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Twelve Memphis football players who were involved in the brawl with BYU players after the Dec. 22 Miami Beach Bowl face penalties for their roles in the post-game melee, the University of Memphis announced Tuesday.
Responding to media inquiries a few hours after the Memphis announcement, BYU associate athletic director for communications Duff Tittle said BYU has also completed a "thorough review" of the incident, but will not be announcing anything publicly.
"The determined disciplinary measures are being handled internally," Tittle said in a statement, which also expressed gratitude to Memphis "for the cooperation and communication that has taken place between BYU and the University of Memphis in an effort to live up to the high ideals of sportsmanship to which we both aspire."
Memphis made the announcement in conjunction with the American Athletic Conference office. BYU does not belong to a football conference.
Memphis says the penalties will range from half-game to two-game suspensions and suspensions from various practices and scrimmages, but did not announce names or specific punishment. Coach Justin Fuentes is not expected to announce individual suspensions until before the Tigers' first game in September.
Memphis won the game 55-48 in double overtime. Multiple fights broke out at midfield and near the BYU sideline as the Tigers were celebrating the win.
Memphis' news release says BYU and Memphis players will "formally apologize in a conference call" and that other penalties for Memphis players include mandatory anger-management counseling and community service. BYU's statement did not address possible penalties for its players.
Memphis president M. David Rudd said in a statement that BYU administrators have been working with Memphis officials in both schools' reviews of the incident.
"I want to thank BYU for working with us to achieve not only accountability from this unfortunate event, but also helping our teams continue to grow and develop as young men, consistent with the high expectations held by both our universities, along with the high standards of sportsmanship established by the NCAA and American Athletic Conference," Rudd said.
Tittle's statement was BYU's first on the matter since athletic director Tom Holmoe said the following via Twitter a few hours after the brawl: "We expect better of our athletes, even in the face of a difficult loss. We intend to fully review this matter. I apologize to Cougar Nation."
Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen also issued a statement: "We hold our student-athletes to the highest standards of sportsmanship and personal conduct at the University of Memphis. The actions of a few members of our football program in Miami were completely unacceptable."
Tuesday morning, BYU football director of player personnel and on-campus recruiting, Geoff Martzen, spoke to reporters in a teleconference about the team's 2015 recruiting efforts and was asked what effect the brawl has had on recruiting with Signing Day approaching on Feb. 4.
"Any time you lose a big game, especially a bowl game, it is not going to help," Martzen said. "It definitely didn't give us an extra boost going into these last few months. I think the brawl was seen in a couple different lights. Obviously it is not what the university wanted, in terms of exposure, or the [Mormon] church wanted. Some of our recruits expressed that they liked seeing the energy and the passion. But as a university, it was not what we wanted to see, and probably in the long run it isn't going to help us."
Twitter: @drewjay