Baker Mayfield is right: College football needs to embrace the hate with flag planting
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate it.
Folks, I want us to decide if we like college football rivalry weekend or not right now.
Because, after the kerfuffle that broke out at The Game over the weekend, I’m seeing a lot of hand-wringing and finger-wagging that makes me think people don’t actually like the sport’s best weekend at all.
Look, I get it. Nobody likes to see fighting. Seeing Michigan and Ohio State’s players get tangled up like that certainly isn’t the best look. Violence is never encouraged, so when it happens, it’s a bit jarring.
But, folks, this is rivalry weekend! This is the thing. This is how it goes.
Baker Mayfield gets it. As the former Flag-Planter Supreme of the college football world, he was asked about the shenanigans this weekend.
“College football is meant to have rivalries. That’s like the Big 12 banning the ‘horns down’ signal. Just let the boys play,” Mayfield said.
You see that? That’s a guy who gets it. That’s somebody who understands what rivalry weekend is all about.
It’s OK to wave goodbye to fans. It’s OK to plant a flag or two in the middle of your opponent’s field after you gave them the business. It’s OK to be petty! That’s what makes this weekend special.
The money is so intertwined in college football these days that it’s easy to forget that. Conference realignment has changed things. These days, the simple crosstown rivalries don’t matter. Not like they used to.
But when college football is at its best, we’re watching a game that is literally being played to accomplish one thing: Ruining someone’s year. It doesn’t matter what happened before that game. It doesn’t matter what happens after. Ryan Day and Ohio State could win a national championship and Michigan fans won’t care. They’ll still have that win over the Buckeyes. And they’ll still have planted that big blue flag with the M on it in the middle of the Buckeye’s field. For that team, that’s just as good as any national championship. It’ll probably please some boosters, too.
So, folks, all I ask is this: Before you reprimand players for getting feisty and call for a ban on flag planting, please remember what sport you are watching. Don’t ruin this for the rest of us.
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Dearest mother, the World’s best burner is back
(Via OlyDrop)
Guys. Guys, guys, guys. GUYS. It’s happening. Andrew Luck has a new job as the general manager for Stanford’s football program.
Let me be clear: I have no idea what the GM does for a college football team. I imagine it’s some mixture of collecting cash from boosters for the program, scrounging up NIL collective money and convincing the best recruits to come to the school.
Whatever, though. That’s not what I’m here to tell you.
I come with the glorious news that, at the behest of the esteemed Cardinal, General Andrew Luck has indeed returned to the battlefield, as rumor would have it. After nearly a year in solitude and sporadic communication, he has broken his silence to announce that, henceforth, he shall lead the next generation into battle. We are most fortunate for this development.
Oh, captain. My captain. What a joy it is to see your return.
Kim Mulkey is back at it again
There will never be another like Kim Mulkey. What I mean by that is that there will never be another coach who wears outfits so egregiously bad that they somehow work.
Meg Hall has more on Mulkey’s bright pink tiger sweater that she wore as she got her 100th win with LSU.
“On Sunday, as LSU marched to a resounding victory, Kim Mulkey was wearing tigers — neon pink tigers striped like candy canes. We’re not kidding. As Kim earned her 100th win with the program, she was fittingly wearing a wild exotic tiger sweater, and it’s so on-brand (and so awful) that it’s glorious.”
The sweater in question:
This is so bad, y’all. I love it.
Quick hits: Josh Allen’s Fantasy GOAT moment … Aaron Rodgers’ days as a Jet are numbered … and more
— Josh Allen threw a touchdown pass to himself, guys. Prince Grimes has more on that incredible moment from a fantasy football perspective.
— Here’s Christian D’Andrea with everything we learned in Week 13 of the NFL season, including just how far Aaron Rodgers has fallen.
— This Kirk Cousins interception was basically a punt. This is so bad. Andrew Joseph has more.
— Did Travis Kelce curse Justin Tucker? Maybe. Charles Curtis has more.
— Azeez Al-Shaair apologized to Trevor Lawrence for his awful late hit. That’s good to see.
— Shedeur Sanders isn’t the first quarterback off the board in our 2025 NFL mock draft.
-Sykes