A ridiculous amount of flags went flying during the second half of the first college football bowl game of the year. It all started with a punter!
Georgia Southern scored its first touchdown of the game midway through the third quarter. Mayhem ensued on the extra point.
Ohio defensive back Torrie Cox ran into the kicker. That set off punter Matthew Daniel, who serves as the Eagles’ holder.
He stood up to defend his teammate and got up in Cox’s face. Cox did not appreciate the ill words.
One thing led to another. A pretty legit brawl broke out that included multiple punches.
All five officials threw their penalty flags. The head referee even threw his hat, which is considered to be another penalty flag in that situation. Six different flags hit the teal turf in Myrtle Beach!
Bobcats cornerback Justin Birchette actually made contact with an official during the scuffle. Such behavior, of course, results in an immediate ejection. You can’t do that…
The Mountain West crew was ultimately able to separate the two teams and deescalate the situation. Multiple penalties were assessed on the play.
However, approximately 17 minutes passed between the initial touchdown and the next non-PAT play. There was a lot of deliberation about who should be called for what.
Daniel, who was simply trying to protect his specialist counterpart, was somehow called for taunting. It was a questionable call but the punter/holder was ultimately one of the catalysts in the dust-up so they had to call him for something.
Very few things are greater than bowl season.
Georgia Southern and Ohio would never play each other during the college football regular season, so all of the bad blood that was shed in South Carolina on Saturday did not stem from any prior beef. The entire kerfuffle took place because a punter stood up for a kicker!