Mississippi State and Tulsa Brawl at End of Armed Forces Bowl
Mississippi State wound up beating Tulsa in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl 28-26 but things got messy at the end. The two teams got into a brawl after the final horn in what was a really ugly scene.
It was all precipitated by a cheap shot on an onside kick at the end, as a Mississippi State's Erroll Thompson hammered Tulsa's Ryan Nixon in the midsection on the play. The ball had yet to travel 10 yards, making the hit illegal. Thompson then stood over an injured Nixon and taunted him:
It all started with this hit on the onside kick and Miss St player standing over the dude he just hit illegally. Can’t hit player before ball travels 10 yards pic.twitter.com/e30V8nzAUc
— Dan Grogan (@purdueturfy) December 31, 2020
That led to this after the score went final:
Mississippi State and Tulsa got into a massive brawl after the Armed Forces Bowl went final.
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) December 31, 2020
(? @bubbaprog)pic.twitter.com/SyRJx60Ujf
Mississippi State's Malik Heath even kicked Tulsa's TieNeal Martin then ran away:
Kicked a guy and then ran away pic.twitter.com/DZqY3zVy2x
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 31, 2020
Another look:
Yo. pic.twitter.com/7yKaGjl8Jf
— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) December 31, 2020
And more:
The Armed Forces Bowl between Mississippi State and Tulsa ended in a sidelines-clearing brawl, because of course it did. Just end already, 2020. pic.twitter.com/L61BOllkgu
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) December 31, 2020
Tulsa's Kendarin Ray was injured in the postgame fight and had to be helped off the field:
Tulsa’s Kendarin Ray being helped off after being injured in the postgame brawl. pic.twitter.com/Ft90Ld3avu
— John E. Hoover (@johnehoover) December 31, 2020
What an awful way for a game to end. Brawling after a low-level bowl game might be the dumbest thing you can do on a football field. Well, maybe second to whatever the hell this was.
UPDATE: Mississippi State coach Mike Leach sounded like an idiot after the brawl:
#HailState coach Mike Leach made fool of himself on ESPN, saying, "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,", after post-game kicking, punching, brawling in Miss State/Tulsa game.
— rickbozich (@rickbozich) December 31, 2020