There was a highly questionable targeting penalty called against Michigan linebacker Jaishawn Barham in the Wolverines ‘ season-opening victory over the New Mexico Lobos.
Barham sacked New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne, which led to what was ruled a fumble at the time, in which Barham scooped up and returned for a touchdown. However, a replay review of the play was called to determine if it was a fumble or if Layne was down. The officials ruled that Layne was down before he fumbled and then added
on a targeting penalty for Barham.
By rule, Barham was ejected from the game due to targeting, and he won’t be able to play in the first half next week on the road against Oklahoma.
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said they’ll be contacting the Big Ten to appeal the targeting call so Barham can be eligible to play the entire game next week. If the Big Ten agrees with Michigan, the conference would then submit the appeal to the NCAA for review.
“We’re going to talk about the ejection when we get to that point with the Big Ten and handling that. Because we don’t agree and we’ll handle it from there,” Moore said.
Moore said he didn’t really receive a detailed explanation from the officials, which likely made the situation all the more confusing.
Michigan safety Brandyn Hillman was asked about the targeting call on Barham, and he also disagreed with the ruling.
“I think it was a clean hit,” Hillman said. “It was football. It was aggressive.”
If the play wasn’t reviewed to determine whether the quarterback fumbled or not, Barham wouldn’t have been called for targeting. Talk about bad luck. Michigan will hope its appeal is not only heard but approved. Because Barham is one of Michigan’s best players on defense, and it’ll be all hands on deck against a talented Oklahoma offense, led by quarterback John Mateer.
