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Tonya Papanikolas reportingCoralie Alder, University of Utah Spokeswoman: "You would expect that there would be some pushing and shoving here and and there.... So again, I think all in all, a very good end result last night."
The thousands of fans who rushed the field at the end of the Utah-BYU Game caused a few injuries last night. The University of Utah says they were mostly minor injuries.
Today the school is commending the way students and police handled the event.
The University of Utah said some rowdy fans were ejected from the game for altercations, but they were expecting things like that. They also expected students to rush the field., so they tried to be prepared. Under the circumstances, they felt it went well.
The pushing as fans rushed the field. It was utter chaos as the Utes went undefeated for the season. With this many people in one place and adrenaline pumping hard, injuries were hard to avoid.
Coralie Alder, University of Utah Spokeswoman: “I think there were a couple of injuries. I don't think they were serious. But it happened when the goal post came down. They were pretty heavy as you can imagine. I think there were 2 or 3 injuries that occurred."
One person hit by the goal posts was taken away on a stretcher. But the university says with 45-thousand fans attending the nationally-televised game, the campus police controlled the crowd pretty well.
Coralie Alder, University of Utah Spokeswoman: “We have this number of people at all of our football games and have this year. So i think they expect a crowd and want to take care of things that could occur. And so they always have extra people on staff here to take care of things."
Around the country, sporting events have been raucous lately, with fans AND players involved in fights.
Friday night at the Pacers-Pistons game, a players' shoving match escalated into a dangerous brawl in the stands, . not just once, but twice.
NBA Announcer:"This is unbelievable, unbelievable. Where is the security?"
Saturday at the South Carolina Clemson game, a fight broke out in the 4th quarter. It took police and coaches almost 10 minutes to settle down both teams.
Considering all this, the University of Utah says they were pleased with how their post-game turned out.
Coralie Alder: “I would really like to applaud the University fans, the BYU fans, our teams and University of Utah police for doing such a fabulous job."
There was kind of a rush mentality when the gate was opened to the field.
We've learned that an e-mail did go out to many of the students before the game telling them not to jump over the wall to get to the field.
Of course, it also told them they wouldn't have a chance to tear down the goalposts.
