Arguably the biggest game of a Week 2 slate light on marquee matchups is No. 14 Michigan going to Norman to face No. 18 Oklahoma, and the Wolverines will have to play the first half of that battle without one of their top defensive stars despite a plea to the Big Ten office.
Linebacker Jaishawn Barham will indeed miss the first half vs. the Sooners after his targeting ejection from the second half of Michigan’s Week 1 win over New Mexico was rather surprisingly upheld. Barham went face-to-face with New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne on a sack, but didn’t lead with the crown of his helmet and had his head up as he made the tackle.
The ejection didn’t impact the outcome as the Wolverines cruised to a 34-17 win, but they were hopeful the suspension for the first half would get lifted upon further review. That didn’t happen, and Michigan coach Sherrone Moore expressed his disappointment on Monday, calling for change to the targeting rule and noting those high up at the Big Ten also disagreed with the call.
“So, it was upheld. We don’t agree with it. [Commissioner] Tony [Petitti] doesn’t agree with it. [Big Ten VP] A.J. [Edds] doesn’t agree with it. It’s a rule we have to get changed and we have to look at in college football, just for the general — the game,” Moore said. “Toughness of the game, how you wanna teach tackling, how you wanna teach guys that are 6-foot-3 tackling guys that are 5-foot-8. He lowers his head it might be even worse.”
There are tackles that happen every Saturday that are clear targeting, with a player launching into the head and neck area or leading with the crown of the helmet, but Barham’s hit doesn’t include those elements. As Moore noted, it seemed to be mostly the byproduct of a much larger defender tackling a shorter player with relatively incidental (albeit forceful, just by nature of it being a big hit) contact up high.
The targeting rule has been a point of contention and discussion for coaches and players since it was instituted, so this isn’t anything new, but it’s our first major controversy of the 2025 season involving the rule and its aggressive punishment. For now, there’s nothing more for Michigan to do, and they’ll have to navigate the first half on the road without their top pass rusher.
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