Hammock: Not fair to single out 3 suspended players, won’t name them

DeKALB – At his weekly news conference Friday afternoon, NIU football coach Thomas Hammock said he would not identify the three players who were suspended for a fight between the Huskies and Central Michigan after the conclusion of Tuesday’s 37-31 loss to the Chippewas.

The three players will miss the first half of Tuesday’s Mid-American Conference home game against Ball State. Central Michigan also had two players suspended for the first half of their game Tuesday against Western Michigan for their role in the fracas.

Hammock said the fight, which was captured on camera at the end of ESPNU’s broadcast of the weeknight MACtion game, was an unfortunate scene for everyone involved.

“Obviously when you play a football game, you play as hard as you can for four quarters. There’s a lot of emotions run high and low on both sides,” Hammock said. “We take responsibility on our part. We want to apologize. That’s not who we are or what we’re about. No matter how it was started or how it was provoked, that’s something we always talk about as a program – how to handle yourself in tough situations.”

NIU was trailing 37-11 in the game but scored 20 straight points. The Huskies had two chances at the end of the game to tie or win but fell short. The broadcast showed Hammock and CMU coach Jim McElwain seeming to tell players to go to their locker rooms before their postgame handshake.

Seconds later, the cameras caught a group of about 20 players scuffling on the field. That scuffle ended as most players started rushing toward a bigger altercation in the end zone, which appeared to be the more physical one.

“If you’re provoked in real life, in a real-life situation, sometimes things end badly for people,” Hammock said. “That’s teachable moments. We’re trying to teach young men how to become men and handle situations at all times.”