Byron Hout

Byron Hout

Oregon football player LeGarrette Blount punched Boise State football player Byron Hout after Thursday night's game, and Blount is, rightly, getting a lot of criticism in the sports media this morning. But Hout deserves a share of criticism, too: He's the one who provoked the incident. Watch the video closely, and you'll see that Blount, dejected after his team just lost, was walking off the field with his head down. Hout then grabbed Blount and shouted something. We don't know what Hout said, but whatever it was, it prompted Boise State coach Chris Petersen to run up to Hout, restrain him, and yell at him. Suffice to say, if Hout had just said, "good game," Petersen wouldn't have reacted that way.

Only after all that did Blount level Hout with a vicious straight right to the chin. Blount's punch was worse than Hout grabbing him, and it was worse than just about anything Hout could have said. But if Hout hadn't provoked Blount, the punch wouldn't have happened. Petersen, to his credit, not only restrained Hout but said afterward, "It was just emotions getting the best of players" -- suggesting that he knew it was players on both teams, not just Blount, who overreacted in the heat of the moment. And it's also to Petersen's credit that after Blount punched Hout, none of the other Boise State players retaliated by punching Blount, which would have made an ugly scene even uglier.

At the end of last night’s Boise State-Oregon game, a frustrated LeGarrette Blount KO’ed Boise State defensive end Byron Hout. I’m posting this for a couple reasons: 1) I’m guessing most didn’t stay up to watch the end of this game, which started after 10 pm; 2) It was pretty much the only thing worth remembering on an otherwise very boring opening night. South Carolina beat North Carolina State 7-3 and Boise State defended their blue home turf, beating Oregon 19-8, a final score I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a football game.