BYU Beach Bowl Brawl Could Result in Suspensions for Season Opener Against Nebraska

Brigham Young head coach Bronco Mendenhall met with his team on Monday to start spring practice and wrote one word on the whiteboard:

Discipline.

That's the result of the ugly ending of the Miami Beach Bowl, where punches were thrown by both teams in an ugly scene.

Mendenhall told the Deseret News that "10-ish" players will be disciplined for their actions, but added that any possible suspensions would not be announced until the end of August.  The Cougars open the 2015 season in Lincoln against Nebraska.

"We'll try to maintain a competitive advantage as long as we can, and protect the kids as much as we can," Mendenhall said. "I think everyone knows I thrive on accountability and don't back away from it, especially at BYU. So I'm comfortable with who we're disciplining and how. I'd like to protect our players as much as we can."

It's unclear who all might be involved and who might end up being disciplined. Junior defensive back Kai Nacua was caught on camera punching a Memphis player from behind, and might be one of the most likely candidates to be disciplined.  Later camera images showed Nacua with a bloodied face, which could mean that he was responding to the actions of other players.  Nacua played in all 13 games for BYU as a sophomore, starting six with 40 tackles.