Utah’s appeal of Cole Bishop’s targeting penalty is denied
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Utah safety Cole Bishop will miss the first half of Utah’s big game against USC on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Bishop, who has been one of Utah’s most impactful players this season, drew a targeting penalty in the fourth quarter of the Utes’ 34-14 win over Cal.
After Utah appealed the decision following Saturday’s game, coach Kyle Whittingham got word today that the suspension was upheld.
“Yeah, got denied. I don’t want to really whine about it, but I still don’t see how it happened or how it was called and how it got denied on the appeal. So it’s baffling, but nothing we can do about it. So you can move forward,” Whittingham said.
The Utes will go with a safety tandem of Sione Vaki and Nate Ritchie for the first two quarters at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Vaki, who rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries against Cal while also playing the safety position, will have an increased workload as he continues to play offense and defense.
“We’ve got good depth at safety and that won’t impact Sione’s play on offense at all,” Whittingham said. “We talked about Nate Ritchie being the guy that’ll step in for Cole and we have Tao Johnson that can also play free safety, saw him play free safety a few weeks ago. Johnathan Hall is a very good player. We think that it’s not going to impact other facets of the game. We just cover up for him while we’re in that first half.”
Ritchie started all five games at safety in 2020 before going on a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ritchie has played 50 snaps on defense this season, including 29 at free safety, according to Pro Football Focus. He had a season-high four tackles and a sack while filling in for Bishop in the fourth quarter of Utah’s win over Cal.
“Nate played some good football for us on Saturday and has played some really good football for us in years past and so we got a ton of confidence in Nate,” Whittingham said.
Utah’s defense will face its biggest test of the season against reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and USC’s explosive passing offense, which ranks No. 8 in the NCAA with 332.9 passing yards per game.
“We always try to hold each other high and that’s a lot of experience coming off the field, but we trust in our depth, Nate Ritchie, as well as (Johnathan Hall) and them to be able to step up and get the job done as well. So we trust in our players,” Vaki said.
With about nine minutes left in the game, Cal backup quarterback Ben Finley overthrew tight end Jeffrey Johnson, and as Johnson stumbled, he dipped his head down. Bishop, who was in the process of trying to make a tackle, turned to avoid helmet to helmet contact with Johnson, but his shoulder made contact with Johnson’s head and neck area.
After a replay review, the officials upheld the call and Bishop was ejected for the rest of the game and suspended for the first half of the USC game.
On the sidelines, Utah players and coaches were visibly frustrated after the call was upheld. The fans were irate as well, as Rice-Eccles Stadium got as loud as it did all day as fans booed the referees and continued to boo every chance they got for the rest of the game.
Here’s what the 2023 NCAA rulebook defines targeting as:
ARTICLE 4. No player shall target and make forcible contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent (See Note 2 below) with the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow or shoulder.
Note 1: “Targeting” means that a player takes aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with forcible contact that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball.
Some indicators of targeting include but are not limited to:
• Launch. A player leaving their feet to attack an opponent by an upward and forward thrust of the body to make forcible contact in the head or neck area.
• A crouch followed by an upward and forward thrust to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area, even though one or both feet are still on the ground.
• Leading with helmet, shoulder, forearm, fist, hand or elbow to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area.
• Lowering the head before attacking by initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet.
My best guess is that Johnson was ruled as a defenseless player since the ball was uncatchable (Note 2 of the targeting rule in part defines a defenseless player as “a receiver attempting to catch a forward pass or in position to receive a backward pass, or one who has completed a catch and has not had time to protect themselves or has not clearly become a ball carrier”) and that Bishop was ejected due to “leading with helmet, shoulder, forearm, fist, hand or elbow to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area,” though I don’t think Bishop’s intent was to attack with forcible contact, as he clearly tried to move to avoid a helmet to helmet hit.
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20 minutes after the game ended, Utah had already began the targeting appeals process.
Here’s the process for overturning a targeting suspension, via the NCAA rulebook.
If a player is disqualified in the second half, the conference has the option to consult the national coordinator of football officials who would then facilitate a video review. Based on the review, if and only if the national coordinator concludes that it is clearly obvious the player should not have been disqualified, the suspension will be vacated. If the national coordinator supports the disqualification, the suspension for the next game will remain.
Whittingham said postgame that Utah hasn’t had an appeal be successful yet. The targeting appeal process was implemented in 2022.
