After Iowa State’s 28-14 win over Baylor, fireworks ignited above Jack Trice Stadium. 

They weren’t the only fireworks on the night. 

With about three minutes expired in the third quarter, junior running back David Montgomery bounced a run toward Iowa State’s side line. Baylor’s Chris Miller escorted Montgomery out of bounds, and the play concluded with Montgomery crashing through a water cooler and a referee tossing a flag. 

Some pushing and shoving ensued, along with a 15-yard personal foul. The teams congregated back on the field and play continued. 

Montgomery rushed for 10 yards, and a Hakeem Butler false start followed. Iowa State handed the ball off to Montgomery again, and chaos broke out.

“It happened pretty quick,” Butler said. “It was just [an] altercation, and having the refs hand out the punishment, that’s how it happened.”

Butler blocked Blake Lynch on the opposite side of the field. Lynch grabbed Butler outside the shoulder pads, while Butler drove Lynch to the ground. Butler pinned Lynch to the ground with his hands and then his legs, while Lynch grabbed Butler’s legs.

The physical play garnered the other 20 players’ attention. The teams pushed and shoved again, and Montgomery and Baylor’s Greg Roberts paired away from the pile. 

A referee attempted to separate the two, but Roberts jumped and swung at Montgomery. The running back responded with a swing of his own before guard Josh Knipfel and a handful of other players defused the situation.

Once the white jerseys separated from the cardinal jerseys, the referees conversed and ejected Roberts and Knipfel. A pair of penalties offset.

“I was just trying to make sure David didn’t get hurt or anything like that,” Knipfel said. “When stuff like that happens, that’s when dumb injuries happen.”

Knipfel exited the field with security and sat in the locker room. Knipfel heard a knock on the door, and the security guard told him the ejection was overturned.

He sprinted out to a roar of cheers from the Cyclone fans. Meanwhile, Montgomery replaced Knipfel in the locker room.

“I loved his standing ovation he got when he came back out,” Butler said. “That was like a wrestler coming to a Royal Rumble or something.”

A little bit later, the junior running back shared his thoughts through Twitter.

After the incident, no feathers were ruffled between the two teams, but the fight still impact the game. 

Baylor drove late in the game, still within striking distances, when quarterback Charlie Brewer said something to a referee. The referee handed out a personal foul and Brewer hit the showers.

After the fight, each player received a personal foul, so a second personal foul triggered the ejection.

During Matt Campbell’s post-game press conference, he chose not to talk specifics on the fight until he has a chance to rewatch it.

“It’s too much right now to have a response emotionally,” Campbell said. “I just think [it’s] a very unfortunate situation, and I thought our kids for the most part kept really good poise, but I don’t want to comment on it until I have an opportunity to see what transpired.

“I thought from the [officials’] standpoint, they did what they needed to do.”