Friday, September 4, 2009; 2:59 AM
BOISE, Idaho -- Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount talked before the game about keeping emotions in check. Then he lost his own cool after No. 14 Boise State pushed around its big-conference neighbors.
Kellen Moore threw for 197 yards and a touchdown and the biggest home game in Boise State history became a four-quarter bullying of the No. 16 Ducks, 19-8 on Thursday night, clearing the biggest apparent obstacle between them and a possible second BCS bowl.
D.J. Harper added a 1-yard scoring run for Boise State, but the impressive effort by the Broncos was overshadowed in the postgame scrum when Blount punched Boise State's Byron Hout and was then restrained from fans by police on the field.
"I just apologize to anyone watching that," Blount said. "I just apologize to all of our fans and all of Boise's fans. That's something I shouldn't have done. I lost my head."
Rumors even swirled afterward the Blount would be arrested, but Oregon sports information director Dave Williford said that talk was "absolutely false."
"Our position is that we have full confidence in the NCAA that they're going to address that. As far as from a criminal standpoint there's nothing that I'm aware of that we're doing," Lt. Bryan Hagler of the Boise Police Department told The Associated Press.
As the Broncos began celebrating on their famous blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount's face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. That drew an immediate scream from Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, but before Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right hand to the defensive end's jaw.
Then as Blount was being pulled off the field, he had to be restrained from fans heckling him on the way to the Oregon locker room.
"I couldn't have envisioned anything worse than this right here," said Blount, who set a Ducks record with 17 rushing touchdowns last season.
Oregon coach Chip Kelly said he would review the game film before making a decision on Blount's future.
"I did not see anything. I will see it on tape and make a decision on what we need to do with him," Kelly said. "There is no place for that. I do not condone that. I will make that decision if that is the case."
Petersen didn't want to comment on what happened.
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