Joel Klatt believes Michael Taaffe’s hit was “1000% targeted.”

Joel Klatt agrees with the many outraged college football fans the no to targeting To Texas late in Wednesday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Arizona State.

With the game tied and with about a minute remaining, the Longhorns made a stop on third down that would likely force the Sun Devils to punt. However, security Michael Taaffe The piece appeared to involve helmet-to-helmet contact and was sent to the stand for inspection.

If the referees had ruled it was a target, Arizona State would have received a first down and advanced into Texas territory. Instead, they realized it wasn’t a targeted play and the Longhorns got the ball back as the game went into overtime.

Klatt argued passionately that this was ultimately the wrong decision on a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show.

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“It’s 100 percent targeting and I hate targeting,” the FOX Sports analyst said. “I was one of the biggest opponents of targeting in college football. But typically that was 1,000 percent targeting. There is no other way to judge it. It was a defenseless player who was violently touched in the head or neck area, period. There’s no chance that the result of the review will come out and they’ll say, “That’s not targeting.” Because it’s a rule.

“What I don’t like about the targeting rule is that we eject the player. So what happened is that the penalty is so punitive to the individual that looking back we were trying to keep players in the game, which I’m a fan of. …The biggest problem here is that when it comes to the second quarter, it’s 100 percent a target. If this is the third quarter, that’s 100 percent a target. I don’t think it was called “targeting” just because it would have given Arizona State a first down late in the game with a chance to win the game on that drive. If it’s not at that point in the game, it’s 100 percent a purposeful decision.”

Klatt, like others, was not the only speaker who disagreed with the call like for example Sports center Host Scott Van Pelt also expressed the opinion that it was indeed a targeted target. ASU coach Kenny Dillingham told reporters after the game that He didn’t know what targeting was and didn’t want to comment on the piece.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark wasn’t so subtle in pushing back against the call. publish a statement They demand higher standards from CFP officials.

Joel Klatt would go on to say that he normally feels that referees should do their best not to interfere late in a close game unless absolutely necessary. However, as the review had already been initiated, they were obliged to make the right decision and failed to do so.

“Unless it’s egregious, I tend to say, ‘Let them play longer,’ and that’s exactly what happened in this game,” he said. “The official did not throw the flag onto the field. Now the officer on site has a completely different task than the inspector in the cabin. As soon as this game is in the review, it should have been called targeting because then it is the letter of the law. Now you’re missing the nuance. It is like that or not. You review it and that’s it. So that call against Arizona State was terrible.”

Regardless of what should have happened, the game is final and the result cannot be changed. Texas survived in double OT and will play Ohio State on Friday for a trip to the national championship.