The inaugural Miami Beach bowl was certainly a memorable football game. It went down to the wire and then some, with Memphis pulling out a spectacular double overtime win. But it won’t be remembered for the play on the field. College football fans will be joined with countless others in remembering the 2014 bowl game for what happened after the game: The Miami Beach brawl. If you haven’t seen the footage yet (or even if you have), here is a compilation video of all the recorded footage.
So what happened? Obviously this was an intense game and emotions were high. After the game concluded the brawl almost immediately ensued and several players from both sides are at fault. Here is a timeline of what occurred as best as I can piece things together. If you can fill in the gaps please comment below, I will add video and commentary as it becomes available.
1. As the game concluded and Memphis concluded their first 10-win season in 80+ years most of the team engaged in a celebratory dogpile. A few players, however, skipped the celebration and went straight to the BYU sideline to taunt Cougar players. Correction: fans at the game have noted that Memphis fans were also located directly behind the Cougar bench (weird stadium setup). There is a good chance those 5-10 Memphis players were simply and innocently going to celebrate with family and friends.
2. The first physical act was Tejan Koroma (BYU #56) pushed Josh Augusta (Memphis #97) in the back. To retaliate “a Memphis player threw the first punch”.
Koroma and Augusta continue to go at each other with teammates pouring in to help/separate.
3. Lots of fighting happening all at once… Players and coaches tried to separate the fighting players but a few isolated fights/dogpiles persisted.
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4. Kai Nacua throws an empty punch and gets decked.
5. More fighting.
6. Nacua (BYU #12) sucker punches Isadore (Memphis #94) on his way back to the BYU sideline.
7. C. Johnson (Memphis #68) swings helmet at Tejan Koroma (BYU #56).
8. Players are finally evacuated and Christian Stewart’s face shows he was in on the action. Correction: his bloody nose came earlier in the game and it could be his cheeks are simply rosey. We don’t know if Stewart was involved in any of the fighting.
So whose fault was all of this? From the video footage we know that at least two Cougars were heavily involved in the fighting (Koroma and Nacua) and that at least two Tigers were also heavily involved (Augusta and Brady). But was this all a result of inadvertent bumping that led to the quickly escalated brawl? Too early to tell. Have any details? Put them in the comment section below.
