‘Unsportsmanlike’ flag planting causes chaos over college football rivalry weekend

By Sam Joseph, CNN

(CNN) — There was certainly no love lost between certain schools over college football’s rivalry weekend.

Skirmishes, fights and all-out brawls broke out at several stadiums, with some clashes triggered by teams planting their flag at centerfield in their rivals’ stadiums – a sight that is becoming increasingly common.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, squads don’t always react well to this display of disrespect.

Here’s a look at all of the incidents that came about as a result of flag planting this weekend.

Michigan vs Ohio State

In the 120th edition of “The Game,” a final minute field goal from Dominic Zvada gave Michigan a 13-10 win over Ohio State in a stunning upset, although what happened after the matchup became the real headline.

A Wolverines player attempted to plant a Michigan banner on the Buckeyes logo at midfield in Ohio Stadium, which led to pushing and shoving and eventually punches being thrown by members of both teams. Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer was seen snatching the flag and throwing it away.

It took several minutes for stadium security and police to separate the two teams, with pepper spray being deployed to get the situation under control, according to multiple media reports. The television broadcast showed players wiping their eyes and coughing in the aftermath of the brawl.

CNN has reached out to Ohio State University police and Columbus police for more information on the incident.

Commentator Gus described the act as an “unsportsmanlike gesture” by the Wolverines, while Ohio State’s reaction was condemned by victorious Michigan running back Kalel Mullings.

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. Bad for the sport.
Bad for college football,” Mullings told the Fox broadcast.

“At the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose. You can’t be fighting this stuff just because you lost the game […] classless in my opinion. People got to be better.”

Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said that he didn’t “know all the details of it but I know these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen.”

Florida State vs Florida

The Florida Gators comfortably defeated their rivals the Florida State Seminoles 31-11 on Saturday, with Florida defensive end George Gumbs Jr. pinning his team’s flag on Florida State’s logo at Doak Campbell Stadium, though it wasn’t there for long.

The flag was immediately toppled by Seminoles players as several scuffles ensued.

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell was shown on the broadcast grabbing the flag at one point and told reporters after the game that flag planting “was not gonna happen.” He also revealed that he spoke with Florida head coach Billy Napier after the game.

“They won the game and they have the right to celebrate, just like we have in the previous years,” he told reporters. “This is the way that you operate? That’s fine. You want to come do that? That’s absolutely your decision that you can have within a team. But I just told him (Napier) what I thought.”

Speaking to reporters after the game, Napier apologized for the incident and said there would be “consequences” for those involved.

“Obviously, what happened there at the end of the game is not who we want to be as a program,” Napier said, per ESPN.

“It’s embarrassing to me, and it’s a distraction from a really well-played football game. I want to apologize on behalf of the entire organization just in terms of how we represented the university there.”

NC State vs UNC

There were equally ugly scenes at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, as North Carolina (NC) State defeated the University of North Carolina (UNC) 35-30 for its fourth consecutive win in the rivalry game. Running back Hollywood Smothers punched in a two-yard touchdown to give NC the lead with 25 seconds left in the game.

UNC wide-receiver JJ Jones didn’t even let the Wolfpack’s flag reach the turf, seizing it before the NC State squad had the chance to plant it on the logo and launching it away from the field. This prompted confrontations on the field as players had to be separated by staff.

The Wolfpack were determined to celebrate with their flag one way or another, with safety DK Kaufman taking it for a victory lap around the field after players had dispersed.

The scuffles marred what was UNC head coach Mack Brown’s final game in charge of the Tar Heels.

“I don’t know what happened in the end,” Brown said postgame. “Somebody said they tried to plant their flag on our field. I had said two years ago that was disrespectful.”

“We don’t need any of that” said NC State head coach Dave Doeren. “That’s bad for the game…it was hard to play. It was hard to play smart today. There was a lot of stuff going on between the whistles with their guys. That’s the unfortunate part of the game.”

Arizona State vs Arizona

Lastly, Arizona State players got a little more creative with their postgame taunting.

After the Sun Devils picked up a dominant 49-7 win, defensive lineman Jacob Rich Kongaika planted a trident in Arizona’s logo. Wildcats wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig then snatched it out of the ground, before the players grappled over it in the middle of the field.

Aside from the brief scrap over the fork, there were fortunately no fights to be seen on this occasion as cooler heads prevailed and players were separated.

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