Gholston Suspended by Big 10

...the 'provocation' by Taylor Lewan is meaningless, based on past precedent.

Jonas Mouton was more intensely 'provoked' by the ND lineman whom he punched in 2009.  Mouton was on the ground in a semi-sitting position and was hit in the back as the play was whistled.  Mouton retaliated.  The previous provocation did not excuse Mouton, nor prevent his suspension.  End of story.

Gholston had no plausible defense to at least a one-game suspension.

I am tempted to throw up my hands and say that the B1G has effecitvely decided to abandon any responsibility to review anything other than punches.  But that's not the case.  And that's where the B1G has now gotten itself into an awful, incredible bind.

So forget about the Gholston punch.  That is an automatic one-game suspension, per the Mouton precedent.

Now, compare one other suspension (Zach Reckman, Purdue v. NIU, 2009) to (a) the second Gholston spearing/facemask and to (b) the Marcus Rush pile-driver.

It is simply inexplicable. 

Live by arrogance, die by arrogance.

Sorry mother for my language... but its about FUCKING TIME!!

I kinda dont want him to get suspended cause now when MSU loses they will have an excuse for the next 365days...

MSU AD Mark Hollis:

"We wanted the Big Ten to understand the totality of the situation and that this act does not reflect the culture and values of Spartan Football and Michigan State University. We are accountable for the incident and accept the prescribed penalty."

Uh, no, Marky-boy, the act DOES reflect the culture and LACK of values of Spartan football and MSU, and your department's further NYPD-esque refusal to act on it internally only reinforces that.  Now EABOD and DIAF.  I don't like hypocrites in sports any more than politics.

“We wanted the Big Ten to understand the totality of the situation and that this act does not reflect the culture and values of Spartan Football and Michigan State University. We are accountable for the incident and accept the prescribed penalty.”

When actions match words = accountability.

When actions don't match words = hypocrisy.

What exactly are the "culture and values of Spartan Football" as shown in on-field activities vs. what they say it is? By all means, don't actually address the problem, just pretend it doesn't exist. So glad the B1G is making sure that its scholar athletes are learning important life lessons like authenticity, accountability and character. /s  In a way, it makes me even more proud of Coach Hoke and the team. I have not a second of doubt regarding how Hoke would have handled a similar situation.

Favorite quote from the article:

"We wanted the Big Ten to understand the totality of the situation and that this act does not reflect the culture and values of Spartan Football and Michigan State University. We are accountable for the incident and accept the prescribed penalty."

I literally laughed out loud when I read this. Didn't Pat Narduzzi say something about MSU striving to play "60 minutes of unnecessary roughness". In the past 5 years, there have been 20 personal fouls, MSU has 16 of them, Michigan just 4.

Reading around different message boards it's funny to see State fans blaming the whining Michigan faithful for the suspension. 

I know I shouldn't be but I am surprised by the way they embrace and defend the personal fouls.     

All I can say is it's about time.  MSU was doing a darn good job of stalling

Sipple does the writeup on the Gholston suspension.  And he writes that Gholston was provoked, and includes this sentence:

Before the punch, Gholston was dragged to the ground by his face mask by Lewan.  

"...dragged to the ground by his face mask..."

Here's the video.  Is that statement by Sipple true?  Is it even a debatable or arguable assertion?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMqbRgOGq24 

That's the Sparty video that attempts to show as much of a foul on the part of Lewan as possible.  You won't see the Gholston punch in this clip.  The clip stiops.  Doesn't matter; if it seems unclear to you, look at Gholston's feet in the first seconds of the video as he falls; he is essentially falling to the ground with his back to Lewan.  It is anatomically impossible that Lewan has a hold on Gholston's face mask insofar as he'd be "dragging [Gholston] to the ground by his face mask."  We do see Lewan holding Gholston's head down as the play moves downfield.  We see Lewan get his hands in Gholston's face, and get what looks like a thumb into Gholston's face mask.  It is all there for you to see and make up your own mind.

By the way, here's a video that was apparently intended to show Lewan getting pwned by Gholston.  What I see is the brutal arm-bar by Gholston.  More than any punch, more than any facemasking offense this play (along with Marcus Rush's extremely dangerous personal foul on Denard) was the one play in the game most evident of a foul with the intent to cause injury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL4iM4vNKF0 

What a joke. I guarantee if state knew the consequences beforehand they still would have done it, because the benefits outweigh the consequences. That by definition means it wasn't harsh enough.

{clap, clap, clap.}

Fuck those losers.

...on the first play of the game, the O-line should quintuple block Gholston, and in the scrum deliver a knee to the ribs, an arm bar, and a 120 degree twist of the helmet. The tight end should deliver two collarbone chops to Bush and drive him to the ground on his shoulder. 15 yard penalty. No further action from the B1G.

FREE TOM!!!

One game? WTF? That kid should sit for at least 3 games!! One game for throwing a punch, and two games for twisting Denard's helmet while he was defenseless. Smdh, Gholston better have his head on the swivel next year!!!!