There’s not a lot of things that can steal the discussion away from the results of a big game after you put a season opening beatdown of your chief rival. But somehow, a postgame shove from a Wyoming’s Jayden Williams that flattened a CSU student (students?) who was part of a field-storming celebration has become as big a talking point as the amazing debut of new Rams quarterback Hauss Hejny.
Let’s tee this up: The CSU student section (with a record-breaking turnout) is located in the south stands at Canvas Stadium. It’s probably safe to assume that the passion that already existed going in for a game against the hated Wyoming Cowboys was enhanced over three hours by moderate to higher-than-recommended alcohol consumption during the course of the contest.
The Rams had the game in hand midway through the final quarter. The fans were lubed up and ready to roll.
The Bronze Boot trophy, possessed by Wyo after their win a season ago, was perched in the northeast corner of the stadium on the visitors’ sideline located on the east side. However, the visiting team’s tunnel to their locker room is in the southwest corner.
So in order for those students who defied the rules – and instructions from the PA announcer – so they could rush the field and participate in the snatching of the Boot from the other sideline, they had to run northeast, while 105 unhappy losing football players were heading southwest.
Sort of like an old figure-eight race track in a demolition derby… collisons were inevitable.
There were very likely several instances where CSU fans and Wyoming players made physical contact. Williams was caught on-camera. Reports say he shouldered a female student to the ground as well as the two-handed shove that was caught on camera. That’s never a good look, and looking back, it was certainly an overreaction. But in that split-second?
Who bears ultimate responsibility if something serious happens in these situations? The upset player who just lost a rivalry game and doesn’t care for the celebrating opponents “getting in his face,” or those who defied the rules and charged head-first into the fray? Apparently, it depends on the severity of the interaction.
Back in 2003, Missouri fan Matthew Scott stormed the field and was charging directly at Nebraska cornerback Kellen Huston after the Tigers upset the Cornhuskers in Columbia. Huston believed the situation to be dangerous to him, and reacted by punching Scott in the face and fracturing his nose. Cameras caught the exchange, and Huston pled guilty to a misdemeanor and served a one-game suspension.
Closer to home, a similar scene unfolded in Boulder last season when the Buffs upset nationally ranked Iowa State. A CU fan who was rushing the field was caught on camera trying to steal the helmet of a Cyclones player. The fan lost – and he was fortunate he wasn’t seriously injured.
Sometimes, the fans lose big. Like last season in Virginia, when 19 people were seriously injured in a field-storming after a win over Florida State. The school was fined after the incident.
There’s a reason that schools and programs are cracking down on court- and field-storming. No one wants to be the fun police, but it only takes one rogue fan or one angrier-than-they-should-be player to have something seriously bad happen.
It’s easy in retrospect to say that Williams was never in any danger, and the video backs that up. And no one is condoning any sort of act of physical aggression against a defenseless female coed. For his part, Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel said the matter will be handled internally. Nevertheless, one facts are clear: When fans decide to break the rules and storm onto the player’s domain, the playing field, they are doing so at their own risk.
