Meyer goes soft on Spikes with half-game suspension
Urban Meyer just took, "Stand by your man," a little too far.
Florida coach Urban Meyer’s apparent policy on eye-gouging is now clear. Only a successful blinding or maiming can result in a full-game suspension.
Meyer suspended Brandon Spikes for only the first half of the Gators’ next game against Vanderbilt for eye-gouging Georgia running back Washaun Ealey.
I’m not sure if missing one half of a Vanderbilt game really qualifies as discipline. But apparently SEC commissioner Mike Slive didn’t want to get in Meyer’s way on this one. I guess Slive only worries about the real serious issues: sound bites about referees, not trivial matters like jamming fingers into eyeballs.
What happened Saturday certainly did not affect the outcome of Georgia’s 41-17 loss to Florida. The Bulldogs themselves have devolved into one of the nation’s most-penalized and least-disciplined teams. Meyer felt compelled to say the linebacker was retaliating for earlier incidents that resulted in him having his helmet knocked off and being poked in the eye (he said).
But Spikes’ act was on another level.
“I don’t condone that,” Meyer told reporters in Florida. “I understand what goes on on the football [field], but there’s no place for that. We’re going to suspend Brandon for the first half of the Vanderbilt game. I spoke with him. That’s not who he is. That’s not who we are. He got caught up in emotion.”
Ealey was not available for comment Monday. It was a day off for Georgia players (the NCAA mandates one day off per week for players). Coach Mark Richt declined comment on the incident Sunday night.
But that didn’t stop this from snowballing into a national story Monday. The strongest comments came from Mike Golic, co-host of ESPN’s morning, “Mike and Mike” radio show. Golic has some credibility. He was a defensive lineman at Notre Dame and an eight-year NFL veteran. He has been at the bottom of a few of these piles. So what does it mean when he calls this, “one of the biggest chicken-bleep things I’ve seen in my life”?
And what does it mean when he says it was worse than when Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount punched Boise State’s Byron Hout in the season opener? (Blount initially was suspended for the full season by Oregon. But several weeks later the school announced a tentative reinstatement, and he may return this week against Stanford.)
“You can clearly see Brandon Spikes’ fingers go into the facemask of the running back for Georgia, and, I don’t mean just go in there — go in there and twist around,” Golic said. “It is a bad looking eye-gouge. And I know this guy is a tough player and I know he hits and I know he’s considered one of the best linebackers. But that’s one of the biggest chicken-bleep things I’ve seen in my life. Ever. Ever! To be that good of a player and have to do that – stick your fingers in a facemask and try to blind a guy, eye-gouge him, is pathetic, Brandon! Pathetic, that you would do it!
“There needs to be some disciplinary action. Everybody wants to talk about LeGarrette Blount from Oregon for punching that kid. I’ll tell you what. I’ll take the punch over this garbage. Any day of the week. Any day of the week over that garbage on the field of sticking your fingers in somebody’s facemask and trying to blind him. Stick your fingers in their eye? Are you kidding me…?”
Golic later said: “What a horrible move that is. What a classless, unsportsmanlike move that is.”
Meyer said his wife and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong both mentioned the Spikes’ incident to him. His initial reaction was to move on. Then he saw a replay of the incident decided to speak to Spikes about it.
But his initial balking indicates he didn’t want to suspend Spikes at all.
“Very emotional things happened in that game in particular that were not good for either side,” Meyer said, “but the bottom line is we’re Florida and he’s Brandon Spikes and we expect certain things.”
Nice speech. But it would’ve meant more if there was some action to back it up.
If you haven’t seen video of the play, you can view it here.
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1,082 comments Add your comment
Just wondering
November 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
So what suspensions did Nick Williams and Josh Davis get? Thought not. Hypocrite.
Maybe next year you girls will show up in silver helmets and black tutus.
