Brian Kelly reveals SEC's response to LSU over Jayden Daniels hit

LSU and Brian Kelly reached out to the SEC for an explanation after a hit on Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels last weekend against Alabama was not called targeting.

Daniels was knocked out of the game due to the hit, but Alabama linebacker Dallas Turner, who delivered the blow, was not ejected.

Brian Kelly shared what he heard back from the SEC earlier this week.

“Yea, they felt like the play did not reach their definition of targeting,” Kelly said.

Brian Kelly added that there are a lot of factors considered when it comes to what is targeting or not targeting and what is a horse-collar tackle or not a horse-collar tackle. He doesn’t have a good understanding of what is considered enough to be called targeting.

“I’ll give you an example – the tackle by Harold [Perkins] that was called a horse-collar tackle, and the tackle on Jayden [Daniels] that was not a horse-caller tackle – both were tackled by the back of the collar. But then there are semantics after that that change whether or not it’s horse-collar… or change whether or not that’s targeting,” Kelly said.

“So you can get hit in the face, but semantics would change whether or not that’s targeting. You can get grabbed by the back of the collar, but semantics then would change whether that’s a horse-collar tackle.”

The hit by Turner did lead to a roughing the passer call, but Turner was able to stay in the game.

Alabama went on to earn a 42-28 win over LSU to remain unbeaten in SEC play.

“It’s hard for me really to comment, because when it’s explained, there’s an explanation to, ‘Yes, he was hit in the head and neck area, which is a criteria, but these things happened so it’s not.’ … ‘This was a horse-collar, but this didn’t happen, so it’s not,'” Kelly said.

“In those instances, I’m left to say it’s open to interpretation in those instances whether those are fouls or not, and we just have to move on.”

Kelly is hopeful that the SEC will further clarify its rules this offseason so that he and other coaches in the league will have a better understanding of what is targeting and what is not.

“I think there are conversations for after the season, because I think we’ve gotten into layers and layers and layers of semantics with fouls. And it’s really muddying what a foul is and what is not a foul,” Kelly said. “We’re really going to have to do a good job of clarifying what a foul is, because I don’t know what a foul is anymore. So we’ll have to wait ‘til the end of the season and have further conversations about those things.”