Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408300026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID DROSCHAK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A new NCAA rule aims to curb fighting in college football. The ACC fight was one of a handful that happened on the same Saturday last season, giving the game a major dose of bad publicity.
Virginia Tech and Maryland also had a major altercation at Lane Stadium that day, while Duke and Virginia had a minor skirmish at Scott Stadium. Miami and Colorado had the worst brawl on national television.
``If those fights would have been scattered out all over the season, one on this Saturday and one on this Saturday, we probably wouldn't have heard anything about it,'' said Mike O'Cain, N.C. State's coach. ``But because they all happened on one day, we made a big push, which we needed to do.
``I'm not sure there is any more fighting going on than 10 years ago. There was no television coverage then. Now, one fight is broadcast all over the world.''
In addition to being thrown out of the game, players involved in a fight after halftime this season will be disqualified for the first half of the next game. Also, substitutes and coaches who participate in a fight in their team's area or leave the bench to join a fight will be disqualified for the entire next game.
Previous fights may have produced one or two ejections and offsetting unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties. But a brawl such as the one at Carter-Finley Stadium last season could produce as many as a half-dozen suspensions in 1994.
``The thing we all have to be careful of is we are trying to teach them not to dance and not to talk, not to fight but go knock the heck out of each other for three hours and be great and be aggressive,'' said Mack Brown, North Carolina's coach. ``There are fine lines in there when a guy gets real emotional.
``Hopefully, all of us know that we have rules and have to go by the rules, and whether we like it or not, if they say you can drive 65 and we drive 67 and they want to give us a ticket, it's still a ticket.''
Bradley Faircloth, head of the ACC officials, said the rule provides guidelines for officials and should prevent teams leaving their benches to join fights.
``The seven officials will stand back and take numbers down,'' Faircloth said when asked how referees would cover the entire field if a fight broke out.
Faircloth also said the ACC office has access to videotapes of each game and would review games on Sunday or Monday if officials needed help determining who was involved in fights. He said the North Carolina-N.C. State fight occurred so quickly it was ``hard to sort out.'' Only one player was thrown out of that game. Under the new rules, Faircloth said as many as six players would have been suspended the next week.
``The big thing is the NCAA has recognized the fact that officials, for the most part, can handle eruptions on the field,'' Faircloth said. ``But the problems have been with players coming off the bench. Officials lose control when that happens.''
But some coaches hope a little push here and a shove there won't constitute fighting.
``I think where the fine line comes in is if you shove a guy, did you hit him?'' Brown said. ``It's hard to hurt a guy when he's in full pads with a helmet. ... A lot of times a guy may break his hand if he hits a guy who is in full uniform.
``It's time to send a message to young people and fans across the country: Let's not fight. It's an aggressive game, but there's no question that if there's something that can be done to curtail fighting we are all better off for it.''
O'Cain also would like to see more flags thrown against players who talk trash, taunt opponents and dance in the end zone.
``I'll take them out of the game if they talk trash,'' O'Cain said of his players. ``There is no place for that. Coaches said they can't control it, well that is a bunch of [expletive]. If you take them out of there one time and show them you mean business, they are not going to talk anymore.
``There is talk that is going on that you don't know is going on, but there are some very obvious things that go on out there that you see, I see, the officials see and everybody sitting in the stands sees, yet there is nothing done about it.''
O'Cain said he's tired of television networks glorifying players showing up each other on the field.
``All those things look cute, but if you are the guy that just got beat on the touchdown pass and a guy jumps up and does a little dance over you, that rubs at me the wrong way,'' he said.
Faircloth said he's instructed officials to be more aware of trash-talking.
``We are going to be very strict on it and, hopefully, it will be cut out early in the year,'' he said.
But for some players, such as Wake Forest linebacker Kevin Giles, trash-talking and intimidation are part of the game. Giles said he spit on a Duke player last season.
``It was the heat of the moment - something to do,'' he said. ``He came back the next play and spit on me. He tried to get me back. He missed me and another teammate got him back and spit on him again.
``I know I do a lot of talking, but I think I'm going to have to watch it this year with the new rules,'' Giles said. ``We had a ref come talk with us the other day and he told us they are going to be throwing the flags if they hear anything.''
Overall, ACC football players generally are well-behaved, Faircloth said.
``We don't have very much of it,'' O'Cain said, ``but it only takes a little bit.''
by CNB