There was an onslaught of celebration coming at us. Who knows from there. One excited team and one frustrated team and you put those two together after the game. It’s hard to know where and when it all started. – BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall
MIAMI — A major brawl involving Memphis and BYU players after the conclusion of the Miami Beach Bowl overshadowed what may become one of the more entertaining games of the bowl season, a 55-48 double overtime win by the Tigers.
Neither BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall nor Memphis coach Justin Fuente fully understood what provoked the fight immediately after the game while talking to the media. Once they review film of the skirmish, they will both see plenty of players involved in an ugly postgame mixup.
Both called the contest an emotionally charged game.
The fight involved helmets used as weapons, sucker punching (from behind), stomping of players on the ground with cleats and blood drawn. ESPN footage will provide plenty to filter through in coming days.
“There was an onslaught of celebration coming at us,” said Mendenhall. “Who knows from there. One excited team and one frustrated team and you put those two together after the game. It’s hard to know where and when it all started.
"You want them to rise above that and have fantastic sportsmanship. I'm sure if you go back and look, there'll be an instance or two that ignited. Probably the majority wanted to handle it really well."
Mendenhall said it is disappointing that both teams didn’t rise above it. “You want sportsmanship there. The majority wanted to handle it really well.”
Fuente said it was a competitive, emotional hard-fought game by both teams.
“I don’t know what happened at the end so I don’t know how upset I am,” said the Memphis coach. “I’m sure I’m going to see it eventually. It’s not who we are, it's not what we want to represent. I hope it doesn’t take away from an incredible football game on both sides. You can work hard and try and do the right things time and time again and four or five seconds of lapsed judgment can stick with you for a long time. I’m speaking of an event I know nothing about right now.”
Fox Sports senior columnist Stewart Mandel tweeted out after the game that a Memphis player started things by swinging at anyone in his path. Video shows Memphis players rushing the field in celebration and going past the midfield logo right at BYU’s sideline.
What ensued was shoving, punches and sucker punches by members of both teams with coaches and staff members of both teams trying to pull players back to the respective sidelines.
“I was on the field helping Jordan Leslie up. When I turned around, things were happening,” said BYU receiver Mitch Juergens. “Honestly, you can’t really pinpoint what was the cause but both teams were feisty and something happened.”
Said BYU linebacker Zac Stout, “They were super excited and ran over. I don’t know what happened, somebody shoved somebody. But that’s not what we do.”
Memphis middle linebacker Charles Harris said, “I’m not sure what happened at the end of the game, nor am I sure what led to those contentions, but I’m really focusing on the ‘win’ word, we played a great game and so did BYU. Two great teams met on the field today and we came out on top.”
It was the second brawl this season for Memphis which got in a game-stopping fight with Mississippi in September.
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe addressed the fight on Twitter after the game: "We expect better of our athletes, even in the face of a difficult loss. We intend to fully review this matter. I apologize to Cougar Nation."
Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.