The NCAA rules make no difference between intentional or not.
The film clearly showed him lowering his head in order to hit first with the helmet. That action is what got him for targeting, as the rule defines targeting as not just helmet-to-helmet contact, as shown below, the forth bullet point example is "
Lowering the head before attacking by initiating forcible contact with the crown of his helmet." The refs never said helmet-to-helmet, only targeting.
A breakdown of the NCAA's targeting rules.
www.si.com