COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Apparently, seven overtimes was not enough.
After No. 22 Texas A&M outlasted No. 7 LSU, 74-72, in a NCAA record tying seven overtimes that took four hours and 53 minutes Saturday night, the battle raged on after the game on the field and the fallout may continue Monday.
LSU offensive analyst Steve Kragthorpe, 53, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011 and has had a pacemaker in his chest to stimulate his brain since 2017, was punched by a credentialed man from the Texas A&M sideline in the chest. That is when LSU director of player development Kevin Faulk, a former LSU and NFL star back from Carencro, went after the man, whose identity has not been confirmed by A&M.
"Out of nowhere, I got nailed," Kragthorpe said in a phone interview while he drove back home from the game Sunday afternoon. "I didn't go down, but I clutched over. I was like, 'Damn, he got me right in my pacemaker.' Then it started fluttering like he jostled it."
Kragthorpe was checked out by Texas A&M team doctor Jesse Parr and other emergency medical personnel at the game.
"I feel OK, but not as good as I was," Kragthorpe said. "I felt like he tore something in there. I will be seeing my neurologist in Baton Rouge on Monday."
Kragthorpe said he does not plan on pressing charges against the person but said that Texas A&M may be responsible for any injuries he may have received from the incident.
"I didn't appreciate getting punched in my pacemaker," he said. "I'm not feeling good right now. I have no idea who the guy is. But he was wearing an A&M shirt, and I think I saw him signalling during the game. He was credentialed, so A&M should know who he is."
Texas A&M athletic department officials have had not confirmed the man's identity amid reports Sunday that the person who hit Kragthorpe was Cole Fisher, a nephew of Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, who said after the game he knew nothing of the incident.
"I don't know who Cole Fisher is," Texas A&M associate director for football communications Brad Marquardt said Sunday.
All Faulk knows is he saw someone punch Kragthorpe in his chest. Then he went after him.
"It's unfortunate this situation happened," Faulk said Sunday in a phone interview. "It got out of hand. But I was just behaving as my mom and dad raised me. This guy hit Coach Kragthorpe in the chest. I just stepped in. It just happened."
Kragthorpe, who was LSU's quarterbacks coach in 2011 and '12 before becoming an analyst, said he was at first walking across the sideline to say hello to Texas A&M linebackers coach Bradley Dale Peveto, who coached at LSU from 2014-16, and other A&M coaches Kragthorpe knows. Then he saw Texas A&M wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig yelling and going up to LSU coaches, including head coach Ed Orgeron.
"Dameyune Craig started the whole thing," Kragthorpe said. "Just trash talking and yelling and screaming a bunch of crap."
Craig was hired by former LSU coach Les Miles to be wide receivers coach in 2016. Orgeron, who replaced Miles on an interim basis after four games in 2016, fired Craig shortly after being promoted to head coach after the regular season.
"I went up to Dameyune and said, 'Hey, Dameyune get out of here. You won. You don't need to be doing that. Move along.' And that's when I got hit. I mean, I got nailed. He was a young guy. I'm 53. I'm not going to fight him. I have Parkinson's, but even if I didn't, I haven't gotten in a fight since high school. That would be a poor reflection on Coach O and Joe (athletic director Joe Alleva)."
LSU did contact the SEC office about the incident on Saturday night, senior associate athletic director for external communications Robert Munson said Sunday.
SEC associate commissioner Herb Vincent said Sunday the league was looking into the situation.