http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4446898 EUGENE, Ore. -- Oregon has suspended running back LeGarrette Blount for the remainder of the season for punching Boise State linebacker Byron Hout after Thursday night's loss. Blount's suspension includes any bowl games. Coach Chip Kelly said he will remain on scholarship. Immediately following Boise's 19-8 victory, ESPN showed Hout taunting Blount as the teams converged onto the field. As a Broncos assistant coach moved to separate Hout from Blount, the Oregon senior threw a right cross that connected with Hout's right jaw. Hout went down and popped right back up. "Under no circumstance is fighting acceptable," the NCAA said in a statement Friday. "If it occurs before or during a game, the officials enforce the rules. If it occurs after a game, institutions and conferences decide how to address the situation. We trust our members to handle these situations appropriately. Sportsmanship is everyone's responsibility, including student-athletes, coaches, officials, institutions and fans. In a statement prior to Blount's suspension, Oregon president Richard Lariviere called the player's behavior "reprehensible." "We do not and will not tolerate the actions that were taken by our player. Oregon's loyal fans expect and deserve better," Lariviere said. Boise State spokesman Max Corbet told The Associated Press in an e-mail Friday that head coach Chris Petersen will not suspend Hout. Instead, Petersen will spend time with Hout this week to help him learn from what happened. Boise State replayed Blount slugging Hout several times on the giant screen in the north end zone of Bronco Stadium. Amid jeers from the crowd, Blount, who was being escorted from the field by Oregon assistant coach Scott Frost, got into another confrontation with fans. According to Blount, one fan brandished a chair at him and another punched him. Two police officers and Frost nearly carried Blount to the Boise State athletic building, where the visiting team dresses. After the game, a contrite Blount came out of the locker room. "I should have handled that situation a lot better than I did," he said. "I apologize. We will never have a game like this again. ... The game, as it went on, just got more frustrating and more frustrating for me in general. I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have done anything." Blount, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound transfer from East Mississippi CC, rushed for 1,002 yards and a school-record 17 touchdowns last season. He carried the ball eight times for minus-5 yards and caught two passes for 13 yards against Boise State. Players from both sides, Blount included, met at midfield for a pregame handshake, the result of a sportsmanship initiative developed for this weekend's games by the American Football Coaches Association and the NCAA. Grant Teaff, the AFCA's executive director, said Friday the incident would not dampen the weekend. "This case points out that we still need to have a commitment to sportsmanship and respect," Teaff told ESPN's Joe Schad. "It was sad as I watched [the events in Boise], but the good news is nobody joined in. That would have been a brawl back in the day. This was one player who was frustrated and infuriated and lost control."
It should be that way. Everytime these fucking guys get out of line they should be made an example of.
he deserves it. punched his teamate twice in the helmet too.and then the whole fans scene was digusting, fuck him tough economy.only the privledged should make millions. beside the school will let him keep his scholarship so he can stay in school and be something.guarentee this knucklehead drops out.
thats probably the case, it's a shame to see the guy with a promising future throw away it all because he let his emotions get the better of him. But he went completely beserk and as a result deserves everything he gets as a result of it. If a normal person did what he did in a crowd of people, or heck even in the stands of that game, that person would be looking at jail time, so in a sense he got off easy.
Hout should get at least 1 game. That was a punk ass move. I didn't think Blount would get a season tho, damn. He still has 1 year left tho, dosen't he? He can still work his way back up.
I mean yes the guy deserved to be suspended but the whole season i dont know.. i think the guy really taunted him and then he touch him by slapping his shoulder pads and last but not least even when i played high school football they always said keep your helmet on when going to shake hands.. Was he wrong for the punch yes but the other guys started it IMO...
I think it was going after the fans that really put this over the top. I think if it had only been the punch he might have been suspended 4-6 games, but the stuff afterwards came disturbingly close to a "Malice in the Palace" situation, and I think that's what did him in. He was a junior college transfer who played last year, so he definitely is in the final year of his eligibility, but I don't know if playing in the first game and being suspended uses up that year. And I absolutely think Hout should have been suspended for one game.
It's not so much the punch I had a problem with... it was the fact that after he punched Hout he ran away like a little bitch. If your gonna be man enough to slug somebody when they're not looking be man enough to stand toe to tow with him when he gets up Oh and those who say Hout started the thing are wrong... it was pretty well known (at least in betting circles) that Blount had been running his mouth in the weeks leading up to the game. He kept giving Boise bulletin board material after the Broncos beat them last year he kept talking about how much better Oregon was than them. Don't fear though NON BCS conference haters...while Boise now seems to be an easy favorite to now run the table and end up back in a BCS Bowl I have a feeling Nevada is going to beat them... I hate the Pac but they have the best offense in the WAC and get Boise in Reno (shithole)
Hout was acting like an antagonistic idiot and he got dropped. If it had ended there both players should have been suspended 2 games. But it didn't end there. Blount's refusal to calm down and going after fans and not obeying the police...I would have suspended him 6 games and reviewed his interim behavior after that. I'd want to incentivize him to not drop out, and learn something. Hout looks like a dumb redneck to me.
You funny after he slugged him he didnt stand toe to toe !!! first off the coaches came immediately and broke it up and if you look at the tape the coach was coming over to tell hout to shut the fuck up right before he got dropped.. and #2 why on earth would you punch someone in a crowd of other teams players and say yeah imma go toe to toe he would of got the shit kicked out of him... Next issue is the coaches hype the whole game up and talk shit to other coaches and get the players involved by saying you gonna run over who ever there best player is etc.. If you know for a fact the guy has had other issues with his fighting then as a another player me going up to him taping him on his shoulder saying what ever basically taunting him then you deserve what you get and thats to get knocked the F out... Hout was very Unsportsmanlike when he did that.. Just go to your side of the field and go home... I kinda Blame the NCAA as well for the simple fact that they try to do things alittle like the NFL by letting the players walk on the field in a mob together.. Line em up on the 50 and shake hands and go.. These players are straight out of HS for the most part so they are not Mature!!!
As somebody else said, if it hadn't been nationally televised and the only game in town he would have probably gotten a game or two. Maybe less. The video killed him in this.
