scUM of the ACC

General NCS Football52

Couple quick links on the Miami/FIU brawl. Article from the Miami Herald. Video from ESPN.com On a strange note, Pete Garcia who was the Asst AD at Miami, was named the AD at FIU this week.

Link to follow-up from The Sporting News that needed to be archived.

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General NCS Football

52 Responses to scUM of the ACC

  1. noah 10/15/2006 at 9:00 AM #

    Every one of the players involved in the fight should be suspended for at least one game.

    Every player who left the bench should be suspended for at least two games.

    Every player who was swinging a helmet or stomping another player should be suspended for the year and someone ABOVE the AD should be reviewing individual cases to see who should be expelled.

    ESPN said that two dozen cops had to be called out on the field. I don’t know if the ref could do it…but I would have thought about calling the game a forfeit and giving each team a loss.

    Miami is and will always be an absolute DISGRACE to the ACC. Expanding the league to include them was one of the short-sighted retarded acts possible.

  2. 94wolfpack 10/15/2006 at 9:13 AM #

    I am not taking up for the U, however I do feel as if the coverage of this has been a bit one sided. From what I saw FIU instigated the confrontation after the the touchdown and followed it up after the PAT. Then someone from FIU blindsided the kicker or place holder. Thats when the benches cleared from the replays that I saw.

    Like I said I am not taking up for miami but it seems the “thug” calls should be going out to FIU as well.

  3. noah 10/15/2006 at 9:20 AM #

    The only reason I didn’t mention FIU’s role was because they aren’t part of the ACC.

  4. CaptainCraptacular 10/15/2006 at 9:49 AM #

    FIU also instigated on a first quarter interception in the end zone. Miami intercepted the ball in the end zone and the guy was tackled as he made the interception. About 2 seconds later a FIU guy comes out of nowhere full steam and forearms the guy right in the side of the head as hard as he possibly could. Totally blatant and should have been deserving of an ejection right then and there. And that was just the first quarter.

    I only watched part of the first quarter, and am in no position to pass judgement on either, but from what I saw FIU was playing dirty. From that brief bit its hard to blame Miami for fighting back, because FIU seemed to be out to injure.

  5. noah 10/15/2006 at 9:50 AM #

    Which team had an injured guy come off the bench and start swinging his crutch??

  6. choppack1 10/15/2006 at 10:09 AM #

    This ought to be about do it for Coach Coker.

  7. packpigskinfan23 10/15/2006 at 10:14 AM #

    ^just pray that Carolina dosnt pick Coker up!!!!!

  8. gopack968 10/15/2006 at 10:16 AM #

    Who did what first to whom is irrelevant.

    Both teams are a disgrace. The fact that one of them is in the ACC is intolerable. At a minimum, both teams should forfeit the game and possibly the next. Numerous players should be suspended from the team for the rest of the season, and possibly from school. Individual players identified as swinging helmets, stomping players down on the ground, and coming of the bench with a crutch (simply unbelievable!) should be kicked off their respective teams permanently and criminal assault charges should be investigated by the local district attorney.

    Finally, Donna Shalala, the Miami president, should review the football program in total and carefully consider if the entire coaching staff should not be removed from their duties. They have clearly lost the ability to lead student-athletes.

  9. 94wolfpack 10/15/2006 at 10:36 AM #

    I wasn’t only refering to the coverage here, but coverage on ESPN as well as other media outlets. I am not saying both teams aren’t a disgrace but to be objective you’ve got to be atleast even handed in calling programs and players out in this situation.

  10. BJD95 10/15/2006 at 10:38 AM #

    Here’s another angle – I have Gameplan and randomly flipped to this game as all of this was unfolding. FIU may have instigated it, but it seemed to be Hurricane players doing more of the helmet swinging and stomping on people with their cleats. Even more surreal was the crowd giving a very loud and SUSTAINED round of applause for the near-riot, and the color guy (who I believe was a former UM player), who was calling out approvingly “Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout! You don’t come into the ‘OB’ and pull any of that! Maybe the teams need to meet in the tunnel after the game and finish this!” The network eventually pulled the sound from the telecast, likely to quiet down this gangsta wannabe moron.

    I have never seen or heard anything like it.

  11. Wulfpack 10/15/2006 at 10:49 AM #

    The hell with Miami. Having them in the ACC has done nothing to improve our image. They’re a bunch of dumb thugs that are a disgrace to the game. Yea, let’s go stomp all over Louisville’s logo at mid-field prior to the game, only to get STOMPED. And now this. Coker has lost all control and should be fired today. Miami is a has-been.

  12. PittsburghPackFan 10/15/2006 at 11:00 AM #

    Were there any brawls during the Davis era at the U? I thought they got into it with the Criminoles one year…

  13. Jamie 10/15/2006 at 11:33 AM #

    All this talk about how it is unfair to blame one side is ridiculous. You don’t have to have a long memory to know that this isn’t UM’s first incident like this. They don’t exactly “turn away” from conflict. Thugs.period.

