A massive battle broke out Thursday following the Armed Forces Bowl, affecting the state of Mississippi’s victory over Tulsa in Fort Worth, Texas, 28-26.
It is unclear what triggered the fight, which included punches and punches and involved several members of both teams. What started with a movement close to the middle of the field during the handshake after the game spilled up and down the sideline.
“She’s stupid. Her root is dumb, no matter what her root is. Her root is dumb and her continuation is dumb,” said Mississippi state coach Mike Leach. “I would have that solid in the mute category. Now, where did the mute start, I’m not entirely sure.”
Tulsa coach Phillip Montgomery also gave no reason for what started the fight.
“The only thing I’m going to say is our schedule, our boys, we’re a team that’s going to fight for each other and we’re going to fight,” Montgomery said. “We talked about faith, family, football and the family will take care of the family. We are a team that has fought all year. We fought again today and from this point of view our boys will continue to protect each other and leave.” .
Leach said a group of Tulsa players surrounded themselves around the Mississippi warm-up and were “talking,” but would not further speculate on what could have caused the escalation of things.
“We’ve never seen enough film or anything like that to completely let go of this, ever,” Leach said.
After the pre-game incident, the game was weird. The teams combined for 18 penalties.
Tulsa safety Kendarin Ray was seen on the field when things calmed down.
“I think he probably has a version of a concussion and we’ll leave it at that,” Montgomery said.