The punch exists...

Submitted by Stephen Y on

The fact that the ND blocker illegally blocked Mouton in the back and then hit him again after he was down has nothing to do with this! Mouton should have been called for a 100-yard (yeah that's right 100-yard) penalty for grazing the ND player's helmet and the refs should have awarded ND 10 points. It's only fair.

BlueVoix

September 15th, 2009 at 10:56 PM ^

All I see is a block in the back.

He clearly should not have punched him, but the lineman also shouldn't have tried to dive on top of him. The punch is worse, but the punch likely came as a result of a giant O-lineman landing on a hybrid LB.

wildbackdunesman

September 16th, 2009 at 6:41 AM ^

Mouton should be suspended for as long as Weis suspended Zibby for stomping on the GaTech player or for the same length of time that Weis suspended those 2 thugs for gaining up on a Penn State player 50 yards away from the action.

Wait, Weis didn't suspend them?!?!?!

In all seriousness though...we don't really want to stoop to Weis level and let stuff go unpunished.

Tweeter

September 15th, 2009 at 11:03 PM ^

I dont what the discipline should be, but if the coaches see this, and I imagine they will/did, he should receive some sort of punishment. Maybe taken out of the starting lineup for EMU and going through a couple Barwis hell workouts.

Obviously he was upset by a cheap play by the ND lineman, but you cannot respond in that way. Given the time of the game when that occurred it probably would not have cost the team that much had the refs caught it, but if that had happenned on NDs last possession it could have cost em big.

gater

September 15th, 2009 at 11:05 PM ^

no excuse. if we want the other team not to give excuses, we can't give them excuses to give. he should be held out the first half of the next game or at least given the treatment in "barwis beach"

Edit: damn me for being a slow typer. yay to the guys above me who agree!

MadtownMaize

September 15th, 2009 at 11:09 PM ^

I've certainly seen way worse, but still no excuse for punching a guy. I really don't see anything dirty about the play of the ND O-lineman. He played to the whistle. No ref is ever going to call a block in the back for that.

teldar

September 16th, 2009 at 8:07 AM ^

I would say the initial block was legal. The OL, apparently Sr C Eric Olsen then got run past and pushed Mouton in the back. I most certainly HAVE seen penalties for this in the past.
It's called a block from behind or a block in the back. It's equivalent to a hold in terms of penalties.

Trying to land on him/headbut him at the end is also just a classless move.

RONick

September 16th, 2009 at 8:19 AM ^

As much as I like Michigan, I can't see that play that way. Any O-lineman is taught to go to the whistle and if that means burying someone to the ground and keeping him down, that's fine. As far as the block in the back, it's pretty weak and is within the tackle box so there isn't too much to complain about. Punch is pretty weak too and there should be a slap on the wrist to appease Jabba.

HermosaBlue

September 16th, 2009 at 9:22 AM ^

Agree that (a) the initial block was legal, (b) OL are taught to play to the whistle and (c) what Mouton did was wrong.

Howeva, the block in the back was 7 yards downfield, which is hardly in the tackle box. That may be more of a testament to how badly our front 7 got pushed around more than anything.

Blue in Yarmouth

September 16th, 2009 at 8:31 AM ^

If you watch closely on the slow motion replay just after he punches him you will notice the ND player falling to his left. To me it almost looks as if he was about to drop out cold. I had somewhat of a mispent youth marred by fighting and various other illegal activities. Trust me when I say that a quick short uppercut like that does some damage, especially when the guy throwing it is Mouton's size and you aren't expecting it. That has been my experience anyway.

tpilews

September 16th, 2009 at 9:56 AM ^

The falling to the left couldn't have been from the shove he was getting from Cissoko?

I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying, but I don't think he should miss any PT for that. Maybe some extra work outs. Game time... really??? If it wasn't for someone having watched the game for the 20th time, this probably would have never been caught.

4godkingandwol…

September 15th, 2009 at 11:10 PM ^

... punching a dude is a cheap shot. Can't really defend that action... but, don't have to. It is irrelevant as to the outcome of the game. Refs miss calls and it's easy to see why this one was missed. It was quick, subtle and away from the play.

Be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from it.

edit: Really? People are damn quick on these boards. This POV was made several times by the time I watched the video and typed my response! Glad to see I'm not alone though.

