Auburn’s Smoke Monday disqualified for targeting vs. Georgia (Video)

Smoke Monday will watch the rest of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry from the sidelines.

Smoke Monday was ejected for targeting very early in Auburn’s road game vs. Georgia.

On the ensuing punt after their first offensive series of the ball game, Monday was ejected for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Georgia return man Kearis Jackson. Given that he’s the best defensive back on the Auburn Tigers’ roster, this is an especially egregious punishment for what should actually be a 15-yard penalty and not worth an ejection. Targeting is getting out of hand.

This ejection gave Georgia tremendous field position and capitalized on it.

Targeting is there for a reason because we don’t want players to use their helmets as weapons to try to hurt the opposition. Football is a gladiator sport to begin with, but an immediate ejection for something like Monday did is way too punitive. The yardage is fine, but it should be viewed as something akin to a flagrant one in basketball. To have him out for the game hurts Auburn.

Given that Auburn hasn’t won in Athens since 2005, the Tigers were going to need every big break to beat the Dawgs Between the Hedges on Saturday night. They still might do it because the Georgia passing game is so lackluster presently with Stetson Bennett IV starting games for the Dawgs. However, their running game and defense are as good as it ever was.

If the Dawgs make a big play, we may look at Monday watching painfully from the sidelines.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.