There has been plenty of conversation about how much bowl games still matter in college football, with the College Football Playoff continuing to expand, constant realignment, and players opting out of bowls for the transfer portal or the NFL Draft. However, it doesn’t take too long watching the games themselves in December to see how much the players still care about winning a bowl game.
At the 68 Ventures Bowl on Saturday, South Alabama absolutely boat raced Eastern Michigan, winning 59-10 and after the game the Jaguars stood out on the field to sing the fight song with the fans in Mobile, as it was effectively a home game for the Jags. Apparently that loss was too much for EMU defensive back Korey Hernandez, who ran back on the field and sucker punched a South Alabama player, sparking a massive brawl in the end zone.
best angle i’ve seen yet, credit to south_alabamian on tik tok pic.twitter.com/2i6MbOYIeu
— sean (@jagsfbguy) December 24, 2023
It was a wild scene and it was an extremely ridiculous move by Hernandez, who not only made a terrible decision to run out and punch a guy from behind, but it was even dumber because he ran over there without his helmet on and started a fight with a bunch of guys still wearing their helmets. That’s just bad situational awareness from the young man and might be telling for why they lost by 49 if he thought punching a guy in the helmet while not wearing one himself was going to result in anything other than getting the brakes beaten off of him.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/eastern-michigan-south-alabama-brawl-sucker-punch-68-ventures-bowl-video/
