Rivalry games emotional enough without planting flags. Winners must act with class, too

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)