{"id":61918,"date":"2025-11-26T19:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61918\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T19:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:57:11","slug":"will-rivalry-week-bring-more-flag-planting-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61918\/","title":{"rendered":"Will rivalry week bring more flag-planting celebrations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks admits it was his idea for teammate George Gumbs to plant a Gators flag on Florida State\u2019s logo following a victory at Doak Campbell Stadium<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d Banks quipped.<\/p>\n

It sparked a postgame skirmish and a terse exchange between Florida State coach Mike Norvell and then-Florida coach Billy Napier, who later apologized \u201con behalf of the entire organization in terms of how we represented the university\u201d and vowed that \u201cwe won\u2019t do that moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Seminoles, though, surely haven\u2019t forgotten and could have payback in mind when the in-state rivals meet \u2014 this time in the Swamp \u2014 with little at stake for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019ve been talking about that,\u201d Banks said this week. \u201cWe can\u2019t let nobody come in our house and do that, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teams across the country surely feel the same. Coaches, players, administrators and maybe even security will be on high alert in hopes of dissuading or even preventing flag plantings that wreaked havoc during rivalry week in 2024.<\/p>\n

Michigan and Ohio State players scuffled after a group of Wolverines attempted to plant their flag<\/a> in the middle of Ohio Stadium following a 13-10 victory<\/a>. Similar scenes played out in North Carolina and Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been pretty good about any postgame interactions,\u201d Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. \u201cWhen we win a game or when you end a game, we\u2019re going to go to our student section and go to our band and shake hands, cordial, cordial ending and be done with it. And that\u2019s it. So our guys have been good about that, and we\u2019ll continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will No. 1 Ohio State be as affable if the Buckeyes beat the 15th-ranked Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just going to talk about how we handle ourselves on and off the field to make sure everybody is prepared,\u201d Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.<\/p>\n

Few seemed to anticipate all the flag planting that occurred last year.<\/p>\n

Current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield gained notoriety in 2017 for planting an Oklahoma flag at midfield of Ohio State\u2019s stadium following the Sooners\u2019 road victory. Seven years later, it became a trend.<\/p>\n

Following N.C. State\u2019s victory in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, last season, Tar Heels receiver J.J. Jones grabbed a Wolfpack flag from opponents attempting to plant it and hurled it away before getting into a shoving match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d Tar Heels offensive lineman Austin Blaske said. \u201cIt happened. It happened in the past, try not to think about that. Just try to worry about playing football this weekend and just winning the game. I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added UNC receiver Kobe Paysour: \u201cThis is definitely a rivalry game, but it\u2019s more about keeping your emotions intact and keeping your composure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Arizona State-Arizona confrontation last year came with a twist: it wasn\u2019t a flag but a trident that Arizona State defensive lineman Jacob Rich Kongaika tried to plant in the middle of Arizona\u2019s logo following a 49-7 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kongaika, an Arizona transfer, held on as Arizona receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig tried to take the trident away, and the duo was surrounded by players from each school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s passion over emotion,\u201d Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. \u201cIf you make an emotional decision, most of the time it\u2019s stupid and wrong. If you make a passionate decision, it means you put a commitment and you made a commitment to make that choice. We can\u2019t be full of emotion \u2014 and there will be a ton of emotion, all the way from the warmups. That\u2019s how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s angst in Tallahassee a year ago stemmed from a 2023 loss to FSU in Gainesville. Seminoles running back Trey Benson and defensive end Jared Verse used scissors to cut up a chunk of Florida\u2019s orange-painted end zone as a souvenir to display in the team\u2019s famed \u201cSod Cemetery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something that\u2019s been ingrained in our minds for a long time,\u201d Florida left tackle Austin Barber said.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles are sure to do it again if they win Saturday. And no one would be surprised to see their flag planted into the Gators head at midfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need them planting no flags on our field,\u201d Banks said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to go out there and handle business for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Larry Lage in Ann Arbor, Michigan, John Marshall in Tucson, Arizona, and Joe Reedy in Columbus, Ohio, contributed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a> and here<\/a> (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks admits it was his idea for teammate George Gumbs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1855,8506,34878,37372,22888,9909,3009,111,143,37373,1882,28,3731,7603,57,37371,37367,10100,30587,37368,7642,2520,37369,16562,1854,4676,28624,10154,4684,28623,6790,37370,110,232,234,233,2964,37374],"class_list":["post-61918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-state-sun-devils","tag-austin-barber","tag-austin-blaske","tag-az-state-wire","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-billy-napier","tag-college-sports","tag-college-football","tag-danny-gonzales","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-florida-state-seminoles","tag-florida-state-seminoles-football","tag-football","tag-j-j-jones","tag-jacob-rich-kongaika","tag-jared-verse","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-mi-state-wire","tag-michigan","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-montana-lemonious-craig","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","tag-oh-state-wire","tag-ohio","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes-football","tag-oklahoma-sooners","tag-ryan-day","tag-sports","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-trey-benson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}