The Pac-12 actually had 2 big targeting mistakes in Wazzu-USC?

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One was bafflingly not ruled targeting, while the other reportedly involved an untrained official.

The Pac-12 is receiving criticism for its handling of a hit during USC’s game against Washington State on Sept. 21. In the last play in the third quarter, Cougar linebacker Logan Tago was called for a personal foul for this late hit on Trojan quarterback JT Daniels.

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The play was also reviewed for targeting, but the refs ruled that the hit didn’t include “forcible contact,” which is part of the rule.

Well, according to a new report from Yahoo Sports, the play wasn’t confirmed as targeting because a Pac-12 employee, who wasn’t actually trained to be part of the replay crew, didn’t agree with the call:

The replay report obtained by Yahoo Sports states that “unfortunately a third party did not agree” with the call. That “third party” was Pac-12 general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs Woodie Dixon, Yahoo Sports sources have confirmed.

Dixon oversees football for the conference but is not a formally trained official. Dixon telephoned in his opinion that the play wasn’t targeting, sources said. According to the report, his opinion overruled both the trained officials in the stadium replay booth and in the league’s command center.

“I’m in shock, honestly,” commentator Greg McElroy said during the ESPN broadcast. “Just knowing how many times I’ve seen targeting called on plays similar to that. I am really surprised that Logan Tago is still going to be playing in this game. I don’t think he meant malicious intent, and look, I get it, if they didn’t feel like it was forcible, great. But I’m very surprised.”

Here’s what Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott explained:

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott issued a statement to Yahoo Sports denying there was a “third party” involved, as Dixon is typically in the command center and part of the replay collaboration team, in part because he has a full understanding of targeting. “Our instant replay supervisor [Bill Richardson] is the ultimate decision maker,” Scott said. “The misperception that in this case, the ultimate decision from the command center was made by someone other than the instant replay supervisor is a concern.”

During an Oct. 11 press conference, Scott further addressed the Yahoo story:

But the thing is, this wasn’t even the most controversial hit of the night.

Late in the fourth quarter, USC linebacker Porter Gustin delivered this hit on Cougs quarterback Gardner Minshew.

Wazzu blog CougCenter nails it on the head with why this should have been called targeting:

Note that you need only one of those indicators for a foul. This one had all four, and is exactly the kind of hit that has no business in football. He comes in late and high on a defenseless player (who is also being dragged down already), crouches and launches, lowers his head, and goes high. It’s a great way to cause a concussion and a whole lot of other injuries that get more serious from there.

It’s also a foul that you absolutely cannot miss as an official in the stadium. If the goal is to increase player safety and remove dangerous blows to the head from the game, you cannot miss them on the field. This is more than a holding call or player grabbing a receiver. The consequences of these hits is dangerous in both the short and long term.

Commissioner Scott on that one:

Scott said he had consulted the officiating team about that call. He said every play is reviewed.

“So you can certainly assume that play got a lot of looks, not just from the replay booth at the stadium, but we’ve got our command center back in San Francisco with our head of officiating and a bunch of experienced replay guys, who absolutely would have looked at that play,” he said.

Only the Pac-12 could generate weeks’ worth of headlines from two calls in a game between currently unranked teams.

The conference’s officiating long ago inspired the #Pac12Refs hashtag, its teams have been bad on the field in both major revenue sports, and confidence in conference leadership eroded a long time ago.