UNC, Louisville players brawl as all hell breaks loose after final whistle

Apparently, 60 minutes of football wasn’t enough for Louisville and North Carolina on Saturday night.

The two ACC rivals decided to throw in a little extracurricular activity after the final whistle, turning an already heated contest into a full-blown postgame brawl.

Louisville escaped with a 16-14 victory over Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels, but the final score quickly became an afterthought when both sidelines emptied onto the field in a chaotic scene that looked more like a handful of heavyweight boxing matches than the conclusion of a college football game.

The trouble began after North Carolina quarterback Travis Burgess threw a costly interception with just over a minute remaining, effectively ending the Tar Heels’ hopes of stealing a victory.

Louisville needed only to kneel down and run out the clock. Instead, the Cardinals’ final kneel-down became the opening bell for an all-out fight between the two teams.

Players began exchanging words before tempers boiled over, sending teammates pouring off both sidelines as pushing and shoving escalated into a sprawling melee.

Officials desperately blew their whistles and tossed penalty flags, although expecting a few yellow pieces of laundry to stop dozens of furious football players seemed about as effective as bringing a squirt gun to a burning building.

At one point, there were several skirmishes going on all over the field, including in the end zone.

For Belichick, the embarrassing spectacle added another ugly chapter to an already frustrating night.

North Carolina fell to 5-5 after letting a winnable game slip through its fingers, and now the Tar Heels must prepare for Virginia with questions surrounding both their execution and discipline.

The ACC could also have something to say about the confrontation if the conference decides additional punishment and suspensions are warranted.

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