During an on-field brawl in 2009, a black running back had dropped a white linebacker to the blue turf of Boise State's Albertsons Stadium with a single brutal punch, and one game into his head coaching career at Oregon, Chip Kelly had a crisis to confront.
LeGarrette Blount - Oregon's star running back, 6 feet and 235 pounds of coiled muscle - had cracked Boise State's Byron Hout in the jaw, both of them fortunate that Blount had delivered no lasting damage to Hout's face. Kelly initially suspended Blount for the rest of that season, but he soon began to wonder whether the punishment was too severe.