Mississippi State, Tulsa brawl at bowl
FORT WORTH, Texas – A game intended to honor the men and women of the United States military service branches ended with a bad look by both teams on Thursday.
Mississippi State (4-7) and No. 24 Tulsa (6-3) got into a multi-player, sidelines-clearing fight after the clock hit 0:00 in the Bulldogs’ 28-26 Armed Forces Bowl victory at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Video shows Mississippi State wide receiver Malik Heath intentionally kicking Tulsa safety Tieneal Martin in the middle of the madness. The kick came moments after Martin threw aggressive punches at multiple Mississippi State players.
Heath posted a social media video in the locker room praising himself for his involvement in the altercation.
In his on-field post-game interview with the ESPN broadcast crew, Mississippi State coach Mike Leach said, “This is a football game so we’re not going to be tearing cloth over this deal.”
“Somebody went to a football game and somebody got hit. There’s a point where I’m not going to lose my mind over it.”
He didn’t seem too fazed by the incident in his news conference with reporters, either.
“I don’t think it marred anything that we did out there, whatsoever,” Leach said. “It’s dumb. The root of it is dumb. No matter what the root of it is, the root of it is dumb. And the continuation of it is dumb. So I would have that solidly in the category of dumb. Where the dumb started, I’m not entirely sure.”
Leach said there was audible animosity between the two teams in warmups. That translated into the game. Tulsa was flagged for three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Mississippi State was called for one of those and a personal foul.
Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery agreed the atmosphere was “chippy all day,” but he did not comment much further on the brawl. He said his team is one that will stand up for itself and protect its own players.
Tulsa released the following statement on the fight.
“The University of Tulsa is reviewing the conduct that followed today’s bowl game. We take this incident very seriously and will respond appropriately after the review is complete.”
Mississippi State wide receiver Austin Williams said he did not partake in the brawl. He said he “caught the tail end of it.”
“I really didn’t get to see the beginning of it or the roots of what caused it,” Williams said. “I honestly hate for that to take away from the win that we had, winning our first bowl game in a couple years. That’s big. I hate that it is negative publicity for the team because I thought we played really hard today.”
Senior defensive end Kobe Jones said it is always an emphasis for Mississippi State to keep its composure through prosperity and adversity. He said Leach addressed the team about the brawl in the locker room.
“It was unfortunate that things spiraled out of control like that,” Jones said. “There are high emotions in the game of football. Just a mishap. Unfortunate. But we got to be better and more disciplined.”
Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler’s work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!