Carolina Panthers captain Sam Franklin Jr. had to be restrained from running toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ locker room following an overtime loss to his team’s NFC South rival. 

Franklin was specifically frustrated with Bucs linebacker Jose Ramirez, who he called out in a video that has now gone viral on social media. 

“Hey, tell 33 imma see his a–,” Franklin was heard yelling toward other Bucs players. “On my grave, boy!”

It’s unclear what exactly led Franklin to get this angry, as a Panthers staffer had to push him back toward their locker room. 

But the animosity between these rivals was also seen in a separate video where veteran Bucs wide receiver Sterling Shepard was shouting expletives toward the Panthers’ locker room immediately after Franklin’s outburst. 

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All of this transpired after a thrilling end to this rivalry matchup, which needed extra time to find a winner. The Bucs would eventually kick a game-winning field goal for the 26-23 victory, but it appeared the Panthers were going to win it all when they got the ball following Chase McLaughlin’s missed 55-yarder earlier in overtime. 

However, Chuba Hubbard, who has had a breakout season with Carolina and has been one of their driving forces on offense despite their 3-9 record, fumbled in Tampa Bay territory, and Yaya Diaby recovered the loose ball to give the Bucs another crack at winning the game. 

Carolina Panthers safety Sam Franklin Jr. (42) looks on against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at the Caesars Superdome.  (Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports)

Rachaad White made it so with a long run to get deep into Panthers’ territory, and McLaughlin didn’t miss his second chance, this time from 30 yards out, to win the game. 

With the victory, the Bucs are now in a first-place tie for the NFC South lead with the Atlanta Falcons, who lost to the Los Angeles Chargers earlier Sunday.  

We saw tons of skirmishes and altercations this weekend in the college football world during their rivalry week, but as the regular season enters the homestretch, the stakes of each game matter that much more. 

Sam Franklin Jr. #42 of the Carolina Panthers reacts during the second half of a football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium on December 1, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Clearly, the heat of competition on the field spilled over into the tunnel for this fierce rivalry. 

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Ever since he was a boy, Miller Moss dreamed of being USC’s starting quarterback. He followed that dream as a touted prospect into a crowded quarterback room at USC. And he waited three years as a backup, biding his time as many others in his class bolted for the transfer portal instead.

Moss’ chance to lead USC’s offense lasted through one outstanding bowl performance and nine games of an up-and-down season before Moss was replaced by his own backup, and the window at his dream school had closed suddenly.

By Monday morning, three weeks after he was replaced, Moss made it official that he plans to enter the transfer portal, leaving USC after four seasons.

“Being a USC Trojan was a lifelong dream of mine,” he wrote. “I poured everything I have into this — body, heart, mind and soul — and am humbled by and proud of what my teammates and I accomplished, and fought tooth and nail for.”

Through nine games as USC’s starter this season, Moss threw for 2,555 yards and 18 touchdowns, totals that ranked among the best in the Big Ten on paper. But with Moss at the helm, the Trojans’ offense also proved much less dynamic than previous iterations. In all five of USC’s losses, critical mistakes from Moss down the stretch would prove incredibly costly.

The circumstances at USC weren’t exactly ideal for Moss, either. The Trojans offensive line struggled mightily in the first half of the season, while Moss was often asked to do too much to lift the offense. In three different games, he threw 50 passes or more, despite USC having one of the best running backs in the Big Ten in the same backfield.

USC slid to 4-5 with Moss as the starter, before Lincoln Riley opted to take the offense in a different direction. He replaced Moss with Jayden Maiava, a transfer from Nevada Las Vegas, whose dual threat skill set more closely mirrors other quarterbacks who have excelled under Riley.

In an interview with ESPN on Monday, Moss said he’d had “a rough last three weeks” since he was benched. But he expressed gratitude for his four years at USC. Moss will now have one year of eligibility to use elsewhere as a graduate transfer.

