Anything goes in a football pileup as players are known to bite, scratch and claw each other for the ball. But what about eye gouging?

Number one ranked University of Florida football player Brandon Spikes’ eye-gouging incident during Sunday’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs is being scrutinized--and has been suspended for sticking his hand inside the helmet of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey.

the SEC will review whether the Florida linebacker eye-gouged his opponent, on purpose.

But according to the Orlando Sentinel, Spikes has been suspended by Coach Urban Meyer for the first half of the university’s next game Saturday against Vanderbilt. Meyer made the announcement Monday afternoon, according to the Sentinel.

The alleged eye-gouging occurred Saturday during Florida’s 41-17 win over the Georgia. Spikes was not penalized after the running play for the supposed eye-gouging, but Southeastern Conference officials will look at tapes to determine whether they thing Spikes’ eye-gouge was intentional. Depending on their decision, Spikes will most likely face additional disciplinary measures.

Here’s the video:

Spikes had a fantastic game aside from the eye-gouging, coming up with 10 tackles and an interception return for a touchdown. It has not been made clear what will happen to Brandon Spikes if he is found guilty of having purposefully eye-gouging, but it could come with an additional suspension.

Meyer said that he didn’t condone Spikes’ alleged eye-gouging, but that he had spoken to Spikes about the alleged incident, and that Spikes reportedly “got caught up in emotion” during the play.

Our Take

Hard to tell, but it looked intentional to me. I can’t tell how I feel about it though. Anything goes in a football pile and that eye-gouging lasted all of two seconds. He reached his hand in and odds are he was looking to mess with the guy more than he thought he could get the ball loose.

If you watch closely, his reaching into the guys face mask did force the guy getting eye-gouged to reach for his helmet and try to stop him, so he got the intended effect. At least this isn’t Any Given Sunday and the guy’s eyeball didn’t get ripped from his socket. I haven’t heard of any serious injury from the player, so let’s just move on.