What will happen verses what should happen...

[fedxdog]

This is an op-ed of my thoughts on the "brawl."
Having worked for a Fortune 500 and been a manager, you know that no corporation wants bad publicity. In the University world, it hurts recruiting of students, athletes and donations. I don't see any conference or the NCAA wanting to fix the problem now but they should. I don't want to see the NFL take a knee and I don't want to see college players fight.
We'll probably have a few players suspended for a few games next fall and might see a few players decide to "opt out." Though it didn't appear that State players were the original instigators, I'm sure there's enough blame to go around.
I think what SHOULD happen is for the NCAA to outlaw bullying (smack talk, holding opposing players on the ground and kneeing them when you get up, standing over a player after a play to trash talk), much in the way they outlawed "excessive celebrations" after a score. They can penalize individual players or assess a "Bench" penalty to the whole team or staff. And players will have to have jerseys or tee shirts on at all times when on the field.
It was mentioned previously that Auburn acted that way against us earlier in the season and LSU always acts that way.
I'm afraid that if it continues unchecked that college football will spiral down to WWE level. To use a popular phrase, it's a culture that must change.

And yes, I did play football in high school, but I'm a dinosaur. I played for Barney Poole in Laurel back in the 60's. And my position coach was Hal Easterwood, a great Bulldog.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

This type stuff is a pipe dream. Sounds good, but trying to control people rarely ends well. I think you just have to accept a certain amount of chaos.

The referees could have ended that **** at the bowl quickly, but they were very incompetent. That's been a trend lately as technology takes over.

 

[paindonthurt_]

It’s pretty simple. The refs could have fixed it early. They didn’t. It ended up getting out of control.

Grand scheme of things? It was a fight that want make the top 75% of all time fights and will be forgotten long before next season minus some suspensions.

Malik Heath’s intelligence after the game is the worst part abt the whole thing as it pertains to Mississippi State University.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

100% on the Big 10 Refs... they lost control of the game...Tulsa was a much older team and their strategy was to try to Bully MSU...what a competent AD should do is have a press conference with supporting Video of the Tulsa player spearing Kobe Jones while he was laying on the ground, the knee to the back of Austin Williams, the unsportsmanlike penalties etc, laying blame on the Big 10 officials and Tulsa and saying we will handle our disciplinary internally.

 

[MeridianDog]

If MSU violated the 90 minute pregame rule (I understand they didn't), they should have been flagged. If Tulsa came over during this period to harass MSU players (They did), they should have been penalized. If the officials had tried to stop the smack talk (From both teams once the game started), they could have, simply by going up to a player after a play and saying, "If you keep doing that, the next time I see it, I'm going to throw a flag for whatever I like on you and then go over to the sidelines and tell your coach why I threw it." - but they made no effort t ever control the players. The fight was going to happen. There was no way around it by the end of the game. The Tulsa coach who threw the bench clearing punch has done it before. He should be fired (and he won't). The best/most likely thing is these two schools will NEVER be invited to play each other post season again.

Like other schools (Alabama), the public comment to a direct question on the matter from the day after the game forward should be, "We are handling this situation internally." No other comment about what we do is appropriate. If we choose to hold a player out of the first game for participation in the fight, then no reason should be given, just hold him out.

Go Dogs. Go to hell Tulsa.

 

[mcdawg22]

First of all, I can’t believe there is a student out there that would say to himself, man I really like MSU’s aerospace engineering program but damn that fight in The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl has swayed me the other way.
Second, MLB has a fight every month and nobody is saying it’s going down the path of the WWE. There is so much recency and home bias when discussing this fight. Does anyone remember the FIU Miami fight in 06? It put this one to shame. How about the multiple Egg Bowl fights? **** Woody Hayes punched an opponent. The 24 hour news, and 20 HD cameras in the stadium make it worse.

