Blount Force Trauma
In case you missed it, the college football game that kicked off this season ended with a bang or shall I say, a punch!
Oregon (#16) traveled to play Boise State (#14) Thursday evening in what should have been a great game to start the season and the game itself was a good game. Boise State clearly outplayed the Ducks but it was far from a blowout; Boise St. won with a score of 19-8.
One of Oregon’s better players, running back LeGarrette Blount, entered the game as a 1,000 yard rusher after his first season with the team and high hopes of being selected in the first few rounds of the NFL draft (ensuring himself probably a million dollars, if not way more, in signing bonuses plus a lucrative contract over several years). Blount now is sitting somewhere no longer a 1,000 yard rusher and will be looking for a miracle to even be signed as a free agent sometime after the NFL draft (and being paid the league minimum for a 1 year contract with no signing bonuses).
Why? Well there are two parts to that question. First, he was held to -5 yards rushing on the day dropping him from 1,002 career yards to 997 career yards. Second, that was his last college football game ever (and maybe last football game at either the college or NFL level). It was his last game due to his after-game rage that he went into.
After the game as Blount walked by Boise State’s Byron Hout, Hout said some words to taunt or heckle Blount. Well it worked; just as a Boise St. coach stepped in between Hout and Blount, Blount came racing back and sucker punched Hout, dropping him instantly. Blount then went on to chasing after some fans and then still continued to fight and pull away from several police tried as they tried to hold him back and escort him to the locker room. Basically, he went on a Hulk style rage for 2-3 minutes on live television and sucker punched an opponent, took swings at his own players and at fans, and fought with police officers.
Blount’s punishment was a season long suspension. If you think it seems a little harsh, you might want to watch the video of it.
If you are interested in more on this story, check out these 3 articles; http://bit.ly/A0HgN, http://bit.ly/2pAh13, and http://bit.ly/sDLXn.
Just a side note: In my post about the preseason rankings, I used the USA Today rankings as the AP Top 25 rankings were not available. I will now be using the AP Top 25 rankings for all of my college football related posts until the BCS rankings are available.
