Duck Running back fiasco

You know the old cliché that goes, "We wouldn't wish this on our worst enemy"?
That's how we feel watching the fallout of the punch that rocked the college football world: Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, his team embarrassed in a 19-8 loss Thursday at Boise State, hauled off after the game and punched Boise State defensive end Bryon Hout in the jaw, dropping him to his knees.
Hout, who had been celebrating the victory, yelled in Blount's face and tapped him on the shoulder pads, triggering Blount's sucker punch.
Blount also had to be restrained by police from fans heckling him on the way to the locker room.
The videoboard operator at the stadium replayed the incident over and over: Here's another game highlight for you fans! Later, Boise State officials reprimanded the operator.
On Friday, Oregon did the right thing: It suspended Blount for the season. Because he's a senior, his playing days as a Duck are over. But Oregon also allowed Blount to keep his scholarship and he will be allowed to practice with the team.
Blount also called Hout and Boise State Coach Chris Petersen to apologize.
In the meantime, Petersen has come in for some justifiable criticism for not suspending or even publicly disciplining Hout: Petersen has said that he and other coaches will be spending time this week with Hout, helping him to learn from what happened. In other words, the Boise State videoboard operator has been sanctioned more heavily than Hout.
It was a tough way to start the season for new Oregon Coach Chip Kelly and new University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere.
Kelly, for his part, seemed to think that keeping Blount close to the team would help the young man: "He is taking this very hard," Kelly told reporters. "He understands he made a mistake and he has to pay for the mistake. But we're not going to throw LeGarrette Blount out on the street."
But it's not the first time Blount has caused trouble for the Ducks: In February, he was suspended indefinitely from the team for "failure to fulfill team obligations." He reportedly missed offseason team meetings.
At best, Kelly's decision to keep Blount close at hand will give the player a chance to put his life back together. But it comes with a real risk: The Blount affair could become a major distraction. (The shadow of Maurice Clarett, and how his woes became such a drag on Ohio State's football program, looms large here.) The punch on Boise State's blue turf could become this season's defining moment for the Ducks.
And that would be a shame: Despite our position here in Corvallis as the archrivals to the Ducks, the truth is that we want them to play well on the field - with the exception, of course, of one certain game in December. We don't want them to fall apart because of the fallout of one ill-considered action.