 

[msstatelp1]

100% on the Big 10 Refs... they lost control of the game...Tulsa was a much older team and their strategy was to try to Bully MSU...what a competent AD should do is have a press conference with supporting Video of the Tulsa player spearing Kobe Jones while he was laying on the ground, the knee to the back of Austin Williams, the unsportsmanlike penalties etc, laying blame on the Big 10 officials and Tulsa and saying we will handle our disciplinary internally.

No, a competent AD should just let it die. It's already ancient history as far as the sports shows are concerned. They want to talk about the championship game or how bad the ACC did. If we bring it back up especially after the championship game then it becomes the talking point for the next month. Look at Leach's tweet for example. It had died down and was quickly becoming old news then Cohen brought it back up and the talking heads jumped on it. Handle everything internally and just say "It's being handled" when asked about it.

 

[mstateglfr]

100% on the Big 10 Refs... they lost control of the game...Tulsa was a much older team and their strategy was to try to Bully MSU...what a competent AD should do is have a press conference with supporting Video of the Tulsa player spearing Kobe Jones while he was laying on the ground, the knee to the back of Austin Williams, the unsportsmanlike penalties etc, laying blame on the Big 10 officials and Tulsa and saying we will handle our disciplinary internally.

You actually want our AD to hold a 17ing news conference and push back on the shitshow being MSU's fault by going point by point thru the game to try and create a justified reason for the fighting?!
What the 17 world do you live in where that is a smart decision?

Players on Tulsa were out of control.
Players on MSU were out of control.

Each AD needs to say that they are looking into the events that led to the brawl as well as the brawl itself, and will handle discipline for players involved.

You have to see how that is better than an AD creating a PowerPoint presentation in an effort to show how mean the other team was and justify MSU player's actions.
Also, Heath did no favors by streaming in the locker room.

 

[FAFlood]

I mean it's not like our football team funneled money from a children's cancer charity or squashed rape allegations against one of our best players.....just give it another 2 weeks and everything will be better....

 

[dog12]

No, a competent AD should just let it die. It's already ancient history as far as the sports shows are concerned. They want to talk about the championship game or how bad the ACC did. If we bring it back up especially after the championship game then it becomes the talking point for the next month. Look at Leach's tweet for example. It had died down and was quickly becoming old news then Cohen brought it back up and the talking heads jumped on it. Handle everything internally and just say "It's being handled" when asked about it.

THIS.

"We will investigate everything, determine the appropriate actions, and handle it internally. We will keep the SEC Office properly updated. If we have any new information for the press, then we will let you know . . . and no, we're not taking questions. Thank you! Have a nice day. We'll see y'all later."

 

[Dawgg]

It ain’t tennis or golf. This isn’t some “gentleman’s game”.

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[paindonthurt_]

Yeah I’m more in this boat.

Maybe release a statement that the game had several “issues” and we will evaluate....blah blah blah. Then let it die.

But damn sure don’t need AD falling to the woke crowd and putting blame on us.

 

[was21]

Agree with all of that. OTOH the perception of Leach's initial response to it on the field at the time it was still happening was not a good look, and perception is sometimes more important than reality. Seems that all he really had to say was he would wait and try and find out what happened before saying anything else. It DID appear that he didn't think there was anything for folks to get upset about. That caught the attention of the media. So now both universities are going to do some kind of review of it, and so the entire affair lives on. AND you can rest assured that whatever statement Cohen made was sanctioned by Keenum, so no need to" blame" Cohen for the statement.

 

[patdog]

Exactly. Yes, Tulsa was looking for a a fight from before the game even started. Yes, Tulsa played dirty the whole game. Yes, the referees did nothing to defuse the situation. None of that matters. If Cohen goes public complaining about it, it’s just going to backfire. Take it up with Sanky & have him take it up with the Big 10 commissioner & the AAC commissioner.

 

[maroonmania]

I don't think there is ANY tangible evidence that a team getting in a fight has any negative impact on recruiting. I may in some places but I certainly don't believe it does in Mississippi.