A late hit in Saturday’s Hawaii-Oregon State game game has resulted in an Oregon State player being suspended for the first half of his next game and Hawaii being without an assistant coach for its Mountain West Conference opener.
The Pac-12 suspended Oregon State’s Jovan Stevenson for the first half of Saturday’s game against Utah. The Mountain West suspended UH special teams coordinator Chris Demarest for the Sept. 21 road game against Nevada. UH has a bye this weekend.
The sanctions stem from an incident in which Stevenson made a lunging after-the-whistle hit on UH’s Trayvon Henderson.
Demarest then began yelling at Stevenson, who was whistled for a 15-yard penalty, but not ejected under the NCAA’s new “targeting” rule for hitting a defenseless player.
In reviewing video of the game, the Pac-12 ruled Stevenson did hit a defenseless player.
In a separate video review, the MWC ruled Demarest displayed “inappropriate actions on the sideline,” a violation of the league’s sportsmanship code.
Demarest declined to comment.
In a statement, UH head coach Norm Chow said: “Chris is a tremendous football coach who coaches with passion and energy. This is an extremely unfortunate situation and obviously we will abide with the penalty handed down by the Mountain West.”
Chow declined to answer questions about the situation.
Demarest is allowed to coach during practices.
It has not been determined if Demarest will make the trip to Nevada. The Warriors usually have a walk-through session the afternoon before each road game during which they work on special teams and substitutions.
A UH spokesman said it has not been decided who will coach the specialists during the game.
Demarest appeared to be enraged from an incident following an Oregon State punt return in the second quarter. Brandin Cooks fielded the punt and was chased out of bounds on the UH sideline.
Replays showed that after the play ended, Stevenson blindsided Henderson, who had stopped running after Cooks crossed the sideline. Henderson suffered a concussion, and did not play in the second half.
It was a crucial loss for UH. Henderson and Charles Clay were playing in place of free safety Marrell Jackson, who injured his knee. Jackson is considered one of the Warriors’ top third-down pass defenders.
In all, three UH players were injured on special teams, including starting middle linebacker Brenden Daley.
Chow said on Sunday that neither Daley nor Henderson would practice this week.
