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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Gene Chizik waiting to talk to SEC about Michael Goggans', Mike Blanc's ejections

Auburn coach Gene Chizik was in a no commenting mood Sunday, and it wasn't just about Cam Newton's situation.

Chizik said he would not comment about the status of senior defensive linemen Michael Goggans and Mike Blanc until after speaking with the SEC tomorrow.

Both players were ejected in the final minute of the Tigers' 49-31 win against Georgia on Saturday for taking swings at Bulldogs players.

"The SEC reviews every situation, penalty-wise, that is reviewable or brought to their attention," Chizik said. "We haven't talked with anybody.

"We know what happened last night. We're just going to reserve all comment until we really get some clarification on exactly what the status of those guys will be. I haven't had that opportunity yet."

Players who are ejected in the second half of games must sit out the first half of the next game, according to NCAA rules. For Goggans and Blanc, that would be the Iron Bowl the day after Thanksgiving.

Things got chippy near the end of the Georgia game. Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley appeared to be partially blocked into the knee of Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in the final minute. Murray had to leave the game.

After the end of the next play, Bulldogs center Ben Jones went after Fairley on the ground. It set off a scrum, which concluded with Goggans throwing a punch at Georgia tackle Clint Boling. He was ejected.

Two plays later, Bulldogs tackle Josh Davis blocked Blanc in the back at the end of a play near the Georgia sideline. Blanc turned around and took a swing that did not connect, earning an ejection.

Georgia coach Mark Richt took a knee after that too end the game before things got uglier.

Chizik expressed embarrassment after the game for what happened. Richt said he didn't require an apology.

"I know our guys were highly emotionally charged also,” Richt told the Macon Telegraph. “I’m not going to sit here and try to say their guys were doing one thing and our guys were doing another. I know that I had enough concern with what was going on that we took a knee to try to diffuse that situation.”

Although he wouldn't comment on the ejections, Chizik did comment on the growing perception that some of Fairley's hits are questionable. The junior was flagged for roughing the passer after hitting Murray in the back well after a play during the third quarter.

"That's not what we do here," Chizik said. "Everything we do here is going to be great effort. Are we going to make a mistake here or there with intensive effort? Yes. But I can assure you nothing is ever done intentional to harm another player."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/516586-ncaa-regulations-reading-down-to-the-letters-for-the-newton-situation-clear

Good article on here which explains based on the NCAA rulebook why Auburn says Cam Newton is eligible! Best to look at the actual rules than jump to conclusions!!

Anonymous said...

While I'm disappointed in the behavior of the Auburn players, I wonder why there was no punishment for the Georgia players who instigated the fights. What about the Ga. players who came off the bench? Shouldn't they all be disciplined as well?

AUsome04 said...

Ha, ha I guess the media has a new negative rallying point for our team. Oooh, those big bad mean Auburn Tigers. They play dirty. They are 11-0 and none of us (expert sportwriters) expected them to be.

I saw Schlabach already warming up his SCar bandwagon on CSS. Someone should of asked how all those other "Upset Specials" went that he picked against AU.

The Truth said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.