Gophers LB Ejected after Legal Hit on Kicker

I am all for making rules for keeping safety as the number one priority for football and the players that play the game, but I can't get on board with the ejection of a Gophers linebacker on Saturday.

Penn State's kicker Joey Julius kicked off and as he was running down the field, Gophers LB Jaylen Waters lowered the boom with his shoulder into the chest area of Julius.

What I just described sounds like a normal play that would get the "ews" and "ahhs" of fans, yet on Saturday it warranted a ejection.

Many of you have probably seen the ejections across college football for "targeting" yet that wasn't even the penalty on the play, instead, the zebra's came up with "unsportsmanlike" as the penalty of choice and threw Waters out of the game.

Not only does that effect the game he was in at the time, it also now keeps Waters out of the first half of the next game for Minnesota.

This wasn't the first time that Julius and Waters dueled on the day, they got into a shoving match earlier and in fact, I would of been more on board with throwing a flag for the excessive contact after the whistle on the first scuffle vs. throwing the flag for a hard hit later that would result in an ejection.

Plus, Julius is a plus sized kicker.  Dude could be playing middle linebacker for some non Power 5 schools and he's had some highlight reel tackles himself so far this season.

So in the minds of many, if you want to be a normal player on most plays, the officials shouldn't treat you differently on others.

I completely understand the human eliminate to officiating and the judgement that comes into play, but I think they got this one wrong.

WATCH IT FOR YOURSELF AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND