Boise State coach Chris Petersen defended his decision not to suspend Byron Hout for his taunting that led to LeGarrette Blount’s punch after the No. 14 Broncos’ victory over Oregon on Thursday.
On a Western Athletic Conference teleconference Monday, Petersen said the defensive end is being disciplined for yelling in Blount’s face and slapping him on the shoulder pad. But Petersen added he believes “we’ve done the right thing” in not suspending him for any games.
“I do think Byron is being disciplined, there is no question about that,” Petersen said. “It was the wrong thing to do to say anything to anybody. … It’s something everybody has learned from, in our program and teams from the outside, to say nothing and just play ball.”
The Broncos have been criticized for not taking stronger action against Hout and were even questioned by Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott, who was quoted in the New York Times on Sunday as saying, “It takes two to tango. I was concerned about what I heard the Boise State coach say about how it was going to be handled. I’ll just leave it at that. I’m not going to second-guess anything that that conference decides to do.”
Petersen stood behind the decision.
“We have to do what we feel is right for our kids and our program,” he said.
Hout, a sophomore defensive end approached Blount after the final whistle of the Broncos victory, where Blount and the rest of the Ducks offense was surprisingly bottled up by Boise State in its 19-8 victory.
Hout yelled in Blount’s face and slapped his shoulder pad. Petersen saw Hout and yelled at him and was trying to pull him away when Blount threw a right-handed punch, hitting Hout square in the jaw and sending him to his knees.
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