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In the waning minutes of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Arizona State football was driving to try to take the lead with under two minutes to go, and a controversial play happened when Melquan Stovall was hit by Michael Taaffe. The play was reviewed for targeting, but it was ultimately decided that there was no violation on the play.
I don’t understand what targeting is anymore.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 1, 2025
Arizona State football would have been set up in field goal range and had a chance to take the lead if the penalty was called. Instead, they had to punt. The Longhorns got into field goal range on the next drive, but Bert Auburn missed his second field goal of the fourth quarter and the game went to overtime. However, there were still many voicing frustration with the lack of a targeting call on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The rule was just obliterated,” Terry McAulay said on X.
“Remove the rule from teh books at this point. Nobody knows what it is,” wrote @PHNXcoug.
“Nothing more clear than that. Unreal.” wrote @Born13Sooner.
“There is no such thing as targeting after that,” wrote @GarsParsn.
“Would have been targeting if not a potential game decider. What a joke.” wrote @Heimer56.
Eventually, the game did go to overtime. Arizona State football did take a 31-24 lead with the first possession, and even got to within one play of winning the game. Texas came back and scored to tie it with a touchdown pass on a fourth down. Then, Texas scored again on their next drive, making the two-point conversion as well to go up 39-31. The Longhorns got a stop with an interception on the next drive to seal the game.
Obviously, the targeting decision will loom large, especially for Arizona State football and its fans. Instead, Texas will play either Oregon or Ohio State in the Semifinal for a trip to the national championship game.
