Blount went too far after swing

When I first heard Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount had been suspended for the remainder of the season, effectively ending his college career, for hitting Boise State's Byron Hout after Thursday night's game, my first thought was, "What?!? That's a gross overreaction by a rookie head coach trying to send a message to the rest of his team."

I can't say I fault Blount for hitting a Bronco or for wanting to fight a section of Boise State fans. The last time I attended a game at the famed blue turf, my then-girlfriend had to forcefully shove me into the passenger seat of my car after the game so I could avoid having to get my butt kicked by a 250-pound man because he didn't like my Vandals hat with horns I was wearing. This was just minutes after I told an 11-year-old to enjoy his truck driving classes at Boise State in the future in an unrelated exchange.

Boise State fans are the worst. Every time I see one (current students and alumni excluded since the law of interstate rivalry dictates the winning team's students and alumni get complete bragging rights until the two teams meet again the following season), I just want to hug them and tell them I'm sorry that the highlight of their life was a few years back when they decided to jump on Boise State's bandwagon.

I got my first taste of just how appalling Boise State fans can be a few years ago. I had just returned home from Iraq a few weeks earlier, where I had both fallen in love with college football and made the decision to transfer to the University of Idaho. So I jumped on the chance when my friend's dad asked me if I wanted to attend the Boise State-Idaho game at Bronco Stadium. I saw to it my sister, a fellow Vandal, also got to come. After the game, we were walking to her car when we walked past a group of people. One girl saw the "I" on my sister's hat and started verbally attacking her and following us down the street (my sister's pretty classy and pretended not to notice her), saying things so mean that had her friends not all been big, drunk guys, it's likely she would still be wearing braces to correct the damage I would have done to her teeth for talking that way to my sister.

I'm all for smack talking. But smack talking should be contained to what happens on the field. When people start attacking other people's characters based solely on the team they choose to cheer for, that's taking it too far. Boise State fans, as a group, are notorious for doing this. I remember that walk back to the car that day just as clearly as I remember the smash mouth hit late in the third quarter that changed the momentum of the game and allowed Boise State to put Idaho away. (Another reasons I hate Boise State fans.)

So when I heard a player took a shot at a Bronco and turned his attention to the fans, I wasn't too upset about it. When I heard he was suspended for the remainder of the season, I thought it was about seven games too long. Surely, other factors must be at work here, I thought. The head coach is overreacting, The school is overreacting because the hit came after the night's biggest game when nothing else was occurring in sports and the story became Friday's biggest sports story (even CNN.com made his suspension their lead story). Had the exact same thing happened during a Utah State/Nevada-Reno game at 2 p.m. Saturday, no one would care.

This is a player expected to go in the early rounds of the draft who last season set the school's record for touchdowns. College players only get four years of eligibility. Taking one of those years away from him is pretty extreme and unfair for a single instance.

Then I saw the tape and two things became clear: Hout needs to be punished for his role in instigating the incident. Sure, his actions weren't nearly as bad as Blount, but that alone doesn't mean he should go unpunished. He clearly hit Blount on the shoulder pads and said something inappropriate enough to have his own coach get in his face, a clear act of unsportsman-like conduct.

And second, Oregon coach Chip Kelly had no choice but to suspend Blount for the remainder of the year. Had Blount only thrown a punch at Hout and left it at that, a few-game suspension would have been appropriate. But Blount didn't leave it at that. He had to be escorted to the locker room by an assistant coach and on his way there, came dangerously close to entering the stands. Close enough that images of Ron Artest's Malice at the Palace came to mind. These are images that do not belong in college football. Had Blount made his way to the stands, or even took a swing at a fan, Blount's and Oregon's reputation wouldn't be the only ones to take a hit. A scenario like that would have been bad for the entire game of college football.

Furthermore, he continued to resist his escorts' attempts to get him to the locker room, which at one point included the efforts of police officers (Check out how I respond to police when I'm clearly in the wrong.) He looked more like a WWE villain after a cage match than a football player who had just lost a top-20 season opener. That image has no place in the game of college football, or legitimate athletics in general. Blount earned every game of his suspension Thursday night.

Kelly did the right thing by suspending him and sending the statement his actions have no place in the game and that attempting to start riots after games isn't what Oregon football is about.

As he was being escorted off the field, the game's announcers can be heard wondering if Oregon's season is already lost. It's too early in the season to declare the Ducks dead in the water. Perhaps Oregon is a good team and Boise State's defense was just that good. Teams always look sloppy when they open the season -- that's why they schedule teams like Idaho State and Charleston Southern to start the season. Boise State looked sloppy by all accounts last night but still pulled off the win and did so not on a FCS team but a PAC-10 team. That's a solid fact that thanks to Blount's antics is going largely overlooked.