And unlike the first time, there’s no doubt South Carolina’s D.J. Swearinger earned his suspension for this hit.
Oh, and this is nice:
According to Josh Kendall of The State, Swearinger had posted a video clip of the hit on his Twitter feed a half hour before the SEC announced its decision. The video has subsequently been removed from the player’s Twitter feed…
Stay classy, ‘Cocks.
Get The Picture 
We’re nearing the point where it would be safer without helmets.
LikeLike
You know, I’ve seen that case made, and this is exactly why they were making it. As much has been made about the wussification of the game, I can’t see where this has a place in it in any case.
LikeLike
Well… that is the textbook definition of targeting. I disapprove of this type of hit. I think the officials need some more direction in on-field application, though. The hit on Lutzenkirchen was flagged as targeting, but was so far removed from this Swearinger hit that they have nothing in common except the players were both wearing helmets.
LikeLike
True to dat. I was aghast that The Barn was eased into halftime on the power of that ugly mis-call which paved the way for the Hail Mary toss. But, then again, the SEC can only be shown up so much, you know. Eventually “outside” forces stepped in to restore order.
LikeLike
It was a very scary when Reggie Brown was knocked out by Auburn’s Junior Rosegreen helmet-to-helmet contact a few years back. I have mixed feelings about the SEC going to this level of enforcement, but I remember being very angry that the hit on Reggie was not punished in any way given how dangerous it was.
LikeLike
And I can remember the hush in the stadium and the prayers going up for an indetermindedly long time. That’s as close as I ever want to see a player die on the field. Courson got the rule passed against spearing after that play and CFB and the players are better for it.
Yeah, you bet, get this chickenshit type of hit out of CFB.
LikeLike
Or on the flip side, Rambo a few years ago on the clutch hit v. Auburn. That was pretty scary as well
LikeLike
And, while we are on the subject of targeting… will someone remind Shawn Williams that no matter how badly he would like to
decapitate a Vandy WRhit a Vandy WR with extreme prejudice, that it’s not worth sitting out the Tennessee game. Slive will not let that aggression stand, man. Plus, Vandy’s WR don’t have the best hands anyway.LikeLike
I am sure Grantham is going over these with all of them. The upper classmen have to unlearn some stuff that was legal earlier in their careers.
LikeLike
Good point.
LikeLike
So, like, I can let the defensive staff worry about illegal hits?
LikeLike
Get back on point, Scorp!
LikeLike
I suggest you do what your parents did, Mr. Slive. Get a [real] job, sir !!!
LikeLike
Castleberry-you are correct sir ! check out top level Rugby-without a helmet you learn to make a safe tackle-The helmet has become a weapon-and it is awesome for displaying team colors and Logo’s–makes it tough on the ref’s–this was easy to call–the call against UL-M right before Auburns hail Mary was terrible.
LikeLike
What exactly is that ref saying? Is it: “Contact above the shoulders against a defenseless player”?
LikeLike
Read the link provided by the Senator: “No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder.”. Swearinger did all of the above.
LikeLike
Well I reckon I could have just clicked and read for myself… Thanks, Cojones.
LikeLike
We do this for each other here. No insiders makes for a pretty open blog.
LikeLike
D.J.’s suspension pleases T.J. Moe and DGB
LikeLike
Somewhere, Ben Davidson is sadly shaking his head and longing for the good old days.
LikeLike
With every move made on every field subject to become a utube, Slive may have his hands full. What’s he going to do when he has ten or twelve a week to review? I hate dirty hits, but this could get out of hand. I would be happy if the SEC could just get the things they have traditionally supposed to be doing correct.
By the way, the helment thing hasn’t improved a bit. I saw more helments off this Saturday than ever.
LikeLike
I maintain that all headhunters, as part of their punishment, should have to spend time working volunteer hours at some place like the Shepherd Center.
LikeLike
Yeah I work across the street from the shepherd center and everytime I see some patients I feel humbled and blessed that I can use all my limbs. That type of community service would be good for just about anyone, especially kids who think its cool to light up people in an extremely dangerous way.
LikeLike
Hit looks scary but I still don’t like the rule. I mean, it is football and it’s known to be violent. I might think differently if that were my son but the hit looked like football to me. The celebration afterwards deserved 15 yards however……
LikeLike
He only made contact with his helmet and the other player’s helmet. That’s textbook targeting.
There’s a difference between this hit and the way guys like Thomas Davis and Greg Blue laid the wood. This one was dirty.
Maybe they should have some education for the refs, too…
LikeLike
I understand that Swearenger hit the UAB guy illegally. His shoulder slammed into his facemask. However, I am a bit concerned with this over protection. First, what happens when the DB, S or whomever is aiming to hit the chest and the WR, TE, RB dips their head to prevent them from getting hit in the midsection? The defensive player will have made helmet to helmet contact but what will be called. Even suppose that the offensive player slips and is falling back when the hit comes and there is a hit that fits this description. What then? Second, I do not trust the refs to make the right decision in big games or when there is a big game coming up next. We have seen how suspect the SEC officials have become.
I understand that violence is a part of the game. I played football and rugby and am missing three teeth to prove it. To claim that there is a wussification in football is bit warmongering.
