Saturday may have been one of the most aggressive college football rivalry weeks in recent memory, with many fights breaking out during a number of major games. Michigan-Ohio State, Florida-Florida State, NC State-North Carolina, and Arizona-Arizona State all had postgame fights after the winning team planted its flag on the home team’s field, while BYU-Houston had a fight break out in the end zone with minutes left in the fourth quarter after BYU increased its lead to double digits. The Virginia Tech-Virginia game did not end with a fight, but it did begin with one. During pregame warmups, players from both teams got into an altercation on the sideline.
It is unclear what caused the altercation, but video from the stands shows a lot of pushing and shoving between the players, as well as what appeared to be punches thrown.
The argument lasted around 20 seconds until coaches and officials separated the players.
According to Chris Vannini of The Athletic, the ACC stated on Monday morning that both schools had been punished and publicly admonished as punishment for their participation in Saturday’s pregame altercation, which violated the ACC Sportsmanship Policy. “The unsportsmanlike behavior that was displayed is unacceptable and tarnishes the passionate on-field play between these institutions,” the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) remarked.
The penalty will be paid into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account. NC State and North Carolina received the identical fines and public reprimands for their postgame incident, which began when a few Wolfpack players put their flag on UNC’s field, followed by a North Carolina player taking it and throwing it into the stands. Punches were thrown during that altercation as well, before coaches and authorities intervened.
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