“Respect Weekend” is over before it started thanks to LeGarrette Blount’s reprehensible behavior following No. 14 Boise State’s 19-8 victory over No. 16 Oregon on Thursday night.
Although hundreds of notches above the depths that Blount reached after the final gun, the evening didn’t exactly start out cordial as the Ducks and Broncos formed mobs at midfield and jawed at each other during pregame warmups.
Blount, a senior running back who rushed for 1,007 yards for the Ducks last season, fueled those antics with an ill-advised offseason quote directed at the Broncos: “We owe that team a serious ass-whuppin.”
Blount responded with a straight right to Hout’s jaw. Surprised by the sucker punch, the 6-foot, 240-pound sophomore dropped to the SmurfTurf, but quickly popped back up to his feet. Now in the hands of Peterson, Hout was done for the night.
Blount, however, was just getting started.
After bouncing backward away from the scene like Floyd Mayweather, looking for more trouble with his hands at the ready, three of Blount’s teammates rushed over to settle him down. Duck wide receiver Garrett Embry led that charge. Blount wasn’t having that either and proceeded to go after Embry, landing a stiff shove to the neck.
While wearing an extremely disturbed expression on his face, Blount was then loosely escorted toward the visiting locker room. The ugliness appeared to be over. But as he got closer to the stands near one of Bronco Stadium’s tunnels, Blount, of course, started to hear it from the Boise State faithful.
That caused another explosion as he aggressively charged the stands. Thankfully, he was intercepted by police and security personnel just before reaching a railing separating him from the jeering fans.
It took nearly a minute and a wide variety of people to corral Blount and finally get him into Oregon’s locker room.
If there is any justice in this sporting world, it is there that he got the “ass-whuppin” he was looking for on this night.
You shouldn’t throw stones if you live in a glass house and you shouldn’t talk shit if you have a glass mouth…
Smack-talking is one thing but putting your hands on a rival WHILE smack talking is a whole other animal.
Tout wasn’t an innocent victim.
Congrats to Boise State.
Racist! Black man strikes a white man!
Nah I’m playing but I bet Al Sharpton would have been there had it been the other way around.
What an asshole!!
Hout shouldn’t have touched him. He crossed the line and was unsportsmanlike. He should be suspended a game.
Meanwhile, Blount pulling a “Ron Artest,” should be suspended for a while, maybe the season.
I feel sorry for the Oregon fans.
What a complete and utter tool.
He needs to be gone for the year.
NFL teams won’t forget this either.
What a sucker punching little b!t*h. Expulsion is the ONLY answer. So long, Mr. Blount.
Looks like Gil Brandt will have to update his rankings of top running backs available for the draft next year.
LeGarrette Blount is an idiot.
Sure, he is going to say that he was “caught up in the emotions of the game” and somehow the suckerpunch he landed on the Boise St. player wasn’t his fault and that his wild man antics that followed his suckerpunch are “out of character”. This may all be true but his team and the conference need to drop the hammer on Blount and his miscreant behaviour.
Blount’s only chance is to “play the race card”.
You can bet if this was Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions, this idiot would be walking home.
Anything lease than being kicked off the team will be outrageous.
i’ve seen a lot of people get punched, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen that kind of taunting after a game like the Boise St. player did, so what is the more outrageous behavior? a guy who “taps” the loser and laughs in his face is not exactly a sympathetic victim… seeing that poor sport get his smile knocked into a daze was pretty funny. A-ho;es like Hout offend me as much or more than Blount. suspend him 2 games, like Steve Smith got last year… it’s enough for a provoked punch; not the hugest deal in the world. if you wanna suspend people for a year or kick them off the team, do it for crack-back blocks or late hits.. they’re more dangerous.
So much for “Respect Weekend”. Boise’s Hout should share some of the accountability for this display. Just shake a hand or if you can’t control yourself, just walk away. Blount should have talked with his pads during the game, not his mouth before the game. Both players should be disciplined for failure to maintain self-control.
