Helmets flying off, reporters and officials were trapped by the swarm of players. The pushing and shoving seemed to have no end. While tension is common between teams during the last week of the regular season, this year’s rivalry week marked itself in the record books. In the majority of the games, a brawl broke out either during or after the clock hit zero.
The fight occurred between the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The unranked Wolverines pulled off an impressive upset over the second-ranked Buckeyes with a record of 13-10 at Ohio Stadium. Following the game, Michigans’ players planted their flag on the 50-yard line of the Buckeyes’ field. With the heated emotions from the game, many Ohio State players rushed over to protect their turf.
Ohio State has a tradition of singing their school song “Carmen Ohio” following a home game. However, the brawl began just seconds after the first note.
Despite the efforts of campus security and police, the pushing continued for minutes. As the teams started to disperse, Michigan edge, Derrick Moore, brought the flag back to the center.
Not long after waving it around the Buckeyes, senior captain Jack Sawyer ripped the flag from the pole and walked away from midfield. After almost five minutes of chaos, the situation was de-escalated and both teams left the field.
After the game, many players and coaches from both teams spoke on the affairs.
Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day was asked about the altercation in his post-game interview.
“I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on our field, and our guys weren’t going to let that happen,” Day said.
While he was not fully aware of the situation at this time, Day backed his team by saying the gesture was uncalled for and his players had too much pride to let them claim their field.
Michigan players also spoke up following the fight, claiming the act was classless from Ohio State.
“It’s bad for the sport, bad for college football at the end of the day… some people got to learn how to lose,” Kalel Mullings, Michigan running back, said.
The Michigan, Ohio State rivalry is arguably the best rivalry in college football, if not all of sports. It’s not surprising that there was a fight, however, one of this magnitude was unexpected and hard to watch.
This game set the trend for the rest of the day as many other flag-planting incidents occurred.
North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina also had an altercation after an NC State 35-30 victory, as one of the UNC players threw the NC State flag into the stands. A brawl around midfield followed this action. NC State was told to leave the field and did so while waving their flag at the fans on the way to the locker room.
The Florida vs. Florida State and the Arizona vs. Arizona State games were the last among the flag-planting incidents.
Both occurred at midfield and resulted in conflict between the teams. While there have not been many instances in recent years of flag planting affecting college football, teams this weekend showed that the effects could be costly.
The event this week poses a major question for the NCAA. Should flag planting be banned in college football? This was not a prominent issue before this year but it resulted in many injuries, and as many players and coaches said, it is not good for college football.
The NCAA made a similar decision by banning the “Horns Down” symbol in 2018, which was used to taunt Texas University. The Big 12 stated that if any players or fans of the opposing team made the hand gesture, it would result in a 15-yard penalty.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was asked about these events in one of his press conferences. When Mayfield was in college at Oklahoma, he planted their flag on the Ohio State logo after upsetting them in 2017. Mayfield believes it is a part of the game, however, many would disagree with him. This will continue to be a debate until a solution is found because fights of this degree cannot continue.