It’s possible Moss could stay within the same conference — and perhaps even face off with USC sometime next season. Several Big Ten teams find themselves in serious need of a quarterback. Moss considered Michigan as a recruit and said earlier this season that he’d enjoyed his visit to Ann Arbor. UCLA, in desperate need of a starting caliber quarterback, could even consider making that call.

He first came to USC in January 2021, with Clay Helton as coach and fellow four-star quarterback Jaxson Dart in the same class. But when Riley arrived, Dart and previous starter Kedon Slovis left. Moss stayed, even after Riley brought highly touted transfer Caleb Williams with him from Oklahoma. It would be two more years, as Williams brought home a Heisman Trophy, before Moss was handed the reins.

Moss will have no shortage of suitors now lining up to offer him that shot this offseason in spite of how his tenure ended at USC.

It started on the highest possible note, as Moss led the Trojans to an impressive season-opening win over Louisiana State in which he threw for 378 yards and led a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. The Tigers’ defense didn’t allow more than 300 yards passing in any game the rest of the season.

In the Holiday Bowl, nine months earlier, he was even better as Moss threw for six touchdowns in a storybook debut win over Louisville.

In the aftermath of that game, as fireworks exploded over the field at Petco Park in San Diego, Moss beamed. Teammates called for his coronation as quarterback, and Riley, in his post-game press conference, joked that Moss had probably scared off any potential transfers anyway.

But a year later, Riley had chose a new direction. Now it was Moss who was leaving USC.

The most activity Raheem Anderson and Tavierre Dunlap enjoyed Saturday occurred after The Game, when the two teammates joined together to plant their giant Michigan flag in the center of Ohio Stadium.

The reaction from Ohio State players was predictable, inciting a type of ugly brawl rarely seen in the 127-year history of this great series.

If Ohio State and Michigan have been two of the standard bearers across college football for generations, then so they were again this weekend in ways no one should be proud to watch.

The Disease of Me, the social media generation of young adults trying to go viral spread to football fields across the country this weekend.

Disrespecting an opponent’s logo certainly isn’t new, but to watch at least four of them occur on the same day within hours of each other on rivalry weekend cannot be a coincidence.

The nation watched Anderson and Dunlap plant the Michigan flag after the Wolverines’ stunning 13-10 upset in the biggest of all the rivalry games.

Hours later, Arizona State’s Jacob Kongaika, a former Arizona defensive end before transferring, planted the Sun Devils’ spear in the center of Arizona’s logo.

Why? The Sun Devils entered as 9-point favorites and won by 42. Since when do the Globetrotters throw parades for beating the Washington Generals?

ASU plants the fork in Arizona Stadium 😈🔱@ASUFootball pic.twitter.com/F1sU4qJugA

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 30, 2024

Florida’s George Gumbs Jr. planted the flag on Florida State’s field after the Gators won 31-11, igniting another fight. Florida State coach Mike Norvell was the one to tear the flag out of the ground.

College football today 😳

Florida planted its flag on FSU’s field 😬 pic.twitter.com/zIs7AMVgRl

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 1, 2024

North Carolina State entered as a slight underdog on the road at North Carolina and celebrated its 35-30 win with an attempted flag plant at midfield. It ended similarly to Ohio State-Michigan with a brawl between the two teams.

There was little at stake, other than NC State’s becoming bowl-eligible. Part of the heightened emotions might have been because it was Mack Brown’s final home game at North Carolina, so Tar Heels players did not appreciate the show of disrespect on an important day.

Tempers flare when NC State tries to plant the flag at UNC. The Tar Heels won’t leave the logo until field is cleared. pic.twitter.com/am9FHOraf6

— TheWolfpackCentral (@NCStateRivals) December 1, 2024

Even Texas players headed toward the logo at Texas A&M after beating the Aggies 17-7. Safety Andrew Mukuba got a few stomps in before Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian rerouted his players back toward the end zone. And again, police were standing by to protect midfield.

There is a simple solution to all of this. The NCAA can fine teams and suspend any players who attempt to denigrate the logo, emblem or property of an opposing team.

