A look at this video (around the :09 mark) shows the lineman shoving a student to the ground — the student, of course, was one of thousands rushing the field after the big win.

MORE: USC must face tough questions after Washington State upset

But that incident begs the question: Should the lineman be blamed for shoving a student? Or should the student not have been on the field in the first place? For what it’s worth, Washington State University police are trying to identify the player, and could potentially charge him with misdemeanor assault (via Pullman Radio News).

Is that entirely necessary, or completely justified? Sporting News’ Bill Bender and Zac Al-Khateeb talk it out.

Zac Al-Khateeb: What do students do when their team wins big games? They storm the field. And you can argue Washington State’s win over No. 5 USC was one of the biggest in recent memory for the Cougars, who hadn’t beat a ranked opponent at home in 15 games and had never beaten a top-five Trojans team. Even if you’re against the idea of kids storming the field — which, by the way, Washington State did in their triple-over time win over Boise State with NO issues — you can’t expect a player to go out of their way to shove a student, which is what we see here.Bill Bender: We don’t need instant replay to see what’s going on here. That player is trying to get off the field, and that student should have his head on a swivel. I have no problem with the fans storming the field with the understanding that they will be treated in the same manner as a fan who storms or streaks on the field during the game. You do that at your own risk. That shot the fan took is a little gratuitous, but getting the police involved and assault charges? That’s ridiculous.

Zac: If that shove took place anywhere else, we’d have no problem calling it what it is: misdemeanor assault. Are we going to give the player a break because the student happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I don’t expect to be bulldozed when I get a ticket from a traffic cop for parking in a space too long. I’m not even saying the player should be charged. But an apology, at the very least, is definitely in order if and when they find out who did it.

Bill: You want an apology for trying to go viral? Hey, when you run on the field, you might get tackled by former Ohio State linebacker Anthony Schlegel. That went viral. You might get shoved by former Michigan safety Jabrill Peppers. That did, too. Those two fans have no right to complain about what happened. None. Why should hundreds of fans be afforded more leeway for being somewhere they really shouldn’t be? I’ll agree on one thing. We don’t need a fan or player getting injured in one of these situations. We’re lucky it hasn’t happened yet.

Zac: Nice one, Bill. But here’s the difference between those two clips and what happened on Friday. Anthony Wunder ran onto the field when the teams were actively playing — he had no business being there at that time. And even though Peppers shoved that OSU fan, it was because he ran into him — perhaps unintentionally. Peppers reacted to what he probably thought was a fan getting in his face.

What happened on Friday was a kid, minding his business and trying to be a part of history, getting intentionally run over by a player who was salty over losing. That player, mind you, was jogging. He had plenty of time to slow down or even just bump into the student. Say what you want, but that player was in the wrong — even if the kid wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

Bill: We’re seeing two different things. I’m seeing a bunch of kids running in a direction with a bunch of USC players coming in from the side, and, well, that dude is lucky he is the only one who got drilled. And let’s be honest. How many times are these kids going to go home and brag about it later? Like for the next 20 years? You want to storm the field. Go right ahead. But that’s a decision you made, and there might be consequences. Maybe that makes me sound old — I keep putting off that next eye appointment. Sure, it sounds like, “Get off my lawn.” That’s not what I’m saying. You can run on the lawn all you want. Just don’t complain what happens while you’re on it with a bunch of other 300 pound humans.