"High hit" call
 

Good evening everyone,

I like reading this forum to get clarification on calls from the people that really do know what they're talking about. Fans love to argue, but you guys can pretty much put any debate to rest, so here's one for you.

This is a little over a week old, but I'm confused on the call. Northwestern at Vanderbilt, Sept. 4th. NU's QB rolls out on a designed run and gains about 5 yards before he's hit by the VU safety (looks to be a great clean hit to me). The call on the field is a personal foul "high hit". A lot of debate has centered on whether is was helmet to helmet, which to me is insignificant because it wasn't the call (plus it didn't look like it anyway). A couple of angles:

YouTube - Vanderbilt's Fullam penalized for high hit vs. Northwestern 9/4/10

(play starts at 8:17, call at 8:48) YouTube - Northwestern Wildcats vs. Vanderbilt Commodores - 9/4/10

Not defenseless, is there any justification for the call?

It looks like a helmet to helmet hit or a hit to the head. These are POEs at the NCAA level to be called. And the player launched which is a tell tail sign of this kind of act. It was hard to see, but I think that is why this was called. No good replay makes this hard to determine.

Peace

I don't work NCAA, but I doubt that a "high hit" is defined as a foul. Helmet contact, sure, but I didn't see that here: the tackler led with his shoulder into the runner's shoulder.

NFL is also moving in the direction of prohibiting defenders from "launching" themselves at receivers' and runners' heads. So they'll go back to tackling low, and we'll see a new wave of knee injuries.

It's intriguing to watch higher levels try to deal with the fact that players are now so strong and so fast that they have outstripped the capacities of the safety equipment. IMO the current fad of prohibiting this kind of tackle or that won't last: the list of prohibited tackles will grow too long and complex and will undermine the elegance of the game (such as it is).

If this happened in a Canadian game, from the angles that you provided at real time, I do not have a foul.

Also, there is a way to post a link to a YouTube video that will take the user directly to the point that you want them to view. In the second video you provided, you wanted the user to start viewing at the 8:17 mark. Here's how you do that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaCFzzIIDFs#t=8m17s

The NCAA has outlawed targeting a defenseless opponent above the shoulders. Defenseless includes a whole host of situations including receivers making a play on a ball, kick returners in position to catch a kick, etc. A runner isn't considered one of them though.

From the discussions I've heard and read about this play, the general consensus is that this was not a foul.

I agree with what you say. The replay is poor. However, the calling official is looking through the players and it would be very hard for him to see helmet-to-helmet contact. Slowing it down on YouTube, it looked like shoulder to shoulder contact, but I wouldn't put money on that.

Vanderbilt Commodores receive apology from Big Ten for bad call

Vanderbilt Commodores receive apology from Big Ten for bad call | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

I was not commenting on the quality of the actual hit, I just was trying to give an explanation to what was called. And they told NCAA officials to err on the side of safety when guys launch. The quality of the call is debatable, but that is what I suspected the officials thought they saw. I did not see the contact called, but can see why it was called.

Peace