The Sam Houston Bearkats picked up their third win of the year in the final game of their first season as an FBS competitor on Saturday but it ended in controversy.
Middle Tennessee missed what would have been the game-tying kick in the closing seconds from 47 yards out, but all hell would break loose after celebrating players and upset players came together on the field and punches would soon get thrown.
The Blue Raiders had a chance to send the game to overtime but Zeke Rankin’s 47-yard field goal sailed wide. Amid the celebrating players was a Sam Houston player coming over to Rankin and appearing to say something as the kicker was distraught.
Rankin’s teammate would rush over and push the Sam Houston player to the ground and that sparked the massive brawl.
“I don’t know…it’s embarrassing,” said MTSU coach Rick Stockstill. “I didn’t see it. I don’t know how it got started. It was a big scrum out there. It was an emotional game back and fourth. But just embarrassing. I’m disappointed in how we responded to it.
“There’s no place for that in college football.”
The game was the final one of the season for both teams as Middle Tennessee finished the season at 4-8 and Sam Houston was 3-9.
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Any suspensions that may be handed down would be carried over into the 2024 season for those who will be back.
The 2023 season was Sam Houston’s first at the top level of college football. They moved up to C-USA this season along with Jacksonville State as part of the reshuffling among the Group of Five conferences after BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF joined the Big 12.
