Nick Ruffin

[Tampa Tiger 30]

Anyone else hear anything more about Nick Ruffin's targeting ejection?

http://fansided.com/2014/10/04/auburns-nick-ruffin-ejected-hit-lsus-trey-quinn-video/

I thought this was a legal shoulder to shoulder hit but what do I know?

[cooltigger21 0]

Well the postgame crew talked about it and said they thought it was legal as well. Question is will he be out of the game this week. I have no idea what the league office will decide once they review or even if they will review it.

[AUbritt 611]

Sure looked like a good, though hard, hit to me live.

I wonder whether WarTiger might chime in on the legality of this one.

[Shift 350]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

[dire_tiger 0]

Well the postgame crew talked about it and said they thought it was legal as well. Question is will he be out of the game this week. I have no idea what the league office will decide once they review or even if they will review it.

It happened in the first half, so he should be back for msu, especially after their center only got one game for his two stomps, which didn't get him ejected from the actual game

[wareagle13 88]

If he's ejected in the first half, he's out the whole game and there's no other punishment,l. That's assuming the tackle was just an innocent mistake and there was no intent to physically harm the player like when that Arkansas player demolished johnathan krause of Vanderbilt back in 2011. If he's ejected in the second half, then he's suspended through the first half of the next game.

[AURaptor 1,121]

Found it dismaying that after they showed the reply on the stadium jumbo tron, and all could plainly see that it was NOT targeting, the ref had the stones to actually say ' after further review, the call on the field stands '.

How ??? There was NO targeting ! No helmet to helmet shot!

But to save face, and to proceed w/ the over all agenda of no more head injuries, the penalty had to be enforced, as called, regardless of the facts.

The bigger message , as determined by TPTB, must be upheld.

[AUbritt 611]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

Looked like he put his shoulder in the LSU dude's chest to me. My shoulders are above my chest.

[EagleFlight34 101]

That play could happen 100 times and the call could go either way 100 times. So, it is hard to argue either way.

What I didn't like was the fact that they called it a late hit. The ball hadn't even hit the ground when Nick made the hit. I didn't notice if the play had been blown dead or not, but I don't believe that it had.

[EagleFlight34 101]

Found it dismaying that after they showed the reply on the stadium jumbo tron, and all could plainly see that it was NOT targeting, the ref had the stones to actually say ' after further review, the call on the field stands '.

:dunno:/>

How ??? There was NO targeting ! No helmet to helmet shot!

But to save face, and to proceed w/ the over all agenda of no more head injuries, the penalty had to be enforced, as called, regardless of the facts.

The bigger message , as determined by TPTB, must be upheld.

I know what you are saying, but targeting doesn't necessarily have to be helmet-to-helmet.

[aujeff11 6,243]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

Why would he miss two quarters next game

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

The refs did a very poor job all over the SEC this past weekend.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

I was looking for when the foul was called, seeing it was in the 1st half, Ruffin will be available against Moo U according to the ejection rules.

[EagleFlight34 101]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

Why would he miss two quarters next game

He won't, in this instance. The ejection was in the first half. Had it been in the second half, he would have to sit the first half of the following game. Such is the rule....

[WarTiger 3,896]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

Accurate information. I wish people would educate themselves on what targeting is. It does NOT have to be helmet to helmet to be targeting.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

A disqualified player only misses the first half of the next game if the penalty occurs in the 2nd half of the game. Since Ruffin's penalty was in the first half, his disqualification was the remainder of last nights game. He should be eligible to return for the Mississippi State game.

[AURaptor 1,121]

I know what you are saying, but targeting doesn't necessarily have to be helmet-to-helmet.

Watched the replay. It wasn't targeting. Nick's shoulder went into the chest of the receiver, ( which is at or below the head and neck ) and his head snapped back. Late hit, on an unprotected player, is still a flag, I believe, but it wasn't targeting on Nick's part.

There should be no time missed , what so ever. I hope Gus peruses this matter to the league office.

[tigerchris 243]

If he wrapped him up during the hit, no penalty.

[JFDTiger80 790]

I am liking Ruffin. I am sure he learned from this. The kid hits hard and is a true freshman.

[Shift 350]

The official in the booth said that ANY contact above the shoulders is illegal. Doesn't matter if it was helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet.

Accurate information. I wish people would educate themselves on what targeting is. It does NOT have to be helmet to helmet to be targeting.

He will miss the first two quarters of the Miss State game.

A disqualified player only misses the first half of the next game if the penalty occurs in the 2nd half of the game. Since Ruffin's penalty was in the first half, his disqualification was the remainder of last nights game. He should be eligible to return for the Mississippi State game.

My bad. I thought it happened in the 2nd half? So it was before halftime?

[homersapien 11,337]

I thought it was a legal hit at first, but after hearing the rule and focusing on the receivers head during the replay, I have to agree that it qualified as targeting.

Don't think it was intentional, but I guess that has nothing to do with the penality.

[Barnacle 9,064]

The refs are placed in a spot where they have to call that. Just glad it happened in the first half.

[AuburnNTexas 7,124]

He intentionally hit him with shoulder not helmet, I though it was about shoulder height but because the receiver was already low it was close. I didn't think it should have been called targetting but because it was close and because they are trying to defend recievers in that situation I could see the call going either way.. If he had gotten there a step earlier I don't think they would have called it. I think because he was a little late getting there they erred on the side of protecting a player. I can live with the call as long as we get similar calls when our receivers are hit.

[PCBAuburnaFan 1]

If shoulder to head the way that play happened is targeting then Corey Grant should have been flagged for it as well when he lowered his shoulder on that defender late in the game. Just because it was an offensive player doing it doesn't make it any better. But there was also no other way for Ruffin to make that tackle with how low to the ground the player was. He initially aimed for the body and the player dropped into position.

Also if you want to call it a late hit you need to understand perspective. I was sitting in the stands with the same view Ruffin had and you couldn't tell that the receiver didn't catch the ball and the play wasn't blown dead. From my view it looked like he caught it until Ruffin jarred it out

[auburntiger1987 759]

Clear no targeting, clearly not late. The DB's angle shows that he could not tell if the ball was caught or not and the ball hit the ground after ruffin cleaned it up. What are you supposed to do let the receiver catch the ball and run before we touch him? come on.

[TexasTiger 12,782]

He couldn't stop on a dime-- given his momentum it looked like he minimized the impact by moving his head to the side.