Oregon Ducks embarrass themselves in opening loss

The nationally-ranked Oregon Ducks suffered one of their most humiliating losses in years lasy night, losing to the Boise State Broncos 19-8.

Here's the story from the Portland Tribune's Jason Vondersmith:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=125205549091208200

Here's Jason's story about LeGarrette Blount, the central figure in last night's near-riot after the game:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=125205570572416900

From what I've read and heard(I did not watch the game), it sounds like Oregon was totally unprepared for this game and, if Boise State hadn't shown several flashes of ineptitude on offense themselves, it could have been much worse than 19-8.

At last report, Blount was still with the team, but that the situation was "being reviewed." Yeah, right. That sounds like school-speak for "How do we get out of this without looking totally stupid?"

I'm all for giving someone a second chance, unless the situation is so extreme that a second chance is forfeited. However, Blount has apparently already used his second, third and perhaps even his fourth chance, on past misdeeds. Of course, the final decision rests with the University, it's athletic director(Former Head Coach Mike Belotti) and Head Coach Chip Kelly(Belotti's successor). But, it's hard to imagine how they could ever come out of this looking anything other than stupid, if Blount EVER plays another down for Oregon. If anyone thinks a thug mentatlity doesn't exist in sports today, all they have to do is look at video of last night's post-game meeting of the (alleged) minds.

In my estimation:

Blount is done forever.

The Boise State player who slapped him on the shoulder pads gets one game off to think about how stupid HE was.

The video replay crew at the stadium in Boise gets a VERY STERN warning to save replays of what happened(in a situation like that) until after players leave the field, or the stadium operators need to find another crew to take those jobs.

Crowd management needs to insure players and fans get NOWHERE near each other at any time. (While stadium security and local police did a marvelous job of difusing the situation and keeping it from becoming a full-scale riot, the fans getting that close to Blount---and vice-versa---should have NEVER been an issue. It should have never happened. Period. Auburn Hills anyone?)

Last night in Boise was simply put, a total embarrassment in several different ways, that must not be repeated.