Bulldawgy
November 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
I’m looking for a suspension from Williams if Spikes gets one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cERuyek02wA
JB
November 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
I love all of the “two wrongs make a right” folks. I seriously hope you don’t teach your kids that kind of stuff. How you can watch that video and have anything but, what a punk, response, is beyond me. We all hope that none of you are involved with showing kids how to play football.
By the way, Ryan, when you said,
By the way for the Georgia fans that love to point out that UGA leads the series against Florida – you do realize that most of UGA’s wins were in the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s right? Take the last 50 years and Florida dominates.
you show just how TOTALLY clueless you really are. Go check out how the series went in the 70’s and 80’s. Sheeeesh! What a fool you are.
HBTD!!!
Bob
November 2nd, 2009
3:40 pm
Gatorbait is an idiot. 1- If there was film of a Bulldog committing the same type of dangerous, classless act it would have shown up by now. 2- If the end zone celebration was going to hurt someone it was only a Bulldog who might have gotten under the pile.
Georgia 1975
November 2nd, 2009
3:40 pm
I’m an idiot, I completely forgot what Davis did before opening my big fat trap.
King Gator
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
If the Dawgs wore “Orange & Blue” they’d know what it feels like to have a handful of National Championship rings! Go Gators!
Gator Rob
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
Yeah, I’ve been hearing for 15 years that UGA owns the all-time series and it will turn around any year now. I’m still waiting… So I guess after UF kicks the sh*t out of UGA again in 2010 I’ll hear it again? There’s a pattern developing.
The Entire East Side of Jax Stadium
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
We considered gouging out our own eyes, but we decided to leave in the middle of the 3rd quarter.
Tucker Dad
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
I thought it would be pretty cool if my 2 year old son got the chance to play SEC football in college. I was even thinking about him joining the local football league. Not now.
coach smith
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
You anti-Georgia people kill me making excuses for SPIKES
Earlier in the game Spikes came through on a play that had been wistled dead on a flag and gave EALEY a FOREARM SHOT TO THE HEAD and wasn’t flagged
Both plays, especially the eye gouging were SICK, SAD, POOR SPORTSMANSHIP, CLASSLESS, and typical of the crap Florida gets away with in every game
dawg07
November 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
Slive will take appropriate action. He has been quick to react on less important matters like the coaches speaking out. This is about a million times more serious.
Maybe he is correct about the coaches particular urban who has no clue.
Thanks
Vince "Extramarital Affair" Dooley
November 2nd, 2009
3:42 pm
I appreciate the kind words from Dawg fans about how classy I am.
RJ
November 2nd, 2009
3:43 pm
Oh it was so horrible, oh the humanity. Someone get Obama on the phone!!
I was dissapointed after the game. I thought it was just another typical UGA beating at the hands of Florida wit hnothing for the Dogs to cry about. No blaming the refs, no Urban Meyer time outs, no running up the score
Thank goodness for Spikes otherwise UGA fans might have to realize their program is a joke and has been for 25 years. They might actually examine thier own team – But thanks to Spikes we get to hear 12 more months of crying and obsession with the Gators! Excuse me I mean Gaytors. (That will show those UF fans!)
Herschel Walker's Boyfriend
November 2nd, 2009
3:43 pm
I have always hated those GAYturds!
Buy a Clue
November 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
dawg07
Dumbarse, the office has already commented that the suspension was fine.
So when is UGA going to do something about their personal fouls???
Ryan
November 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
Tucker Dad – You were going to sign your 2 year old up for football? I think thats child abuse.
B-wood Dawg
November 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
I can’t stand Brandon Spikes. He will be a total bust in the NFL. Any team that drafts this idiot is asking for trouble. He won’t last 3 years at the next level, I promise you. He has to resort to these antics to get the pub. Another Brian Bosworth has arrived!!!! Chapas was abusing him all day and took him out of the game for the most part. My 12 year old son even commented on his antics on Saturday. Spike’s a JOKE!!!!
