{"id":161660,"date":"2023-01-01T22:15:57","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T03:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=161660"},"modified":"2023-01-01T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T03:15:57","slug":"bonus-random-thoughts-college-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/01\/01\/bonus-random-thoughts-college-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonus Random Thoughts: college football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This bonus edition of Random Thoughts centers around college football and officiating, replay, defense, the final drive and more. The regular Random Thoughts feature will appear tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something needs to be done about targeting calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no problem with the rule but like many others, I have a big problem with the enforcement, or lack of enforcement of the rule. There were two painfully obvious instances of targeting in Saturday\u2019s playoff games, but nothing came of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s currently far too subjective. Something has to be done to make things much more consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If replay isn\u2019t going to be used correctly, get rid of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Michigan\/TCU game, a touchdown catch that was clearly a score was reversed. I\u2019m not a Michigan fan, but they were hosed on that call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting was originally called on the hit that put Marvin Harrison Jr. out of the game was overturned by replay. He left the game with a concussion. He obviously took a blow to the head and it was an obvious targeting play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, either get it right or get rid of it. Also, there needs to be a time limit. It shouldn\u2019t take more than two minutes (tops) to review a play. Stop killing the momentum of the game and blowing the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said all of that, that\u2019s not why Michigan or Ohio State lost their games. They lost their games because their respective defenses were torched by TCU and Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Both offenses played well enough to win but the defenses couldn\u2019t get stops. It\u2019s as simple as that. Between Ohio St. and Michigan, they gave up 1,021 yards and 93 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about this \u2013 No Jaxon Smith-Njigba, no Treyvon Henderson, no Marvin Harrison Jr., no Cade Stover, no Miyan Williams, yet the Buckeyes still had a shot to win the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like virtually every other Ohio St. fan I wish the Buckeyes would have been able to get Noah Ruggles closer for a game winning field goal attempt. I don\u2019t blame him for missing or for Ohio St. losing. A situation like that isn\u2019t when you want your kicker attempting a career-long field goal try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people are upset with OSU\u2019s run attempt after CJ Stroud had just scrambled for 27 yards. I don\u2019t have a problem with the decision but they hadn\u2019t exactly been moving the sticks between the tackles, so a different running play seemed to be in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No doubt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone who didn\u2019t think Ohio St. belonged in the playoff, think again. They certainly belonged in the four team field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio St. fans may not like to hear this but I\u2019m going to say it anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two or three potential losses on next year\u2019s schedule and all three games are on the road \u2013 Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have any comments on any of the above thoughts, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This bonus edition of Random Thoughts centers around college football and officiating, replay, defense, the final drive and more. The regular Random Thoughts feature will appear tomorrow. Targeting Something needs to be done about targeting calls. I have no problem with the rule but like many others, I have a big problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 12:35:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161662,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161660\/revisions\/161662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}