Officials reviewed the targeting penalty called against Oklahoma safety Gabe Lynn last Saturday against Tulsa and determined that Lynn, in fact, was not targeting when he broke up a pass to Trey Watts in the end zone. After ejecting Lynn, they allowed him to continue playing.
The penalty stood. By rule, officials can reverse disqualifications but not the 15-yard mark-off. So TU continued its drive inside the OU 10 and wound up scoring a touchdown.
OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops was distraught about the whole ordeal in postgame, saying: "This is what happens when there is an overreaction to all of this."
Stoops hadn't calmed much by Monday evening, when beat writers asked him to reflect on the hit, the penalty and the overturn. His comments follow...
"I'm just disappointed that it's exactly what we teach them to do. That's the only way he can get the ball. He did exactly what we teach them. So they're telling me I'm teaching my guys wrong. That's disappointing to me. That's not what rules intend to do. If they're gonna wave it off, just wave it off. If he didn't launch, he didn't go high, there shouldn't be a penalty. You can't penalize somebody for hitting some guy's shoulder or his arm to knock a ball loose. That's not a penalty. If they're gonna wave it off, to me, they should wave the whole (penalty) off. There's such an overreaction.
"I looked to see if he left his feet. He didn't leave his feet. He didn't hit him in the head. Every element that they told us would be called, he didn't do any of them. So now it becomes a judgment call. To me if they're gonna review it, why don't they just review it and see if he did make contact high or launched. Those are all the elements they're looking for. It's just disappointing they can't take that element back. It's kind of foolish to me.
"It cost us a touchdown. He overreacted. He thought (Lynn) grazed his head. But when you look at it you can see they hit shoulder to shoulder. That's what I was upset over. That's what we teach. That's the only way we can do it. So now what do you do? You don't do anything? We're literally stopping before we can hit anybody now. That's what it's gotten to...
"They've got to lower their targets. That's why going after a quarterback, ultimately we're going to have to go take their knees out. And you can do it in college. That's what they're telling us. You've got to literally go for their knees. Because if your body hits their face mask when you try to knock a ball down or go high… It's gonna cause more problems in the lower extremity. I don't know what the answer is to that...
"The kid makes a great play and he gets no credit. He gets yelled at for a 15-yard penalty that gives them a touchdown. What's fair in that?"
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