Marcus Vick's Ridiculous Onfield Behavior on Saturday (Article and Video)
Football: WVU looking into Vick incidents
Monday, October 03, 2005
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By various accounts, Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick didn't merely flick footballs in the host Mountaineers' direction Saturday.
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<!--END LINK BOX-->Amid reports that Vick at one point made an obscene gesture toward the vociferous home fans behind the visitors bench, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said yesterday that he and his staff were studying films to see if they can spot an incident where Vick elbowed a Mountaineers coach along the sideline.
This is in addition to the run-in between Vick and Mountaineers cornerback Dee McCann in the third quarter, resulting in Vick flipping a ball in McCann's facemask, McCann throwing an elbow at Vick's throat, and officials tossing flags for nullifying penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Vick, the younger brother of Atlanta Falcons and former Virginia Tech star Michael Vick, was the subject of verbal abuse hurled by a portion of the 60,193 patrons inside Mountaineer Field. In response to his suspensions from the team and the university last season after two separate arrests, more than a few fans from the rival Mountaineers crowd chanted "Con-Vick" and "Yellow Vick" at him Saturday. Media outlets in Virginia and West Virginia reported about Vick brandishing an obscene gesture toward the stands.
Virginia Tech officials declined to comment about it yesterday, but Rodriguez's talk of the elbowing incident was news to them.
"I did not see that," Rodriguez said, referring to the alleged gesture, after reviewing films of the third-ranked Hokies' 34-17 victory against the Mountaineers (4-1). "I know there was an instance where he threw a ball at one of the players. And there was an instance on the sidelines where he shoved one of the coaches maybe in the back of the head with an elbow. I didn't see that. On film, we're looking for some of that stuff."
He declined to identify the coach.
Perhaps Vick need only let his play on Mountaineer Field speak for him. He completed 15 of 17 passes for 177 yards, rushed for 74 more, scored two touchdowns and accounted for 251 of the 391 yards and 18 of the 34 points conjured by Virginia Tech (5-0).
Vick told reporters afterward: "The fans kind of got me riled up a little bit before the game. ... The crowd was giving me a lot of grief, so I wanted to go out there and take it out on their defense. I was trying to make a statement."
Overall, Rodriguez gave a relatively morose film review of West Virginia's first loss of the season. "I thought the guys were giving good effort," he said. "But we didn't execute well. I was disappointed with a little missed opportunities offensively. And, defensively, our front seven did not play as well as they had been, they did not get off blocks well and didn't play well at the point of attack."
Video:
http://squeezedneon.com/vain.wmv