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During college football rivalry week, things got crazy in numerous games across the country because of flag planting. Multiple road teams won their rivalry games, like Michigan, NC State and Florida, and they all planted their flag on their rivals' field. The opposition wasn't happy about it in all three scenarios. Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman isn't a fan of it either.
Flag planting doesn't happen a ton in college football, so what happened during rivalry week was pretty bizarre. The most notable instance that made flag planting a thing was when Baker Mayfield did it after Oklahoma beat Ohio State in 2017. There were no issues.
The Michigan football team also did it to Ohio State back in 2022. No issues. Texas and Oregon both did it to Michigan this season. No issue. But during rivalry week, everything was different, and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman didn't like it.
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“I’m not going to tell another coach how to run their program, but for us, let’s get our butts in the locker room and celebrate team glory together,” Freeman said during an episode of the Outta Pocket Podcast. “Don’t take a flag and plant it on their field, let’s go into the locker room and spend that time together celebrating the way we need to. You put so much work into this thing, we don’t need to go celebrate on the middle of their field. Let’s go into the locker room with the people that have put so much in to what it takes to achieve that feeling, and let’s celebrate together.”
No one talked about flag planting as a bad look for college football before this year's rivalry weekend. In fact, a lot of people embraced it and thought that it was cool when Baker Mayfield started it. However, now it is creating problems, and people like Freeman are voicing their displeasure.
“It’s a bad look for college football,” Freeman said. “You don’t want people looking at highlights saying, ‘oh that’s how college football players act.' They’re fighting each other after the game, that’s not what this is about. It’s a physically violent game, but I like to say it’s a beautiful game. Let's make sure that we portray the right picture to those fans that are watching the game.”
Ohio State, Florida State and North Carolina all had the chance to defend their field during the actual game, but they couldn't do it. Because of that, problems were created after the final whistles. They were ugly sights, and no one wants to see that. There will likely be some new rules placed in the future because of those incidents.
