I would let my kids play football I will probably hesitate about it. Even though all the pro-football officials are claiming how safe the sport is, how many rules and cares are there for protecting players, how much every person cares about player safety when it comes to the play actions in the game. In reality, what I saw is so many such kind of subjective rulings in the game and people just treat it as "it is football" or "home court advantage" and judging everything only by win/loss.

I still remember the game between Notre Dame and Texas, they also faced similar situation, in which Hunter was knocked out of the game in the third quarter. And I did not see any official got suspended nor any action taken after the game. On the other hand, when there was some miss ruling in the game between Central Michigan and Oklahoma State, the suspensions came fast and covered all officials involved. I mean, shouldn't player safety be treated at least as important as win/loss of the game?

Anyways, as other people mentioned, I don't see any action will be taken in the coming week. Just feel so bad every time when such things happened. To me it is like encouraging those unsafe actions on the field.

Re: Targeting.... - Snorlax94 - 09-25-2016

http://www.ruleoftree.com/2016/9/25/13048182/egregious-targeting-committed-by-ucla-against-stanford-last-night

Informative and very upsetting article in the rule of tree blog on the targeting in last night's game.

Seeing the analysis and photos from the moment of impact makes me even angrier and more disgusted.

The author points out that after one of the head blows, the UCLa player, not Burns, was shaken up.

The pattern becomes clear and it seems like UCLA is recklessly endangering the health of other teams and even more so, the health of their own players.

UCLA should be held liable for injuries resulting from this illegal play, and if the Pac 12 does not act, they should be held liable as well.

With this style of play, clearly illegal and clearly a recurring pattern, many UCLA and other teams' players could be severely and permanently harmed this season.

I wonder if there is something we can do, like starting a petition to contact sports journalists and the pac 12 office demanding officials do a better job protecting players' health.

Re: Targeting.... - HisKneeWasDown - 09-25-2016

What do we need to do to get the Pac-12 to make statement on this?

I sent the following email to Bernard Muir; any other ideas? I don't think emailing Larry Scott will make a difference. And I send angry tweets to the Pac-12 twitter account all the time to no avail.

----------
From: Larry Yang <lyang8888@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 11:30 PM
Subject: Targeting hit on Francis Owusu
To: <athleticdirector@stanford.edu>

Dear Mr. Muir,

As an alum (BS '86, MS '87), 30-year football season ticket holder, President's Fund donor, and annual contributor to the Buck/Cardinal club, I'm requesting you have the Pac-12 review the officiating of that call and issue a public statement.

I'm disgusted that there was no penalty for the hit Tahaan Goodman made on Francis Owusu that resulted in his leaving the game. It symbolizes everything that is broken with college football today, where the institutions just use and abuse the student-athletes to further their own agendas.

It was the second "hard hit" UCLA's player Goodman made. ESPN rated the bad call as the worst play of the day. Jim Mora has been going on and on about making the UCLA team "more tough".

The league needs to enforce its rules. And the league needs to send a message not just to players, but to the coaches, that they need to teach players how to tackle safely, not just for the safety of others, but for the safety of themselves.

My son played football in middle school and high school. His coaches all emphasized how to properly tackle. "See what you hit" was their mantra. If you're looking at your target, then by definition you're not leading with the crown of your helmet. It can be taught, and coaches need to take the time to teach.

Coaches need to step up and demonstrate that they actually care about the well-being of their players, not just about "being tough".

Thank you.

== Larry Yang
BS '86, MS '87

Re: Targeting.... - Snorlax94 - 09-26-2016

Hey HisKneeWasDown,
I like your letter. Additionally, I wonder if we could get media attention by emailing not just bay area sports journalists, but especially sports journalists who cover teams UCLA is about to play. For example, writers from the Arizona Daily Star, the Daily Wildcat, the Arizona Republic and the State Press.

What do people think?

Dear
[Michael Lev, Arizona Daily Star, Zack Rosenblatt, Arizona Daily Star;
Syrena Tracy, Arizona Daily Wildcat; Ivan Leonard, Arizona Daily Wildcat;
Doug Haller, The Arizona Republic; Paola Boivin, The Arizona Republic; ]

As the [Wildcats/Sun Devils] will soon play UCLA, I urge you to cover the pattern ofÂ targeting by UCLA defenders in the Stanford-UCLA football game on Saturday, September 24.

An analysis on the Stanford sports blog Rule of Tree at http://www.ruleoftree.com/2016/9/25/13048182/egregious-targeting-committed-by-ucla-against-stanford-last-night
shows a pattern of targeting that the officiating crew repeatedly failed to call. As Rule of Tree points out, UCLA defensive back Tahaan Goodman left his feet to deliver a hit from the top of his helmet to the head of Dalton Shultz, which was not called.