Nevertheless I do believe that to ask the refs to focus on this versus other things will cause more damage than good. It seems, as I do not have any data to back it up and it is a logical fallacy, that they are allowing more pass interference this year maybe because they are so focused on trying to get these hits out of the game. There may be some overcompensation going on here whether overt or not by the refs. The minds of the refs can only focus on one thing at a time and to be especially concerned about these hit may lead to other, possibly game changing, things to be over looked.
I do have one suggestion but no one in the SEC office asked me.
LikeLike
God, I hope you aren’t missing those 3 teeth in the front or you would be thought of as the epitome of________(fill in the blank)
I get ya. And holding, eye gouging, pass interference, roughing the QB, thumb up the ass in a pileup, biting and other gross abnormlities in football that can’t be written here. All because of this call. Damn!
LikeLike
The refs are allowing more holding this year, too. Whether the emphasis on enforcing this rule is behind that….who knows. OK, I’ll bite. What is your suggestion?
LikeLike
/snarkfont on
So, uhhh, I don’t suppose VisorHole will be able to have him serve this suspension during the Wofford game, huh?
/snarkfont off
LikeLike
“First, what happens when the DB, S or whomever is aiming to hit the chest and the WR, TE, RB dips their head to prevent them from getting hit in the midsection? The defensive player will have made helmet to helmet contact but what will be called. ”
Regardless, the defensive player would be leading with the helmet which is a penalty.
LikeLike
I get what spearing is but the definition of this rule includes the shoulders, elbows and arms. These things are the context to which I am referring. If I am aiming to tackle someone then I squat and load up my force in my legs with my body leaning forward to deliver the blow with my shoulder and my head up. If the WR falls or dips or something along those lines to change the point of impact then that can create a situation where there is a rule violation even when good tackling is performed. It happened the first week when the SEC office charged Elston. The contact was made with the shoulder of Elston in the center of the chest of the WR. The helmets collided because Elston had his head up and the WR dipped his body because he saw the hit coming.
To clarify, I know is meant by leading with the head but the fact of the matter anytime some one is going to hit someone their head goes first and is leading the body. We cannot change physiology. The head sits atop the shoulders where they are taught to make contact. Are they supposed to use their chest or bellies and throw the head back just to avoid any incidental contact with the helmets?
I just don’t get this rule and the manner in which it is being enforced. There is headhunting and then there is incidental helmet to helmet contact. I just don’t see how the bio mechanics of the Elston hit warranted a suspension.
Much of what i am writing is spurious because the sample size is two; of which only one seems to be really a suspension worthy tackle. If there have only been one or two hits in three weeks of competition then does there really exist a need to command enforcement of this rule. Maybe it is not the players that needed the enforcement but rather the officials that need to be enforced so that this situation would not have occurred in the first place. But that is another discussion.
LikeLike
We agreed with you on Elston(?) last week. This tackle was more of the egregious type we would like to spear from our game. You still can hit as hard as you want, except when it is chickenshit and takes no exceptional athleticism to hit a defenseless player. This ain’t the Roman Forum.
LikeLike
Rhymer Dawg, I agree. I think it’s another way to manipulate an outcome of a game. Same as the holding penalty, which could be called on any and every play. If it’s helmet to helmet whose helmet is at fault? Both helmets are moving very fast. All I know I would not survive in today’s game due to new rules.
LikeLike
These calls to suspend have been made after the game and pointed out to Slive who has the authority to suspend. Slo mo helps the argument, but whether we agree or disagree, they are letting you know that you will be called. If saving a few people from having mushbrains and broken necks isn’t your tough guy cup of tea, go join the European soccer punks. They’ll bring the tough guy right to the stands for you.
I saw a victim from a soccer kick to the head, all bundled up by his brother who was trying to keep him awake 3 hours after the match. He kept shoving a beer in his hand while ranting about getting the asshole who did it in competition. We pleaded to take him to a doctor(I was on Grand Bahama and he was brought to the room across the hallway) although an ambulance with emergency lifesaving services was on the mainland, only a half-hour flight. His brother thought he could tough it out if he just didn’t succumb to sleep. Bad call. He died that night sitting up in a chair. The guy’s face is as plain as day in my mind and this happened over 30yrs ago. I wept for his brother because of the stupidity of his loss.
You will have to excuse the sensitivity of some of us who aren’t anonymously tough.
LikeLike
Why not just teach players how to tackle. This BS of trying to knock a player down to show how “bad” you are leads to this kind of crap. A long time ago, 1957, they taught tackling as wrap it up. If you grab the legs, he aint going anywhere.
LikeLike
As mentioned above, play rugby and you learn really quickly that the “big” hit is almost always a bad idea, often worse for the hitter too. I never played at a really high level but talking to national team level guys they talk about the Americans are almost always more reckless and hit harder than other countries by virtue of most of the guys growing up playing football rather than rugby.
All that being said, fundamentally rugby is a very very different game than football, and the number of on field deaths in football in the pre helmet days attests to the fact that simply getting rid of pads/helmets is not really the answer.
LikeLike
And it works still, but alas will not get you a clip on SportsCenter.
LikeLike
I just hope no 10th stringer in the defense even tries to scalp Frunk, he will get nothing but top shining lotion to mess up his day.
LikeLike