In the opening week of the 2009 season, this happened after Boise State upset Oregon:
In the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl, this happened in the third quarter as Boise State was whomping Oregon:
OK, so the sequel didn’t quite live up to the original, but it’s still something to see the young folks paying homage to their predecessors. I do like how it turned into a PASS-IT-ON punch, rather than a retaliatory strike along the way. None of this was flagged, FWIW.
This game has been full of historic references, including Boise State attempting a Statue of Liberty against a Power 5 opponent in a bowl for the third time. It finally failed.
That 2009 punch is such a part of college football legend at this point that we used it as the opener to our oral history of Broncos football in its entirety:
The two most memorable things to have ever happened at Albertsons Stadium weren't football plays. The first is when Boise State University installed blue turf in 1986. The second came in the moments following the first game of 2009.
On the evening of September 3, BSU took down Oregon, 19-8. The Ducks had won 10 games and gone to the Rose Bowl the year before. Over two years, they had averaged nearly 40 points per game. They managed just eight points and 31 rushing yards against the Broncos.
As the players exited the field, BSU defensive tackle Byron Hout said something smack-like to Oregon's star running back LaGarrette Blount. Blount socked him in the jaw.
Blount was suspended for 10 games, and after all the promise of 2008 — he rushed for 1,000 yards as a backup and was considered a surefire breakout star — his final season finished with 22 carries and 82 yards.
There was no excuse for the punch, but when he lost his social bearings, he was just as confused as the rest of us. How could this have happened?
How could this team of two-stars and former walk-ons have physically dominated a team with title aspirations?
HOW COULD THIS PROGRAM IN THE MIDDLE OF FOOTBALL NOWHERE KEEP GETTING BETTER?
Also, Boise State is 2-0 against Oregon in games that involve viral punches.