Oregon suspends RB LeGarrette Blount for season
By ANNE M. PETERSON (AP) – 12 minutes ago
EUGENE, Ore. — A day after Oregon’s college football season opened, it ended for running back LeGarrette Blount. Blount was suspended for all remaining games on Friday for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw following the 16th-ranked Ducks’ 19-8 loss to the 14th-ranked Broncos the night before.
Because he is a senior, Blount’s playing days in Eugene are over.
Oregon’s first-year coach, Chip Kelly, told a sobbing Blount about his decision after reviewing tape of the altercation.
Celebrating the victory on the Broncos’ trademark blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount’s face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. Before Boise State coach Chris Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right to Hout’s jaw, knocking him to his knees.
Blount also had to be restrained by police from fans heckling him on the way to the locker room.
Later he apologized saying, “It was just something that I shouldn’t have done. I lost my head.”
Still, Kelly was taken aback when he saw the punch on tape.
“That’s not what we’re all about. That’s not what we coach. That’s not what we stand for and it’s unacceptable,” he said.
Blount’s suspension includes bowl games. He will remain on scholarship, however, and will continue to practice with the team.
“He is taking this very hard,” Kelly said, choking up. “He understands he made a mistake and he has to pay for the mistake. But we’re not going to throw LeGarrette Blount out on the street.”
Kelly said he hoped Blount’s ultimate legacy “won’t be a YouTube clip of what happened to him on September 3rd in Boise, Idaho.”
Hout won’t be suspended for taunting Blount. Boise State spokesman Max Corbet told The Associated Press in an e-mail that Petersen planned to spend time with Hout this week to help him learn from what happened.
Mike Bellotti, who stepped aside as head coach to become Oregon’s athletic director this summer, said the Pac-10 was consulted about the punishment and supported Oregon’s decision.
Bellotti was with Kelly when the Blount was told of the suspension and described the running back’s reaction as dismay.
“It was a very difficult decision and one I don’t think he was expecting, but he was aware there was a certain amount of gravity to the situation,” Bellotti said.
Oregon president Richard Lariviere called Blount’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 in a statement.
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.
On Thursday night, he had eight carries for a loss of five yards.
In February, Blount was suspended indefinitely from the team for “failure to fulfill team obligations.” Bellotti did not share details, but Blount reportedly missed offseason team meetings.
He was reinstated before spring practice.
Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott was at the game and saw the punch.
“We commend the University of Oregon and its leadership for taking swift and decisive action in response to this incident,” Scott said in a statement. “The Pac-10 strongly emphasizes sportsmanship and fair play in all its athletic competitions and expects high standards of sportsmanship from all participants, including student-athletes. In this case, those standards were not met and the university has taken appropriate disciplinary actions.”
The NCAA also weighed in.
“Under no circumstance is fighting acceptable. … Sportsmanship is everyone’s responsibility, including student-athletes, coaches, officials, institutions and fans,” NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said in a statement.
Postgame punch mars No. 14 Boise State’s commanding win over No. 16 Oregon
BOISE, Idaho — Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount talked before the game about keeping emotions in check. Then he lost his own cool after No. 14 Boise State pushed around its big-conference neighbors.
Kellen Moore threw for 197 yards and a touchdown and the biggest home game in Boise State history became a four-quarter bullying of the No. 16 Ducks, 19-8 on Thursday night, clearing the biggest apparent obstacle between them and a possible second BCS bowl.
D.J. Harper added a 1-yard scoring run for Boise State, but the impressive effort by the Broncos was overshadowed in the postgame scrum when Blount punched Boise State’s Byron Hout and was then restrained from fans by police on the field.
“I just apologize to anyone watching that,” Blount said. “I just apologize to all of our fans and all of Boise’s fans. That’s something I shouldn’t have done. I lost my head.”
Rumors even swirled afterward the Blount would be arrested, but Oregon sports information director Dave Williford said that talk was “absolutely false.”
“Our position is that we have full confidence in the NCAA that they’re going to address that. As far as from a criminal standpoint there’s nothing that I’m aware of that we’re doing,” Lt. Bryan Hagler of the Boise Police Department told The Associated Press.
As the Broncos began celebrating on their famous blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount’s face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. That drew an immediate scream from Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, but before Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right hand to the defensive end’s jaw.
Then as Blount was being pulled off the field, he had to be restrained from fans heckling him on the way to the Oregon locker room.
“I couldn’t have envisioned anything worse than this right here,” said Blount, who set a Ducks record with 17 rushing touchdowns last season.
Oregon coach Chip Kelly said he would review the game film before making a decision on Blount’s future.
“I did not see anything. I will see it on tape and make a decision on what we need to do with him,” Kelly said. “There is no place for that. I do not condone that. I will make that decision if that is the case.”
Petersen didn’t want to comment on what happened.
“It’s just unfortunate,” he said.
Blount’s actions took away from a night that for 2 1/2 quarters, was a celebration of all things blue and orange before the nervous final stretch as a Ducks offense that was stuck in neutral most of the night finally gained some traction.
But Boise State’s defense answered every Oregon charge and knocked off the Ducks for the second consecutive season after last year’s contentious matchup in Eugene.
“Hats off to our defense tonight. They made a ton of plays,” Moore said.
Nearly every available space inside Bronco Stadium was crammed with fans desperate to see this border-state battle, one that everyone expected to turn into a high-scoring shootout.
If not for two missed field goals, a botched field-goal snap and three turnovers, it very well might have been a high-scoring rout for the Broncos.
They outgained Oregon 361 to 152, rolling up 22 first downs to the Ducks’ six. The struggles of Kelly’s offense were stunning, considering Oregon scored a combined 162 points in its final three games of 2008 and brought quarterback Jeremiah Masoli back to run the show.
The total yards were the fewest for Oregon in nearly 15 years.
“Boise State really moved the ball, we let them have the ball pretty much the whole game, it seemed like,” Oregon defensive back Walter Thurmond III said.
But Masoli’s passing was off and the Ducks could not get bruising Blount started. Blount carried only eight times and finished with minus-5 yards rushing, part of a miserable night for the Ducks.
“We didn’t execute our gameplan. We didn’t play Oregon football,” Blount said. “Defense played tremendous. They gave us the ball a number of times and we didn’t do anything with it. I didn’t see this coming at all. Everything at practice was going well.”
And Masoli’s main passing target, Ed Dickson, might as well have not been on the field. He wasn’t thrown to in the first half and finished with just two catches for 19 yards. His first grab, with 7:07 left in the third quarter, finally got the Ducks their first first down.
Masoli finished 14 of 27 for 121 yards and an interception.
“It’s frustrating whenever you don’t get a first down,” Kelly said.
The Broncos had no problem marching. Moore hit 14 of 20 throws in the first half and finished 19 of 29. He was also given plenty of time in the pocket behind a young offensive line that for one night answered the biggest question about the Broncos in the offseason.
Moore connected with Austin Pettis for a 10-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter and the two-point conversion put Boise State up 8-0. They later went up 10-0 when Blount was pulled down in the end zone by Billy Winn for a safety.
The Broncos’ line also pushed Oregon’s defensive front and opened holes for Harper and Jeremy Avery. The pair combined for 162 yards rushing and Boise State finished with 164 yards rushing as a team.
“They came out talking a little bit thinking they owed us something, and we just came out and played our game,” Harper said.
