By John Fay and John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The University of Cincinnati accepts its share of the blame for the melee that followed the Bearcats' 20-19 loss to Hawaii on Saturday. That said, UC thinks Hawaii could have taken measures to prevent the incident.

UC and Hawaii players scuffle at the end of the game. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Hawaii assistant coach Mike Cavanaugh separates players. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"For any over-aggressiveness toward the officials that I may have demonstrated for my team, I've got to make sure I'm in check - grace under fire," Bearcats coach Rick Minter said. "I'm the only one on the team who has a right to (complain) to the officials. For anything excessive thathelped our team lose our focus, I apologize, and have already."

Where Minter and UC athletic director Bob Goin think Hawaii officials were at fault was with "game management." They thought too many fans/boosters were allowed on the sidelines, and that fans were incited by a controversial play being showed over and over again on the video board.

"I was very concerned about the atmosphere," Goin said. "I don't know who those people were on the sidelines. There were hundreds of them. Some of them had credentials and others did not. I've never seen that before. And, quite frankly, they were abusive."

The abuse turned into violence as the players left the field.

"What happened to our kids (being doused with beverages) on the way off the field should be unacceptable in anybody's backyard," Minter said.

Conference USA assistant commissioner Brian Teeter said the conference is reviewing the incident. Hawaii's conference, the Western Athletic, is also.

Asked if he expected any "discipline or suspensions" to be levied against any of his players by C-USA, Minter said he "would hope not."

"Those kinds of things happen occasionally, particularly at the end. I don't believe there'd be any way to single out individuals. I'm not proud of the fact the way we (the Bearcats) ended the game. I would like to think (Hawaii coach) June Jones would have a similar stance, but I don't know if that's true."

Crowd control falls under the jurisdiction of the host school in a non-conference game.

"We have a whole rulebook on game management," Teeter said. "It's something we take very seriously."

The NCAA has no rules for game management.

"The officials maintain control on the field during the game," NCAA spokesperson Natalie Sutkowski said. "That's in our rulebook. Off the field and after the game is under the realm of the host institution and local law enforcement."

Given the number of incidents lately, the NCAA might get involved in game management.

"The representatives of the schools would have to vote it in," Sutkowski said.

Again, Goin thinks game management was only part of the problem.

"I was disappointed in the (game and crowd) management (by Hawaii officials), and I think that along with the errors that the two teams made, are inexcusable," he said. "We (UC players) weren't error-free.

"I spoke to our team (after the game). We failed the test. We are supposed to turn the other cheek, time after time after time. I explained to them there is some other value other than winning. That's the ability to control your emotions."