Should targeting penalties include ejections? Some coaches say no, but the policy isn't going away
Wisconsin's Luke Fickell says he doesn't believe targeting penalties should result in automatic ejections
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Alabama and Wisconsin will both play the first half of Saturday's intersectional matchup without a linebacker who was penalized for targeting a week earlier.
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell would prefer a scenario in which both the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide’s Justin Jefferson and the Badgers’ Jake Chaney could have avoided such a steep punishment.
“I’ll look everybody in the face (and say) we’re wrong in college football to throw kids out of games,” Fickell said after the Badgers’ 27-13 victory over South Dakota.
Fickell is hardly the only coach who believes targeting penalties shouldn’t result in automatic ejections, a rule that took effect in 2013. Players who get targeting penalties in the second half of games, as Jefferson and Chaney did last weekend, also must miss the first half of their teams’ next games.