Is it heavy-handed and childish? Perhaps. But so are the actions that led us here.

There certainly have been other moments similar to this in the Ohio State-Michigan series — Ohio State players tore down Michigan’s banner in 1973, David Boston and Charles Woodson scuffled on the opening series in 1997 — but none of the previous incidents involved police and pepper spray.

Talk about being heavy-handed. Police on the field began spraying players from both teams as things escalated, a wild overreaction and unnecessary use of force. Next time, let the coaches handle it. Coaches have been breaking up fights between teams for decades.

Ohio State police issued a statement confirming officers from Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray against the players. Just incredible.

USA: Brawl Erupts at Michigan-Ohio State Game After Wolverines Defeat OSU and Attempt to Plant Their Flag at Midfield! INSANE VIDEO! pic.twitter.com/7MouiL84ny

— News Of The Globe (@NewsOfEarthTr) November 30, 2024

There was a time when former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel spoke frequently about the respect Ohio State and Michigan shared for each other. It was a fierce rivalry, but it was usually clean. Fights and cheap shots were rarely part of it. Until now.

The Buckeyes had 60 minutes to fight on the field and chose to wait until after the game to throw their best punch. An embarrassing loss to a mediocre Michigan team Saturday officially stamps OSU coach Ryan Day as the new John Cooper — a good coach and an excellent recruiter who couldn’t beat his biggest rival. It also turned this rivalry to a degree we haven’t witnessed in 30 years.

Michigan won the last three games in this series with excellent teams that competed for national championships (and won one). This Wolverines team didn’t have a quarterback capable of throwing for even 100 yards — and it still won the game. Ohio State seniors who returned to school for the expressed purpose of winning this game now depart campus with nothing but a few more college credits.

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“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings told the Fox broadcast crew moments after the players were separated. “It’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose, man. You can’t be fighting just because you lost the game.”

His Wolverines teammates could use a tutorial on how to win, too.

“You hate to see stuff like that after the game. It’s just bad for the sport, bad for CFB… They gotta learn how to lose man. You can’t be fighting.”@JennyTaft speaks with Michigan’s Kalel Mullings after a fight broke out between Ohio State and Michigan after the game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/z6rmxu2YJQ

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 30, 2024

I’ll give Mullings the benefit of the doubt. In that moment, maybe he didn’t realize all the problems Anderson and Dunlap created for everybody else. Both are seniors who rarely play outside of special teams. Both are also Academic All-Big Ten selections, but the choice to take the flag to midfield and plant it after already winning the game and dominating this rivalry wasn’t exactly a dean’s list decision.

There is class in losing. There is class in winning, too.

“These guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys were not going to let that happen,” Day said. “This is our field and certainly we’re embarrassed at the fact we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys on this team that weren’t going to just let that happen.”

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Logos and emblems are sacred across sports. Denigrating them has been an instant firestarter for years.

Jackson State and Southern engaged in a similar fight three years ago when Jackson State players planted their flag on Southern’s logo after a win.

Michigan linebacker Devin Bush ran to midfield at Michigan State in 2018 and began stomping on the “S” while trying to tear out the turf with his cleats before a rivalry game.

Baker Mayfield planted Oklahoma’s giant flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium after a Sooners upset at Ohio State. Buckeyes players were already back in the locker room when Mayfield did it. They were on the field singing the alma mater when Michigan did it Saturday.

A healthy level of dislike between teams doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The professional levels have become too sanitized. Only a few genuine rivalries are left, and most are in college sports.

But certain actions immediately lead to fights. Flag planting is one of them.

“I had said two years ago that (flag planting) was disrespectful,” Brown said on his final night as North Carolina’s coach. “I said all week you need to compete, but you need to do it with composure. So it’s another learning experience. You can’t fight, but you’ve got to win the game.”

Sometimes, it’s up to the winners to act with composure, too.

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(Photo: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty Images)