YouTube (Tarnished) Gold: NC State And ECU’s Awful Military Bowl Brawl

This was embarrassing to say the least.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the NC State-ECU match in the Military Bowl ended up being a terrific game. State had a chance to win but surrendered a late touchdown and the Pirates came away with a 26-21 victory.

Unfortunately, that’s not what people will be talking about. What they’ll be talking about is what happened in the closing seconds of the game as the Wolfpack and the Pirates got into a major brawl on the field.

And worse still, an ECU player came up and shoved a State player from behind, knocking his helmet into an official, who suffered a significant wound. It won’t be at all surprising to learn that he got stitches as a result - it looks pretty nasty.

The question now is what will happen as a result. it’s hard to imagine that something like this can have no consequences. Whether it’s the universities or their respective conferences, something must be done.

And if it weren't obvious enough on its face, there’s this: these teams will open next season against each other. Not disciplining the players involved essentially invites a repeat in August.