NCAA, ACC head of officials confirm that Smith ejection was "correct"

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At the request of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the National Coordinator of Officials has reviewed the targeting play that occurred in the second half of the Clemson at Wake Forest game on Thursday night. In addition, the ACC’s Coordinator of Officials has commented on his remarks during the game’s broadcast.

Rogers Redding, National Coordinator of Football Officials

“In my judgment, the call on the field of targeting is correct: there is a launch and forcible contact to the head/neck area of a defenseless opponent. This fulfills the requirements for the foul under Rule 9-1-4, and the player was appropriately disqualified from the game.

“The video also shows the views that are available for review by Instant Replay, and I have looked at these as well. It is helpful to remember that the standard is that in order for the Instant Replay Official to overturn the call on the field, there must be indisputable video evidence that there was not forcible contact to the head/neck area. The video certainly does not show this absence of such contact, and in fact, it would not be unreasonable for the Instant Replay Official to confirm the ruling on the field.

“In summary, in my judgment, the call was correctly made on the field and the Instant Replay Official was correct to sustain that ruling and disqualify the player.”

In addition to the statement by Rogers Redding, the ACC’s Coordinator of Officials has commented on his remarks during the game’s broadcast.

Doug Rhoads, ACC Coordinator of Football Officials

“During last night’s television broadcast, I made remarks surrounding the targeting call that were misleading. I did not have the benefit or access to the various replay angles and ability to perform detailed analysis and therefore made a rush to judgment comment.”

The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.

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