Stephen Y

September 15th, 2009 at 11:20 PM ^

It looks bad in slow-mo but at normal speed it doesn't look bad at all... I still don't think it was much of a punch. Definitely not something to be suspended over.

bouje

September 15th, 2009 at 11:21 PM ^

game. Is it terrible. No. Is it against the rules. Yes. Should it be called. Sure.

But how many times do you miss guys getting their eyes gouged out in the middle of the pile or any of the other things that goes on in the pile.

Yeah he should probably sit for a quarter or whatever but IME it's not like he took a full swing at him. I'd really like to see the end of the play more and see what the guy that took the "punch" does. If he just walks away he obviously thought "meh" but if he sort of comes after Mouton then yes it was not cool.

Geaux_Blue

September 17th, 2009 at 10:45 AM ^

so we tell ND to get over it bc the video proves he was out of bounds but you make the EXACT SAME argument - that, while it exists, it didn't get called so whatever. lame.

he should sit for a quarter and find himself working his voluntary ass off to remain on the 1-2 deep for Indiana

Enjoy Life

September 15th, 2009 at 11:45 PM ^

I guess some folks get upset when they are provided a video link showing two players obviously throwing punches at each other in full view of the refs and there wasn't even a penalty called.

Kind of makes the Mouton incident look trivial and not worth all the calls for "Off With His Head!"

3, 2, 1 .....

bklein09

September 15th, 2009 at 11:41 PM ^

While I agree that Mouton should not have responded like that under any circumstances, his actions were a product of more than just a block in the back. I think the big issue (for Mouton) was how the ND lineman seemed to go out of his way to slam into Mouton after he was already on the ground. The block in the back is a football play, the second part didn't seem like it and could have been called for unnecessary roughness. Hopefully the Big Ten will take that into consideration when reviewing Front-Butt's "I'm not gonna blame the refs, but actually I am" video. It is a rivalry game after all and things tend to get chippy.

That being said, RR needs to set a precedent that things like this will not be tolerated. Bench him for the EMU game. That will send a clear message to Mouton, the team, the Big Ten, the media, and anyone else paying attention that some things about the Michigan program haven't changed.

ThaLastProphet

September 15th, 2009 at 11:48 PM ^

Fuck the slow-mo. Shit doesnt happen in slow mo.

In real time it looks like nothing. He pushed his facemask. wooooo big deal. if u played football you'd know this shit happens on almost every play. did any of u guys watch braylon vs chris gamble? when they were smacking each other's helmets, and coming to blows on every play? what about plax vs david terrell? when they were going at it. what about the notre dame player #74 shoving a michigan player to the ground well after the play in this same game?

if you're gonna call that shit then u might as well start calling college football a panzy league like the nfl and start calling roughing the passer on plays like the one vince wilfolk had on trent edwards last night on monday night football.

its called passion. deal with it.

b-diddy

September 15th, 2009 at 11:56 PM ^

if you watch it in ultra super slow 1 frame per 10 seconds, it looks bad. real time shows the real story. he went out of his way to knock, or 'punch' the guy. ok. guys certainly dont avoid bumping into each other after a play, or 'clotheslining' each other, if you prefer, either.

unsportsmanlike conduct happens all over the field. have you guys ever heard of bill romanowski? he may be insane / pure evil, but it doesnt invalidate what he says. when guys get the chance they spit, bite, claw, punch, whatever.

this was barely more than a tap and much ado about nothing.

and for those who say im just being a homer, all the people who are willing to throw down the hammer to prove their 'impartiality' are suggesting it for the EMU game. if the next game were against MSU, PSU, or OSU i bet all of the sudden very few would insist this is suspension worthy, so save the lecture.

Niag

September 16th, 2009 at 12:06 AM ^

I actually would suspend him for 3 games, EMU, IND and MSU. We are not Miami (FLA), Thug U, or whatever. I send a clear message that I don't put up with that crap. Maybe Rodriguez will whoop him hard in practice and have Barwis make him cry, I don't know.

Yeah, I get it that petty stuff happens at the bottom of piles, but Mouton should be suspended for a couple of things: 1. using a closed fist and uppercutting the ND player under the face mask 2. Doing it in clear daylight. We are very lucky we payed the refs so they wouldn't call that, but if we failed to get them their money, then he would have been flagged 15 yards and ejected... we are not MSU, so why bother acting like them or the Hurricanes?