Things got ugly in a hurry after South Alabama’s dominant blowout win over Eastern Michigan in the 68 Ventures Bowl on Saturday when a sucker punch quickly devolved into an all-out college football brawl. Fight night broke out in Mobile, Alabama!
The Jaguars absolutely stomped the Eagles and totaled 627 total yards of offense in a 59-10 win. They held their opponents to just 150.
As could be expected, frustration was at an all-time high for the losing side. Some in-game tension boiled-over not long after the clock hit zero.
The victors had joined together to sing in celebration with their band when an Eastern Michigan player wearing No. 5 (either grad student defensive back Korey Hernandez or sophomore tight end Max Reese) came running in out of nowhere. He proceeded to sucker punch South Alabama defensive back Jamarrien Burt in the back of the head, which escalated the situation in a hurry.
Burt’s older brother, Brian Dillard, was standing next to him when the punch was thrown. The redshirt sophomore wrestled the player wearing No. 5 to the ground and unleashed multiple heavy haymakers while standing over him.
Several other Jaguars also got in on the action, which quickly escalated to a full-blown fight.
Fortunately, as nasty as it was for a moment, things calmed down relatively fast. Both teams were separated by coaches and teammates. Punches slowed to some pushing and shoving at that point.
However, two additional side scuffles erupted amid the deescalation. An Eastern Michigan player wearing No. 26 (either sophomore wide receiver Tyron Bates or senior defensive back Tristan Hines) was wrestled to the ground in the end zone by a South Alabama player who had already removed his pads.
Video 2 of 2 pic.twitter.com/EQIGGGIvOP
— Scott W. Hunter (@SWHesq) December 24, 2023
The best part of the entire incident was that the Jaguars band never stopped playing.
You never know what you’re going to get during college football bowl season!
All was not calm! All was not bright!
Both teams were eventually separated and sent to their respective locker rooms at first. South Alabama’s players and coaches later returned to the empty field for the post-game trophy presentation, which sent the local crowd into a frenzy.
Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton addressed the fight after the game.
I didn’t see things when they happened. But I definitely saw the intensity of what had just happened. We had a really good, long talk in the locker room afterwards. We want to be first-class all the time, no matter the circumstances, no matter what the scoreboard is, no matter what other factors, people, whatever are involved. And anything short of being first-class is not living up to the standard that we have in Eastern Michigan football.
I think that our guys care a lot about performing well. I’m sure we were embarrassed by how we played and it probably didn’t take too much to get our guys into a place that we hope that they never get.
— Chris Creighton
As did Jaguars head coach Kane Womack, who vowed to investigate the brawl.
This is a very special game, it’s a hard game. It’s a team game and you do everything you can on a football field to be the best for your teammates. And at times, things get emotional and they get passionate and we ask these guys to play on the line of that emotion and passion in every single way. Those are never things that you want to end a game with.
We will certainly take ownership of our part. We will look and find out exactly what happened. I couldn’t tell you exactly what did. I’ll get more information as we go.
We’re going to win, but it’s also how we win. And so we want to make sure that we hold people accountable to the standard that we want to operate, in the way we want to represent the city of Mobile and the University of South Alabama.
Those will be things that we’ll get to the bottom of, but this is a night to really be proud of the things that we’ve accomplished and the young men that do things the right way. And that’s why we’re here.
— Kane Womack
While neither coach was proud of what transpired, they both handled it as calmly as they could. Losing by 49 points in a bowl game is an awful feeling. The coaches, while not necessarily sympathetic toward what took place, understood the circumstances. It could have been much worse!