Bryan Harsin discusses impact of targeting call on T.D. Moultry

Auburn fell victim to Mississippi State on Saturday in an all-time collapse, as Bryan Harsin’s Tigers — once leading by 25 — allowed 40 unanswered points to the Bulldogs and lost 43-34.

The fourth quarter was a nightmare for Auburn, which suffered self-inflicted wounds via play calling. First, while trailing 36-28 in the waning minutes of the fourth, Harsin attempted a fake punt, which was sniffed out by Mississippi State and was unsuccessful. Then, minutes later, Harsin attempted a two-point conversion that resulted in a Bulldogs interception, again keeping Auburn behind by two scores. But one mishap, a late-game targeting call against T.D. Moultry, wasn’t so much of a self-inflicted wound at all, Harsin argued.

And the student section agreed.

Moultry picked up a critical sack late in the game, and Auburn seemed to have gained a bit of momentum — however, Moultry was flagged for targeting, a call with which Harsin vehemently disagreed. With the penalty, Moultry has been disqualified for the first half of Auburn’s upcoming game against South Carolina, too.

“I didn’t see it,” Harsin said. “That’s the one thing: They made a decision from upstairs that that was targeting. What I saw on the replay was him going up because the quarterback’s in a passing position to try to block the pass. The quarterback freezes, he’s coming down and then he sacks the quarterback in that situation right there.”

Harsin went on to criticize the implementation of the targeting rule, which he believes is inconsistent.

“Targeting, you’ve got to define who’s defenseless, the crown of the helmet — there’s all these other things that come into play. And I didn’t see that on that play, but they called it from the booth because it wasn’t called on the field,” he said. ” I don’t have a replay of it right now in front of me, but we’ll go back and look at it. But I think that’s a tough call when you have a momentum-changing play right there.

“It was called, and it changed the field position and gave them a first down, and we were getting some momentum in that moment right there, which was good. But that sort of just took that away.”

The targeting call was only the beginning of Auburn’s bad news, as Harsin and the Tigers will be forced to play a half without Moulty, a starter and frequent contributor. Auburn went on to blow the lead and lose at home to Mississippi State; then, a day later, Bo Nix’s season-ending broken ankle injury was made public, sidelining Auburn’s starting quarterback.