Louisville-North Carolina Ends in Sideline-Clearing Brawl
The Louisville Cardinals kneeled to end Saturday night’s game with a 16-14 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. However, as quarterback Lincoln Kienholz led the kneel down, tensions arose between Louisville’s offense and North Carolina’s defense.
There was an argument of sorts between Louisville right guard Johnnie Brown III and North Carolina’s defensive end Xavier Lewis. This turned into a full-out brawl on the field.
It’s unclear how the dispute between Brown and Lewis even started. The broadcast captured them holding onto each other before the rest of the squads chimed in to add to the fight. Whistles were blowing, flags were thrown, yet nothing really stopped the players from brawling.
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The fight was hard to break up by the officiating crew. The benches from both teams cleared, separate groups were formed amongst the brawl and players started falling on the ground. It was absolute chaos, to say the least.
The NCAA will likely serve suspensions to Brown and Lewis, and potentially to other players involved in the fight. They will have to really look closely at what happened in the brawl before handing out suspensions or fines.
The Tar Heels didn’t end the game on the best note even before the brawl. Starting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. left the game in the third quarter with an injury that could be detrimental for the Tar Heels’ season. Freshman Travis Burgess stepped in for Edwards for the remainder of the game.
On North Carolina’s final drive of the game, Burgess was sacked for a loss of two yards, then threw two incompletions. He then threw an interception caught by Louisville cornerback Jabari Mack, who then returned the ball for 32 yards. The interception happened with 58 seconds left in the game, meaning the Tar Heels had time to try and make a comeback as they only lost by two points.
This unfortunate ending may have caused some of the high tension on the field just minutes later.
UNC fell to 5-5 on the season, while Louisville improved to 7-3. The Tar Heels at least got more wins this season than last year (four wins) during coach Bill Belichick’s first season with the team.