Later in the game, Francis Owusu was blatantly targeted by the same UCLA defender, Tahaan Goodman, which resulted in a fumble, which ESPN has rated a worst play of the day.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17629772
A sports photographer in Los Angeles also took the following photo that shows how dangerous and damaging that blow was.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKyUOc-BUlH/
After that blow to the head, Francis Owusu had to leave the game and did not return.
Later in the game, the Rule of Tree notes that quarterback Ryan Burns was targeted in the head while running with the ball.

The fact that the tackler appeared more shaken up than Burns is a reminder that targeting is extremely dangerous for both the defender and the player being struck.

If the conference and officiating crews do not enforce the targeting rule, how can parents feel that their children will be safe when they are recruited by Pac-12 football teams? If a UCLA player (or an opponent) is permanently injured this season or suffers later in life, would the injury been avoidable had the league better enforced the targeting rule? How can members of the University of [Arizona/Arizona State] community feel safe that their players will not receive illegal game-ending and potentially career-ending or life-threatening injuries in their upcoming game against UCLA?

Stanford still won the game, but the more important consequences the health effects for these young men are unknown.

The Pac-12 needs to step up to end this pattern of targeting immediately to protect players safety and long-term health.

Re: Targeting.... - scorecard - 09-26-2016

Goodman was headhunting all day long, using his helmet as a weapon.Â At 1:55 left in the 2nd (after the Owusu hit), Bryce Love is being spun down in a tackle, and he comes flying through the screen, helmet again in a spearing position.Â This guy is out to inflict injury and knock people out of the game.Â Fortunately, Love's head gets down just in time to avoid the collision.Â At 6:32 left in the 4th, when McCaffrey gets his only chance at a kickoff return, he again at full speed lowers his helmet and launches directly at Cam Scarlett's head and throws in a forearm as well.Â This is only what can be seen on the TV broadcast, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more off screen.Â

The refs did a terrible job of protecting players.Â Not a single call was made for hits to the helmet all day.Â Burns took a forearm to the helmet from Judge as he was going down on a tackle on our first drive (was called a penalty on Caspers for holding that killed our first drive).Â Burns took the helmet to helmet from Pickett at 5:50 in the 3rd.Â Pickett was clearly slow to get up and staggering, the refs did nothing to help him get off the field until the coaches sent in a substitution.Â AT Hall was slapped/struck right in the helmet at 0:55 left in the 2nd in plain view of the refs by Mckinley after he hurts his groin, no penalty except Dave Bright is called for a false start.Â This was obvious as well because the rest of the play had stopped because of the false start.

If the Pac-12 doesn't say something, I certainly hope the NCAA does.Â

Re: Targeting.... - yvonne - 09-26-2016

The Pac-12's vice president for officiating is David Coleman. The format for Pac-12 email addresses is firstinitiallastname@pac-12.org

Re: Targeting.... - Roberton3 - 09-26-2016

The case for a targeting call on the Burns hit is much weaker.Â Burns clearly wasn't defenseless.Â And he lowered his shoulder to the tackler, making it pretty easy to argue that the tackler was aiming for a legal tackle and wound up hitting with the crown of the helmet only because Burns lowered his shoulder.

Re: Targeting.... - Phogge - 09-26-2016

I love football and I make part of my living shooting it. That said if it goes away so what. My son played but he and I are against his son playing.

Re: Targeting.... - winflop - 09-26-2016

(09-26-2016, 06:14 AM)Roberton3 link Wrote:The case for a targeting call on the Burns hit is much weaker.Â Burns clearly wasn't defenseless.Â And he lowered his shoulder to the tackler, making it pretty easy to argue that the tackler was aiming for a legal tackle and wound up hitting with the crown of the helmet only because Burns lowered his shoulder.

I agree it won't be called by a conference review - unless it was also done by Goodman.Â But that call is often made by on-field officials, even though I agree it shouldn't.

Re: Targeting.... - winflop - 09-26-2016

(09-26-2016, 06:14 AM)Roberton3 link Wrote:The case for a targeting call on the Burns hit is much weaker.Â Burns clearly wasn't defenseless.Â And he lowered his shoulder to the tackler, making it pretty easy to argue that the tackler was aiming for a legal tackle and wound up hitting with the crown of the helmet only because Burns lowered his shoulder.

I agree it won't be called by a conference review - unless it was also done by Goodman.Â But that call is often made by on-field officials, even though I agree it shouldn't.

Re: Targeting.... - HisKneeWasDown - 09-26-2016

We've got a new President, too. Might be good to put this on his radar, at least as a "welcome to Stanford... Oh and by the way, alums and donors care about sports here " message.

My son attends Michigan, and early his freshman year he experienced the situation where their QB was left in the game after not being properly assessed for a possible concussion. It was the last straw for the folks who'd been calling for the ouster of the coach and the AD. The students staged a protest in front of the home of the president... who had only been there a month! The protest was covered live on ESPN. It was an early indoctrination to how important football is at Michigan (which unlike Stanford it shouldn't be a surprise).

Re: Targeting.... - BostonCard - 09-26-2016

Shaw has contacted league officials:

http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0572131236131118691-4

BC