  14. CaptainCraptacular 10/15/2006 at 11:42 AM #

    ^*Who did what first to whom is irrelevant.*

    What Miami did *was* over the top from just about any viewpoint. But put your team in this position: There have been several plays over the first few quarters where its plainly obvious that the opponent has a clear intention to injure your teammates. Then the final straw hits where they try and take out your kicker on purpose. How would you react in the heat of the moment? How would you be perceived by teammates if you didn’t stand up for them?

    People can prosletyze from the pulpit about what the sportsmanlike thing to do would be. And how people should be fired and other people be expelled from school and whatnot. But what would you truly do, if you were on the field or the bench and saw what was the last of several plays where their player tried to intentionally injure your buddy. I’m a fairly nonviolent guy. But if I saw the other team repeatedly trying to injure guys on my team, given team dynamics there would come a point where I’d be out there trying to defend my teammates, even if that meant smashing someone with my helmet. I don’t know how many times FIU tried to injure Miami players. But I know I saw one foul deserving ejection and 94 wolfpack described another prior to the melee.

    So I’m not making any claims about what us as fans would or wouldn’t do. But perhaps its best to save judgement on Miami if you yourself would do similar in a similar situation.

  15. GAWolf 10/15/2006 at 12:01 PM #

    As a criminal defense attorney, I see at least 10 guys who should be prosecuted for their role in this… screw game suspensions. Some of these guys should never touch a football field again. Both teams have guys who should be prosecuted. Once the violence goes outside of that which is normally and reasonably part of the game, prosecution for assault is within the power of the apropriate authorities.

    I wouldn’t doubt it if this incident would be a probation violation for a good number of the guys on that field. This is ridiculous behavior and cannot be tolerated. If this happened at State, I’d say the same thing.

  16. ncsu_kappa 10/15/2006 at 12:28 PM #

    ^I’m with CaptainCraptacular…I don’t think he or I will condone the behavior but I can understand. When you have been continously mistreated by somebody at first you exert self control, but we all have our breaking points. And for many people myself included its easier to control myself when bad things happen to myself. But watching my loved ones getting mistreated cause many to get a short fuse. Helmets flying and stomping might be a little over the top but when you are fighting you are fighting, your main concern is to win the fight that begun as protecting your teamates. Yes they were over the top but their backs were against the ropes. Watchign your holder get nailed like that is like watching a guy older than you beat up your little brother, chances are you wouldn’t stand for it. Now add in the fact he previously smacked your sister, you are probably thinking revenge at any cost now. i know it was long but I think 1 game is good enough to remind the players they need to keep their cool next time.

  17. old13 10/15/2006 at 2:06 PM #

    Putting a kid back in the game with his bell rung would seem to be endangering the kid’s health to me.

  18. Andy 10/15/2006 at 2:28 PM #

  19. Andy 10/15/2006 at 2:35 PM #

    ^Announcer BJD95 was talking about kicks in about 2 or 3 min in

  20. class of 74 10/15/2006 at 2:56 PM #

    Before we go over the edge and decry the right of membership to Miami in the ACC let’s take a breath and calm down ourselves. Every school in the conference has had stupid incidents happen in their past, every darn one of us. I watched the replay and the fight was no worse than the one that followed the Clemson – USC game a couple of years ago. Should we strip Clemson of it’s membership too? We’ve had our less than stellar moments here too!

    Let’s wait and see what actions UM takes and then we can better decide what kind of member they are. Larry Coker, if he is the man I think he is, will do the right thing and, given his tenious position right now, that would be very classy indeed.

  21. MatSci94 10/15/2006 at 3:49 PM #

    “I have never seen or heard anything like it.”

    I don’t remember what year (late 80’s), but there was a helmet swinging mini-brawl at a State vs Carolina game at CF. IIRC there were offseting penalties and no ejections or suspensions at all.

  22. spudmarsh 10/15/2006 at 4:21 PM #

    Miami sure is making Va. Tech look better. Aren’t we glad to have these new Thugs in to ACC.(Sarcasm)

  23. gopack968 10/15/2006 at 4:41 PM #

    “How would you react in the heat of the moment? How would you be perceived by teammates if you didn’t stand up for them?”

    It is the job of coaches to control thier teams. Certainly this type of feeling comes up in any sports contest, particularly contact sports. But that does not justify it! This is a game, not mortal combat. I have seen coaches in both football and basketball remove their teams from the field to wait for the referees to gain control. That is why the players should face only suspensions, unless they participated in acts that can be determined to be assaults. The coaches and the school bear ultimate responsibility. If Coker and his staff are men they will resign, admitting they are not up to the task of controlling thier student-athletes.

  24. justaguy 10/15/2006 at 5:09 PM #

    From ESPN: “At least eight Miami players will be suspended for their role in a sideline-clearing brawl against Florida International”

    The 5 ejected players and 3 more. Length of suspensions has not bben set yet.

  25. VaWolf82 10/15/2006 at 6:56 PM #

    Here’s an article about the suspensions:

    http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/10/15/ap3092054.html

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