North Texas takes hit for spit
Spitting incident fuels Monarchs to fiery comeback
NORFOLK — Yes, it's true that in sports, most notably in baseball, spit happens.
Expectoration is expected, and although unsightly, is acceptable as long as it is directed downward, underfoot on the field of play.
Spitting at an opponent, however, is a line that is simply not crossed, and Old Dominion responded with the appropriate ire when that code was violated in Saturday's 34-31 win over North Texas.
Late in the first half, Mean Green safety Khairi Muhammad spit in the face of Monarch receiver Jonathan Duhart, officials said. Muhammad was ejected. Duhart was outraged, but under the circumstances, exhibited remarkable self-control, coach Bobby Wilder said Monday.
“Spitting to me is like throwing a 100 mile-an-hour fastball at someone's head,” Wilder said. “There's codes in baseball, there's codes in football. And it was a heat of the moment situation and I felt like Jonathan handled it as well as could be expected.”
Duhart “went back at” Muhammad, Wilder said, and was restrained by officials. He was not penalized for his reaction, but for taking off his helmet as he left the field.
“I will complement the officiating crew for not throwing him out as well, because they recognized, there's a human part of it,” Wilder said after the game. “When someone spits in your face that's just different.”
Muhammad was penalized another 15 yards after continuing to argue, setting up a 48-yard field goal on the final play of the half by Nick Rice, who was voted Conference USA special teams Player of the Week Monday.
The points, however, were the least of what ODU got out of the incident.
“We gathered a lot of unity from Jonathan Duhart getting spit in his face,” Wilder said. “I saw 69 players rally around him, every coach, all our personnel. Everybody really rallied behind Duhart. That gave us something else besides the 10-0 run we were on.
“It's hard for me to describe to you how popular Jonathan is among his peers.”
Duhart was not available after the game and players are off on Mondays. Teammates on Saturday, however, confirmed the popularity of Duhart, a fifth-year senior who is one of four team captains.
Seeing the normally soft-spoken Duhart so incensed caught everyone's attention, defensive end Oshane Ximines said.
“He was all fired up,” Ximines said of Duhart. “That's my brother. That's our brother, so we're going to get fired up behind him as well.”
Muhammad defended himself Sunday on Twitter, at first saying, “Thank you, I will never spit on another player. I have been playing on a high level my whole life and to do that will be very low.” He added that it was “terrible officiating to accuse me of that with no replay! Who can spit through a face mask!”
For his part, North Texas coach Seth Littrell told the Denton (Tex.) Record-Chronicle after the game that he didn't know what happened on the play.
“They told me he had spit something. I don't know if they felt like he spit in his face or vice versa. All I saw was he threw his hands up. He felt like he got head-butted. He has to be more disciplined.”