Three random observations before I hit the road

Assigning some degree of fault to one does not proportionately lessen the fault of the other. I agree Hout was way out of line and deserves some discipline. Furthermore, he went out of his way to place himself in a position where he might get popped in the chin. Like you, I’m not all that fired up about the shot Blount took, but it was out of line and requires punishment, as well. The out-of-control display afterward, however, is a significantly aggravating factor and, in my mind, means that some kind of hammer should come down hard.

Just got announced. Apparently, in response to Blount’s comments before the game about BSU needing an ass-whoopin’, Hout came up and said, “Nice ass whoopin”. No, he shouldn’t have touched him, but I doubt Hout thought he was gonna get a jab to the jaw. Not condoning it, but if you are gonna talk trash before a game, especially one that you lose, you have to expect to hear some trash talk afterwards. The punch though wasn’t the worst part of it either in my opinion, it was the way Blount flipped out afterwards having to be restrained.

… sucker-punching a guy when he’s not looking is not.

That’s what it comes down to for me. Was it a bush-league, Florida-esque thing to do for Hout to taunt the Oregon player? Absolutely. But that’s what happens when a lower-tier opponent beats a BCS-conference opponent and acts like they’ve never done it before.

The correct response for a pissed-off, frustrated player when someone comes up and taunts him is to either a) walk away, or b) shove him back and call him a sucka’. You get into a little shoving match, get to curse at each other, and everybody feels a little better afterwards. It is not acceptable to see him turn his head and then give him a sucker punch like he’s Glass Joe in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. That act alone deserved a significant suspension, perhaps even the entire-season suspension. Given his super-over-the-top reaction afterwards, however… I would have kicked him off the team. There would be no room for that kind of low-class, out-of-control response like that in my program.

From a practical standpoint, however, I don’t think Oregon really had any choice. Your game is the only game on TV at that time of night, so you have a national television audience. This game is the first game of the new head coach’s first season. And to top it off, the broadcasters were absolutely lampooning this kid from the moment that the punch was thrown. Not to act in a severe and immediate way would cost Oregon in national prestige, and would bring significant criticism down on both the head coach and the AD. Not something you want in your first year…

Either way, though, I wholeheartedly agree with the decision.