How Much Punishment for a Punch? In College Football, No One Knows

Three players. Three punches. Three very different punishments.

On Saturday, Idaho linebacker Tre'Shawn Robinson was ejected for throwing a punch in a game against San Jose State. On Monday, Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson responded by reprimanding Robinson and warning that any future problems could result in a one-game suspension.

That's it? A reprimand and a warning that another punch could result in a one-game suspension? LeGarrette Blount would like to know why he didn't get off that easily.

Blount, as you'll recall, is the Oregon running back who was suspended for the entire season because he punched Boise State player Byron Hout after the season opener. Oregon has since backtracked and said Blount might be permitted to play late in the year, but he'll have missed, at minimum, half the season for his punch.

In between Robinson's reprimand and Blount's banishment was Michigan linebacker Jonas Mouton, who was suspended for one game after he punched a Notre Dame player last month.

So if you're a college football player and you punch an opponent, you can get reprimanded, or you can get suspended for a game, or you can get suspended for a season, depending on the whims of your coach and your conference commissioner.

I understand that there were different extenuating circumstances in the three different cases, but these very different punishments send the wrong message about how on-field misconduct will be handled. College football would be better off if the NCAA meted out punishment in such cases, and meted out punishment with some consistency.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-13-2009 @ 1:21PM

cjgdnight said...

For the "extenuating circumstances" I think you need to leave the discipline in the hands of the teams... with the conference/ NCAA having the ability to hear appeals. Blount has been a "coaches project" since he arrived, and needed this half season penalty to finally wake him up. This is not his first issue with behavior. A one game suspension would not have had the same maturation effect.

Why keep issues out of the NCAA? Des Bryant.. he got ruled ineligible because he lied to the NCAA???? WOW... USC couldn't field a team if that rule were enforced globally. Politics is worse at the NCAA level than it is on teams.. and nobody can appeal the all powerful, all knowing NCAA.

Not all punches are created equal (especially when you go after fans), and every team should retain the power to suspend a player over sportsmanship because that action represents the University more directly than it represents the NCAA.

10-13-2009 @ 2:29PM

jnxa237 said...

Then there's Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who after a play was dead punched Nebraska TE Mike McNeil into the ground in frustration. Not a hard punch, more of a shove, but a punch nonetheless.

He was flagged for 15 yards. That's it.

11-16-2009 @ 8:14PM

Beatrice1 said...

LaGarrette Blount, the Oregon player, was
suspended....period. If the coach had said,
two games, then he would have hung out, and
been nice for 'two games'...ditto for three
or for four. This way: LB was given a chance
for behavior modification and prove to the coach and the University that he wanted an education, that he wanted to continue to work out and help his teammates be being on the scout team.
There was NO back-pedalling as the media makes
it out to be. I guess there are some things involving integrity that just cannot be explained to some people. I wonder what the Tennessee
armed robbers will get....sit out one game and
pick up paper on campus?