Second-year wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. gets hit in the second half of the Peach Bowl. He did not return to the game. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
One of the more controversial plays in all of college football last season came in the second-to-last game.
On a third-and-goal play with time winding down in the third quarter of the Peach Bowl, former quarterback C.J. Stroud skied a pass that came down into the waiting arms of then-second-year wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
The ball was dislodged from Harrison’s hands by a hard-hitting blow from Georgia then-sophomore defensive back Javon Bullard. A flag was thrown for targeting but was overturned after review, potentially changing the complexion of the outcome, as Ohio State would have had a fresh set of downs and an opportunity to score a touchdown instead of having to settle for a 25-yard field goal.
However, ESPN rules analyst and former Big Ten referee Bill LeMonnier told The Lantern it was the correct call, despite Harrison being a “defenseless” player.
“There’s no question about it that it’s suspect targeting,” LeMonnier said. “If you watch that film, that player comes across the end line, just in a running motion. He does not thrust upward. He does not launch. I will say his head goes down a little bit, but he never hits him with the crown of the helmet either.”
Head coach Ryan Day said Feb. 1 the “hard thing” for him to understand was that Harrison was knocked unconscious, yet the flag was picked up. LeMonnier said he’s “not a doctor,” but his “guess” was that Harrison landing face-first on the ground after the hit may have contributed to his concussion.
Day said he made “a lot of calls after the game,” first to Big Ten coordinator of officials Bill Carollo, then to the Pac-12 — the conference of the officials that worked the Peach Bowl — which told him the contact “wasn’t forcible enough.”
Day’s third call was to NCAA National Coordinator of Officials Steve Shaw.
“[Shaw] explained to me that the hit didn’t go right to Marvin’s head. That it wasn’t a shot right on his head, it was to the shoulder,” Day said. “I completely disagree with that. But, that was the decision that was made, and those are the two explanations I was given.”
Harrison said March 9 he doesn’t know whether or not there was targeting on the play and that he’s “not the one making the call.”
“He’s just trying to make a play on the football,” Harrison said. “It’s the ref’s decision to make that call. Whether he thinks it’s targeting or not, it’s kind of up to him.”
Targeting was established as a personal foul in 2008, and the ejection component of the penalty was added in 2013 in which a player would be forced to miss two halves of football as a result. If the infraction occurs in the second half of a game, the player who committed the targeting is forced to miss the first half of his team’s next game.
There are two factors that can lead to a targeting penalty.
Rule 9-1-3 in the NCAA 2022 Football Rules Book outlines that if a player uses the “crown” of his helmet to make “forcible” contact, it is targeting. The crown was redefined as a “6-inch radius” from the top of the helmet before this season.
In Rule 9-1-4, it details that targeting can also come in the form of “forcible contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless player.” The rule book states a defenseless player could be a receiver who leaps into the air to catch a pass or a player that receives a blindside block on a kickoff, for example.
LeMonnier said there are “indicators” that officials look for on potential targeting calls.
“An indicator is a player that launches upward, like a Superman-type leap, or dives down into somebody who’s already on the ground,” LeMonnier said. “Or you can have what we call, ‘the thrust.’ It’s where you bend down a little bit and then you thrust upward into somebody.”
LeMonnier said for the semifinal and national championship games last season, there were two groups of replay officials that would review plays: the referees at the stadium and a command center operated at DVSport’s offices in Pittsburgh.
He said the group in Pittsburgh, which was not affiliated with the conference of either team or the crew of officials that were working the games, had the final say to overrule the crew at the stadium if they were going to make the incorrect call.
College football plans to do “quite a bit” with the extra command center during not only the regular season, but also with the expanded College Football Playoff coming in 2024, LeMonnier said.
LeMonnier said he had all the angles from ESPN’s broadcast to review Bullard’s hit on Harrison.
“I’ve looked at every one of those,” LeMonnier said. “I’ll tell you, suspect for getting hit in the head, but he’s not hit in the head. The guy turns and it’s into the shoulder.”