Lane Kiffin
November 2nd, 2009
3:45 pm
Seriously guys….can we talk about me now?
billy
November 2nd, 2009
3:45 pm
Enter your comments here
coach smith
November 2nd, 2009
3:45 pm
Ryan
Actually NO
UGA dominated the Gators in the 70s and 80s, that is why the Florida people only want to go back to 1990 when Spurrier got there to quote this bogus 17 of 20 record
If you are gonna go back to some arbitrary point, then count the 80s too
But no that wouldn’t look as good
Hypocrite Leghumpers
November 2nd, 2009
3:45 pm
Georgia 1975 – are you kidding me?? Oh yeah, Georgia had some late hits, but no big deal. Why do you think late hits are against the rules? Because players can get hurt!! Just as with eye gouging. No difference. I’ll at least say that what Spikes did was wrong. Homers like you actually excuse anything the boys in the silver britches do. What a joke.
dawg07
November 2nd, 2009
3:45 pm
Just confirms that FL and AL get the breaks from the officials and now FL from coach urban.
I am a hugh Tebow fan but FL doesn’t need any extra help.
Far Away From Home Dawg
November 2nd, 2009
3:46 pm
Should I be shocked at the lack of class by Florida fans and others who seem to justify Spikes’s conduct by calling it retaliation? Is this the WWF? The only difference is that this eye gouge was real and could have resulted in serious injury or even blindness. From the sound of it, SEC officials might as well be condoning “retaliation” with their support of Meyer’s weak half-game suspension. Big kudos to Washaun who, despite such an egregious act, was the bigger man. Proud to call him our starting tailback..
Silver Helmets and Jorts
November 2nd, 2009
3:47 pm
coach smith
can you please tell me about football when they had leather helmets???
Thomas Dimitroff
November 2nd, 2009
3:47 pm
Well we going to draft Spikes in the first round next year but since “B-wood Dawg” promised that he is going to be a bust, we will stay away from him. Thanks B-wood Dawg.
billy
November 2nd, 2009
3:48 pm
Obviously Brandon was just scaring him or he would have come out with an eyeball.Spikes isn’t a thug he is a terroist and we love him.
Julio
November 2nd, 2009
3:48 pm
lets hearmore whinning from the GA fans. We whipped your butts, be men and take it for th next 364 days…..
Fl wasn’t the team that got all the flags….the face mask out of bounds was a winner, Tebow getting poked in the eye was another (had to go to the sidelines and fix his contact).
joe
November 2nd, 2009
3:48 pm
To all of those saying that this happens all of the time in piles, Mike Golic was in plenty of these piles during his football career; his reaction seems to suggest that going after another players eyes in fact does NOT happen regularly. Dirty plays happen in piles, but there are no football players claiming that blatant attempts to poke another player in the eye are common place. An NFL running back told Bruce Feldman that it has never happened to him. There is a huge difference between accidentally poking someone in the eye during the course of a play and blatantly going after someone in a defenseless position after the play is over. There is no justifying these actions and this does not happen all of the time as all of these posters that never played football are claiming.
Jeff Schultz's MIA hairline
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
Trick or Treat!
Smell my feet!
Give me something good to write about because I have nothing.
RxDawg
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
This is going to tarnish anything UF accomplishes this year.
Johnny Ringo
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
sure smells like somebody died in here
Silver Helmets and Jorts
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
joe
Mike Golic is his own pile….of feces.
Bruce Feldman
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
Have you guys heard that an NFL RB told me this had never happened to him?
DawgfaninJesup
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
I hate to say it, but once again we have a coach with one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. I was hoping this one would work out but I guess that just is not the case.
Sad Bison
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
Is this the same guy who complained about Oklahoma being a dirty football team after he got pushed up and down the field in the national championship game? Seems to me that Mr. Spikes is a hypocrite.
