Friday, Oct. 24, 2003 | 10:11 a.m.
Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-2324.
The next few months will be the most important in the brief five-year history of the Mountain West Conference as it decides whether to expand or stay with its present cozy eight-team format.
Let's hope that highly regarded commissioner Craig Thompson does a better job with expansion than he did with helping hand out discipline this week.
Simply put, Thompson, the Mountain West Conference and the University of Utah fumbled what should have been a no-brain decision when it came to the kicking incident involving Utes guard Chris Kemoeatu in Saturday's 28-10 victory against UNLV.
In case you missed it, all the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Kemoeatu did was do a nice Bruce Lee impression with a straight-on kick to the helmetless face of UNLV true freshman lineman Howie Fuimaono who seemed to be minding his own business.
Fuimaono, as anybody who just took a steal cleat inside his left eye socket would do, fell to the ground and stayed there for several minutes wondering if he'd ever see out of the blurry eye again. After a trip to the emergency room at the hospital, he regained his vision and was fortunate not to have any serious facial fractures.
It was simply the ugliest thing this reporter has seen in a college, pro or high school football game. About the only thing I can remember that might have been uglier was Juan Marichal cracking John Roseboro over the head with a baseball bat.
We're talking fractions of an inch here from Fuimaono possibly losing an eye. He wasn't even looking at Kemoeatu when the foot came flying in.
Throw in the fact that Kemoeatu has just entered the game after sitting out the first half for being ejected against San Diego State the previous week for kicking an Aztecs player in a pile-up and the discipline seemed rather clearcut.
"If he did do it, he should be gone for the year," Utah coach Urban Meyer said matter-of-factly afterward.
Well, duh!
But less than 24 hours later, after Meyer and the Utes learned that Kemoeatu had been ejected for a flagrant personal foul and not fighting, which would have meant an NCAA-mandated season-ending suspension, Utah announced that the big offensive guard would sit out just one game and undergo anger management counseling.
"I don't believe he's got a serious problem," Meyer said. "I believe he's extremely competitive."
Meyer also mentioned something about Kemoeatu responding to name-calling during the emotional contest that featured more than its share of cheap shots, none of which came close to Kemoeatu's kick to the face.
Evidently Kemoeatu never head of the phrase, "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me."
OK, you can understand Meyer being a flim-flam man and sticking up for arguably his best offensive lineman after he found he would be eligible by a rules technicality. But both Thompson and Utah officials thumped their chests by saying that they still suspended Kemoeatu for a game even though they really didn't have to.
That seemed odd, not just because of the severity of the incident but also because in the conference's own philosophy statement it lists one of its main goals "to be regarded by our peers and the public as one of the premier athletic conferences in the nation based on program integrity, athletic performance, gender equity and good sportsmanship."
I'm guessing getting ejected twice within a span of six plays for kicking an opponent while he's down is not what the founding fathers had in mind when it came to good sportsmanship.
Just to make sure, I went to the conference's website at www.TheMWC.com to check out the sportsmanship policy. And under a section listed as Penalties I came across this:
4.4.1 Physical Abuse. An individual who strikes or attempts to strike or otherwise physically abuse an official, opposing coach, spectator or student-athlete shall be subject to the following penalties:
4.4.1.1 First Offense. Public reprimand and suspension for at least one contest. The penalty shall not exceed one season of competition.
4.4.1.2 Subsequent Offenses. Public reprimand and suspension for at least two contests. The penalty shall not exceed one season of competition.
Am I missing something here? Or do football players not fit under the terms of student-athletes?
Anyway, there were a lot of people scratching their heads after Kemoeatu's so-called penalty. Many were downright outraged that the Utah player wasn't suspended for the rest of the season for his vicious act.
Not me. I'm on my way to anger management class.
After all, I wouldn't want to kick a conference when it's down.
Once around the MWC
archive
