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Art Briles: Alleged "threat" to Gary Patterson "looked at and closed"

Baylor has apparently investigated the alleged threat by Orion Stewart to TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson and determined that nothing of substance occurred.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

After the game Saturday evening, TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson made a somewhat startling allegation in his post-game press conference: that he had been "kind of threatened" by a Baylor player on the field relating to his post-game comments last year.  Patterson said that Baylor DC Phil Bennett had to intervene with the player and that people should ask him what happened.  Though the player has never been officially identified by name by either side, video surfaced yesterday of the alleged incident between Baylor safety Orion Stewart and Patterson.  That video didn't seem to show an overt physical or verbal threat of any kind, and Stewart took to Twitter fairly soon afterward to deny outright ever threatening anyone.  It's worth noting that Bennett himself indicated that Stewart "mouthed off" but did not threaten anyone when asked immediately after the alleged incident.

From Baylor's perspective, it seems like his denial was correct according to Art Briles, who said that this morning that the matter has been "looked at and closed." The lack of any announced suspension or disciplinary action seems to indicate that the team found little or nothing there after looking at the evidence, and Patterson himself has indicated a desire not to say anything more on the topic.

We'll probably never know what actually happened on the field between Stewart and Patterson, if anything, or why these allegations surfaced in the first place, whether it was Patterson misconstruing the situation or Stewart actually saying something he shouldn't have.  I'm just glad now that we can put this non-story behind us and move on to West Virginia.