I find it troubling and disgusting that players are allowed by coaching staffs to engage in pre-game taunting matches at midfield. Coaching staffs who allow or tolerate this behavior need to rethink why they’re in the profession. Everyone wants to win, but there’s a right way to do it.
Our society becomes less civil when people think it’s acceptable or, worse, expected to act like this. Be a man, do your job, then walk away, win or lose, when the game’s over.
What a goon! I hope he is banished from NCAA football for the rest of his career. If we stop letting thugs play then maybe we can have some sportsmanship back in the game.
I watched the televised game – BSU is for real. Evan above is right. Byron Hout taunted his opponent and, ironically, probably had something coming. Give him a game or two on the sidelines. However, Blount’s response was unacceptable, and his post-punch tirde and display of uncontrollable anger points to a larger problem than just reacting to poor sportsmanship on the part of his opponent. He will probably be given a year off, either by the U of O hierarchy or the conference or the NCAA. One more thing – let’s knock off the pre-game taunting – how does that fit in with “Respect Weekend” or any other pretense of sportsmanship? Go Broncos
Watched the ugly display and In addition to all the comments above I really think I saw a classic case of steroid rage. The outburst of uncontrolled anger and the unwillingness to let it pass or subside. It seems appropriate to require the man to submit to a drug test.
Blount is stupid. The most hyped game of the year being watched by the AD of your school, Pac-10 commish, your biggest booster in Phil Knight (Nike Founder) and god knows whom else nationally and he goes and does something like that. Great representation of your school and your state buddy.
Everyone talks smack during a game. I do it playing monopoly. Doesn’t mean I should expect to get hit over it. What did my mommy teach me about sticks and stones? Sheesh. What an idiot.
Kiss any chance of the Heismann goodbye and ANY hope of going pro.
Bring back Bellotti! Loved Mike way back when he was coaching CSU-Chico.
Sounds to me like both these guys got what they deserved. Blount got his a$$ handed to him on the field after talking smack and then Hout crossed the line rather than letting his team’s play do the talkin’. At the very least, he should be smart enough to protect himself if he’s gonna stick it in somebody’s face.
Hmmmmmm……… sounds like the events of the night were foreshadowed in the following article from 8.20.2009. I’m not justifying Blount’s actions but reports surfaced BOTH teams had pushing and shoving matches BEFORE the game in their individual workouts.
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Ducks QB not a big fan of forced sportsmanship
Posted by John Taylor on August 20, 2009 5:46 AM ET
The American Football Coaches Association recently recommended that on opening weekend of the college football season, teams meet at midfield before their games and shake hands as a show of sportsmanship.
One of the schools thus far taking up the AFCA suggestion is Boise State, and their opponent that day, Oregon, has agreed to participate.
That’s not sitting well with at least one member of the Ducks.
Last season, Jeremiah Masoli suffered a concussion on a late hit in Oregon’s loss to Boise State, and he seems a tad bit uneasy about any display of respect toward the team that knocked him out.
“Wow, that’s different,” said the starting quarterback according to the Oregonian. “That’s unique. … I don’t like it. I don’t even like shaking hands when you get out there with the captains for the coin flip.”
While Masoli may have an issue with the pregame handshake, head coach Chip Kelly is in “fine, whatever” mode.
“If they want us to do it, we’ll shake hands with them,” Kelly said. “It’s no big deal, it’s sportsmanship.
“Just tell me what to do. If they want us to shake hands, we’ll shake hands.”
Just a hunch here, but we’re gonna guess that more players will fall on the side of Masoli than Kelly.
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# stewbaby says: September 4, 2009 10:23 AM ET
You can bet if this was Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions, this idiot would be walking home.
Anything lease than being kicked off the team will be outrageous.
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I completely agree. JoePa wouldn’t stand for it. Instead, he’d have his players take it out on non-football players in campus parties, then drive home drunk, high or both and then get busted for it.
