Texas A&M football: 5 takeaways from loss at Alabama

Ejection is too harsh a penalty for incidental targeting

I had to get this one out of the way early as it had an effect on the entire outcome of the game. On Alabama’s second touchdown drive, senior safety and defensive captain Donovan Wilson was ejected for targeting on this play.

Contrary to popular opinion, I do believe the refs made the right call to enforce targeting. Yes, the offensive player dipped his head and had something to do with the helmet-to-helmet contact, but also Wilson lead with his head and didn’t go low. He deserves some culpability.

But it only should have resulted in a penalty. The ejection rule is far too harsh for defensive players, especially when offensive players can’t get called for targeting when lowering their helmet for extra yards. It puts the defensive player in far too much of a disadvantage.

I’m all for player safety, but losing A&M’s best player in the secondary (even though he was having a poor game in coverage) is not a punishment that fits the penalty. You can tell when there is intent to hurt someone, this wasn’t one of those plays.