Mid-Major Madness Year in Review: The Eye-Gouge Heard Round the World

When BYU looks back on their season, they may have to take a good long look at the Nov. 20 matchup against Iowa State when everything changed. That was the game when Eric Mika took two fingers to the eyes from Iowa State's DeAndre Kane.

The Cougars haven't been the same since the incident. Counting that game, BYU is 4-5 since that date, with losses against almost every team on the schedule that could have helped their resume. The lone good win in that time came against Texas, and who knows where the Longhorns team will end up in the difficult Big 12.

But it was the eye gouging that took center stage. The video and still frames of the incident took on a Zapruder film-like quality in the comments on Will Maupin's piece. Iowa State fans were trying to explain how this only happened because Mika dropped the ball as he was coming to the hoop. BYU fans were trying to make something out of where Kane appears to be looking the crucial frame.

Either way, it made for a great debate and as of this writing was the top post of the year on the site thanks to all the traffic from the Cyclone fans wanting to get in their two cents.

It also led to this amazing followup post on Black Pants Gold Heart. But remember it all started here.

Here is the Eye Gouge, once again.