Ok..it appears that there aren’t a lot of people here that has every played football. We tap on someone’s shoulder pads to get their attention. Happens all the time by all players. It’s not like we have the best line of sight with the pads on. Secondly, the BSU player clearly asked the OU player how about that ass whoopin. If you recall, the OU player said that BSU was owed one. To say that the BSU player deserves to be punished as well because of trash talking is idiotic at best. If players were punished for that there wouldn’t be any players left to play. The OU player should be out of college, should have to repay the monies that the scholarship had paid for up to that point, and is lucky that he isn’t charged criminally. He should also expect to kiss goodbye any football career that he thought he was going to have. Suspended by his team once before and then this…smart, really smart.
Looks like a BCS plot gone bad!
Being a Oklahoma football fan, I was pulling for Oregon to win big last night against Boise State more or less as a payback for the beating that BSU gave Oklahoma in the bowl game 2 years ago. Until Blount’s post game actions for which there is no excuse, I would expect that from a first year freshman but not a senior. I do agree that the coachs need to control the trash talk prior to and after a game, I also feel sorry for the Oregon fans because the idiot probably cost the team a chance at a BCS bowl or a conference championship. Go Boise State………
LOL @ ‘roid rage! He was mad that he had a bad game, and that jerkoff gloating in his face didn’t help matters. Not condoning the punch, but he got what he deserved. The problem is that he thought it there would be no retribution for his unsportsmanlike behavior and, as a result, he got dropped to the turf. With that being said, Blount should have practiced a lot more restraint.
I knew this was gonna get out of hand. If a fight happens during the game, i.e. Miami vs. FIU, the NCAA came down “hard” with a one-game suspension. That was a huge brawl, where players came from the bench to join the fray.
This was just after the game, where tempers run just as high, maybe even higher. Blount got caught on national tv and made SportsCenter for the remainder of the year. Honestly, that was his biggest infraction because of the PR and visibility.
When compared to similar acts, I’m sure that Blount will pay the price. And btw… Mau Clarrett and Chris Henry got drafted… Blount will be a late round steal, where the dollar amount is a lower guarantee.
Anyone saying that he should pay the price with his career should take up watching another sport… I’m told there’s a US Open or something with a lot less contact.
Also, the “ass-whupping” comment is getting blown out of proportion… He didn’t say, we ARE gonna whoop em, or anything degrading about any player or the team. He said, we owe them one… as in, we got killed last year and we need to get payback because we have national championship on our mind…
I’m not defending his actions… don’t take it the wrong way. I’m just saying that fights happen, and going after the fans was really what sealed his fate, and unforgivable, but A) he didnt get there and B) we still don’t know what was said by the fans.
You can say that it doesn’t matter what they said, but we all have certain buttons that in a enraged state can take us over the borderline. This wasn’t Artest that just went into the stands and immediately started attacking fans.
This is great news for the CFL. Another wonderful candidate for their little league.
What I find funny:
Such a big deal is being made out of this because it rarely happens, but, in baseball pitchers aren’t seen as goons or what not when they whip balls at 90 mph at players because their home run strut was a little long and they thought they were showing them up.
Anyone who has ever played any sport in their life at a competitive level knows two things:
There are always almost fights in any game, even pickup games, and people who trash talk losers know not to touch the person they are speaking to unless they plan on something getting started.
Blount should not have acted the way he did, but let’s be honest, this type of stuff happens all of the time, even amongst teammates. And this talk about criminally charging him is nonsense. Suspend him, yes, arrest him, no. ITTTT’S DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!
And this situation is also remiscent of the Malice in the Palace for this reason: people seem to forget that it was Ben Wallace who started that whole thing by throwing the towel on Ron Artest. I guarantee that the person who threw the beer did so as a result of seeing Ben Wallace throw that towel. Sure, Ron Artest is responsible for how he acted afterward, but there’s a reason why someone can be charged with inciting a riot. All it takes is for that first stone to be thrown before everyone starts casting lobbing their own. That being said, the Boise State player should have the sense to know not to talk trash and then touch someone after they’re pissed off that they lost. It’s stupid, and a lot of people who have played sports competively will agree that he deserved what he got. It may not be right, but that’s just the way it is. He still deserves about a three game suspension.
