Like many avid sports fans, yesterday evening was all planned out around the kickoff to the 2009 NCAA college football season.
My eagerness at this momentous, once-a-year occurrence was soon replaced by yawns as the first game was televised in my area, South Carolina at North Carolina State, turned into a yawn. The evening draws long any time the final score of a college football game is 7-3 and you are watching teams that are not your preference. If the contest was a battle of amazing defensive play, perhaps this notion of low-scoring games putting me to sleep can be challenged, but this game was nothing of the sort – at least not in my opinion.
The next game that graced the airwaves featured #14 Boise State playing host to #16 Oregon. This was the ‘hyped’ game of the night, and I was eager to see the offense that dominated my team of choice – Oklahoma State – in the Holiday Bowl just nine months ago. I had visions of the Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli directing a high scoring attack with the Boise State offense launching an effective rebuttal.
However, what I saw was vastly different.
After a slow first quarter by both teams, Boise State took control in the second, putting the game’s first points on the board with 7:05 left in the half with a short pass play which was followed up by a fast and well-executed (at least by Boise State) two-point conversion. After tacking on a safety and a field goal, the Bronchos led 13-0 at the half and had the look of a team poised to extend its home winning streak to 20 games.
The third quarter saw Oregon garner a first down for the first time in the contest – yes, the first time. The Ducks seemed to settle into the game a bit more in this second half and the offense began to move the ball and gain some yardage. It still wasn’t enough though, and after only managing to put up eight points on the board and some back and forth turnovers, the game ended with Boise State as the victor, 19-8.
This game would have gone into the record books as just any other game – or so it would seem. But after the final whistle, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount was verbally taunted by Bronchos player Byron Hout. Blount retaliated with a punch to the chin for all to see. An unexpected twist – at least in my eyes. What happened next, pushed the line way past unexpected to unexplainable. Blount had to be restrained by officers on the field to keep him from going after Boise State fans as he exited the field.
Blount made apologies immediately following the game, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the Oregon administration. Oregon’s president Richard Lariviere called Blount’s behavior “reprehensible” and it appeared that serious punishment was on its way. And, on Friday afternoon, it was announced that Blount has been suspended for the season (as seen on CBSSports.com). Yes – the entire season, including any bowl game that Oregon might be lucky enough to appear in.
Does the punishment fit the crime? This I cannot answer and I in fact am still engaged in my own personal debate about it. One thing that I’m not debating: this “black eye” of sorts is not the way I – a college football die-hard – wanted this best season of the year to begin. One can only hope that this will be the last ugly scene marring the college football landscape.
