The 68 Ventures Bowl was held Friday at Hancock Whitney Stadium, the home field of the South Alabama Jaguars. In the spirit of the Boise State Broncos playing in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on their home campus, the Jaguars 6-6 took the field as the visitors against the 6-6 Eastern Michigan Eagles out of the Mid American Conference.
The Jaguars finished 4-4 in a very overachieving Sun Belt Conference during the regular season. Consistently, the Eagles finished 4-4 in the MAC. The even slate going in was wiped clean after the first quarter.
Eastern Michigan’s highest-profile non-conference opponent was a 25-6 loss at Minnesota in Week Two. South Alabama shocked Oklahoma State 33-7 in Week Three, in a game where the Cowboys did not score until the start of the fourth quarter, with the Jaguars already up 23-0 at the time.
Leading 17-0 after the first 15 minutes on Friday, the Jaguars were already on cruise control. Eastern Michigan broke the shutout with a field goal on the second play of the second quarter.
This would be the final score the Eagles would tally until the final minute of the game.
South Alabama tacked on 35 straight points over the following two-plus quarters, and were actually shutout in the fourth. Quarterback Gio Lopez threw for only 192 yards, but ran for 88 more, and accounted for four touchdowns (three passing, one running) in splitting time with Desmond Trotter. Lopez was named the game’s MVP, ensuring South Alabama’s first bowl game win in program history. The Jaguars joined Division I in 2012, and were winless in three previous postseason appearances.
USA finished with 627 yards of total offense, to EMU’s 150. The Jaguars forced three turnovers, and had 29 first downs to the Eagles’ 10.
You would have thought any conflict between players would have occurred once the Jaguars led by what, three, even four scores?
Instead, Eastern Michigan senior defensive back Korey Hernandez got his face all over the national media after his career officially ended. As the Jaguars were singing the school alma mater with the band while facing the student section, Hernandez ran from his own tunnel to sucker punch Jaguar defensive back Jammarien Burt in the back of the head, while Burt still had his helmet on.
Hernandez no longer has any eligibility left, and will likely not face discipline for his actions. He only accounted for nine tackles on the season, and did not record anything of note to register on the official score sheet. Burt accounted for one solo tackle himself.
Multiple fights broke out, as security and officials for both teams had to rush in to separate the combatants. Eastern Michigan took immediate responsibility for the incident, condemning Hernandez’s actions, without naming him specifically. School President James Smith and Athletic Director Scott Wetherbee have already been in contact with MAC Commissioner John Steinbrecher to launch a full investigation into what led Hernandez to do what he did.
Look, as someone who is insatiable towards the sport of hockey, there are few other than me that are up for a good on-field brawl. Tensions run high the rest of the game, someone likely gets an early shower, and everyone goes home with a story to tell, regardless of the final score. A post-game brawl on the other hand solves nothing…where the media gets to tell the narrative, instead of the players.
I fully expect there to be some sort of fine against Eastern Michigan. Whether that comes from the MAC, or their share of the appearance fee for appearing in the game to begin with, there is nothing further with Hernandez’s eligibility to necessitate further action. On Christmas weekend, he got away with his perfect crime.
Hans Gruber is jealous.
-JC24