King Gator
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
The Gators could have played without Spikes and probably a man down and still beat the Dawgs. Especially since thier qb thought the guys in orange and blue were on his team and open most of the game. Did Cox just throw another pick? Dawgs don’t lost to Tech again this year, you know thier just waiting to pile on while you’re down.
Herschel Walker
November 2nd, 2009
3:49 pm
So Herschel Walker….when were you going to tell me about your boyfriend?
Joe N
November 2nd, 2009
3:50 pm
Hey Jeff, where is your homer outrage over this? That’s what I thought. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDvFbD7wIAg
Herschel Walker
November 2nd, 2009
3:50 pm
You aren’t the boss of me Herschel Walker.
Coach Richt
November 2nd, 2009
3:50 pm
Remember folks… pulling hair, late hits, helmet to helmet hits, ripping of helmets, throwing elbows, tackling by the facemask – those are cool. That’s how we teach coach ‘em up at Georgia.
But if you retaliate in any way, you are a straight thug.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to discipline some players. They just don’t understand color coordination like they should.
Silver Helmets and Jorts
November 2nd, 2009
3:50 pm
RxDawg
Not nearly as much as being rolled by UT and UF did to your accomplishments.
Ooops, I’m sorry those aren’t accomplishments. More like failures I guess.
Drunkdawg
November 2nd, 2009
3:50 pm
So this is what college football and its fans have become, just a bunch of loudmouth trash talkers that could not play high school football, baseball, golf, pingpong or anything else. Everyone on here knows they are right and everyone else is wrong. Blame the coach, blame the player, blame the school, blame the refs, blame the sec, blame the cheerleaders or the band. Its the real world and we have to live in it everyday and everyday there are bad calls and disrespect shown towards other people. The FANS are worse than any of the players and should be ashamed of themselves since a lot of whats going on in the games is a direct reflection on the way these kids and players are being brought up from childhood into adulthood. Go watch a little league game and see how the parents act, all upset and raising hell in front of the other parents and kids because their golden child got beaned. Look at the way parents raise their kids now, look at the way coaches, scouts and agents treat them and advise them. They are told its all about you, nothing else matters, do as you want, you can make lots of money, you can buy lots of bling, everyone worships you and you will not fail since we will always be there with you since we are your friends and we know whats right for you, just listen to me and you cant go wrong. What a bunch of followers when the world needs a few more leaders but as the old saying goes, Stupid is as Stupid does. Plenty of that on here, Fans!!
Paul's Johnson
November 2nd, 2009
3:51 pm
King Gator:
“Queer Eye for the Geogia guy says’
I would bet there’s alot of truth in the queer part, after all you are a GAYtor fan.
Dead Bear Bryant
November 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
You ain’t trying if you ain’t cheat’n!
Joe N
November 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
Alabama Jack
November 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
Georgia would have class, too – of someone gave them a “C” and an “L”. they has the rest already.
Larry Munson's slow cousin
November 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
you know you’v hit bottom when some ass calling himself “Drunkdawg” is handing out life advice
AJ Green's Lung
November 2nd, 2009
3:53 pm
I know hurt…Ealey wasn’t hurt.
Lee
November 2nd, 2009
3:53 pm
Sorta ironic that Meyer would mention all the stuff that happened to Spikes when he [Spikes] initiated the crap on the first play of scrimmage for GA – you know, when the play was whistled dead due to offsides and Spikes runs in and head butts Ealey and then started his trash talking.
BTW, I’m not defending UGA. For the past two seasons, I have been critical of the trash talk and “extracurricular” activities by some of our players.
The SEC could have taken a stand and made a statement about this type of behavior, but instead, they let the dollar signs of a Fla / Ala matchup in the SEC playoffs blur their judgement.
Typical.
Randy Shannon
November 2nd, 2009
3:54 pm
I’ve been telling eveyone how dangerous it is up in Gainesville. Spikes stabbed and killed my good friend Walter Odom when Walter was up in Gainesville.