Blount is a total idiot – The kid from BS may have been over the line and should be suspend for one game but Blount looked like another suspect on an episode of “cops”.
I was just waiting for the taser…..
What a disgrace for College Football.
This fiasco started with the totally artificial “friendship handshake” prior to the game. These teams were about to play an absolutely critical game if either hopes to get to the BCS playoffs and have plenty of anger remaining from last years game. Playing friendly prior to the game was nonsense and ridiculous–especially after the coaches from both teams let the teams verbally lite it up in pregame warm-ups.
Hout was stupid in getting in the face of a player he knew would be on the edge after a terrible performance in the game. If you are going to mouth off to a player in full uniform, including helmet, you damned well better protect yourself. Hout didn’t and is lucky he didn’t spit out some teeth or get his jaw broken. His putting his hands on Blount was over-the-top–you just don’t do it. Nobody deserves a sucker punch in the mouth but Hout did everything he could to encourage it and nobody who saw his behavior should be too surprised he got what he did.
Blount is a loose cannon. His history prior to last night’s game proves that. Coach Kelly should have him on a short leash at all times and that fact should have been made clear to Blount. His behavior proves he has little or no self control and is a danger to anyone who is nearby when he is “upset.” He should not be let back onto the field until he has successfully completed an anger management program–this is for his own good and for the good of everybody around him: coaches & teammates, the University of Oregon, opponents and fans in the stadium. Just what would he do if he were a GI in Iraq and somebody pissed him off? From all evidence thus far I would conclude he would be quite likely to severely injure or kill someone in that situation given the weapons so easily attainable. For everyone’s sake he needs serious emotional attention. The comments above about roid rage may not be far off target–it certainly was rage he displayed last night and it cannot be condoned or allowed to occur again.
Both men were guilty–one of being stupid and provocative; the other of being completely out of control and responding in a violent manner. The first deserves a one or two game suspension; the latter should not play until he can prove he can control his temper in the heat of battle.
First off, what kind of idiot lips off to the opposing team without his helmet? He deserved every bit of Blount’s right. But even though he deserved it by no means do I mean that he should have thrown it! Here we have another perfect example of a primadonna wide receiver cut out of the same cloth as Buriss, Ochocinco, Owens and now Crabtree. This idiot needs to be dropped from the team altogether. The NCAA needs to make a strong statement here that this kind of stuff just will not be tolerated. Something that a suspension will not accomplish.
Oops. I gues he was a running back. Well, he’s still cut out of the same cloth!
Hout asked for it and he got it. Talk trash, but don’t touch the guy. Especially with your helmet off, idiot. If you’re going to taunt, keep your head on a swivel punk. You got knocked the **** out.
I am a student at Boise State and saw what happened at the game last night. I just want to say a few things-BOTH teams were shit talking, BOTH teams were heated and BOTH teams were taunting. Granted, Hout should NOT have touched him, it was how Blount handled the entire situation that costed him the season. There comes a point when you need to be the bigger person and just walk away…however, Blount did not. He chose to punch our player in the jaw and drop him-THEN proceeded to our fans. Thank god police and other people were there to restrain him. If he can’t handle the pressure and the teasing, and the shit talking, he shouldn’t do it himself. And if he can’t handle all of stress that goes along with being a football player in college, how will he handle it in the NFL, if thats where he is looking to go in the future? Both parties were at fault, but like I said before, it was how Blount handled the entire situation that got him suspended and for that, Oregon should be given props for taking the proper action. And I just have to say, GO BRONCOS!!
Too bad Blount can’t skate. He would have a great future in the NHL.
Congratulations to Oregon for making the correct decision to suspend Blount for the year and effectively his college career. This problem child has a history of bad-boy behavior and ran his big mouth before the Boise State game about them needing an “ass whuppin.” I think he finished with negative yardage. Ouch.
I don’t condone the post game antics by the BSU player and perhaps he should face some discipline, but Blount’s response was way over the top. Good luck with the rest of your life Mr. Blount, you are going to need it…