If you are lunging toward a ball carrier, the first thing that is going to arrive is your helmet when you are going head on. No way he was intentionally using his helmet to make the contact. It was just a necessary evil.

I'm sure there were plenty of discussions going on between UM and LT. One might be "Coach, why did you put our season in jeopardize by leaving our leader in the game to risk injury?"

Careful about this. In NFHS rules at least, intent is NOT required for there to be illegal helmet contact. The rules were changed a few years back to specifically address this.

Now, this is an NCAA game and I am not sure if intent is required or not. Perhaps some of my striped friends working under NCAA rules can clear that up.