Decision on LeGarrette Blount Will Define Oregon's Season

(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

LeGarrette Blount finally made good on his promise. The Oregon running back said the Ducks owed Boise State an "ass-whuppin" and he delivered. Too bad it came after the game and possibly ended Blount's college football career.

Blount clocked Boise State's Byron Hout with a right cross to the jaw after the defensive end approached him, said something and tapped him on the shoulder pads after the Broncos' 19-8 victory over Oregon Thursday night.

Boise State coach Chris Peterson immediately tried to grab Hout after he touched Blount, who later also punched teammate Garrett Embry. As he was being led to the locker room, Blount got into it with Boise fans and had to be restrained by coaches and security personnel.

Blount said he thought one fan was ready to throw a chair at him and said he was hit on the chin by another fan.

“When I walked over there the guy with the chair kind of backed up,” Blount told the Eugene Register-Guard. “And then the other guy came out of nowhere and struck me.”

Blount was not widely known outside of the Pac-10 despite rushing for 1,002 yards and scoring a school-record 17 rushing touchdowns last season. The senior was a preseason All-American candidate and on the Doak Walker watch list for best running back in the country.

Blount is a big, power back, at 6'2", 240 pounds. He was was named Oregon's impact player of the year in 2008 after transferring from East Mississippi Community College.

Now his "impact" has become the season's biggest story after the first day of play for all the wrong reasons

He finished with minus-5 yards rushing on eight carries, was part of a bad exchange that cost his team a safety, failed to convert on 4th-and-1 in a key fourth-quarter drive, and then cold-clocked Hout after the game.

A much cooler-headed Blount talked to reporters after the game saying, “I lost my temper, and I apologize. I apologize in general, to everybody that was watching this—ESPN national TV, I apologize to our fans, all the Boise fans. It was just something I shouldn’t have done. I lost my head, and I shouldn’t have taken it that far.

“I don’t know what kind of disciplinary action Coach (Chip) Kelly has in store for me. Whatever it is, I’m ready to take it in full force.”

Ah, yes, Chip Kelly. Rich Rodriguez is no longer having the worst week of any major college football coach.

Has any coach of a Top 25 team had a worse overall debut than Kelly? His team looked ill-prepared to handle Boise Borah High let alone the Broncos. The Ducks, who averaged 465 yards per game in 2008, did not get their initial first down until midway through the third quarter. They finished with 152 yards and will tumble out of the polls.

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