![Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) waves the school flag following their 31-16 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes during NCAA football game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Sept. 9, 2017. [Adam Cairns/Dispatch]](https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/USATSI_24084503-scaled.jpg)
There’s nothing else in sports like a great rivalry, and in college football, those rivalries often mean just a little bit more to folks.
Michigan vs. Ohio State, colloquially known as “The Game,” is often referred to as the greatest rivalry in college football, and it’s been causing quite a stir in recent weeks.
Coming into the 2024 matchup, the Wolverines had won three consecutive games in the series, its longest winning streak since 1995-97.
However, this year was supposed to be when Ohio State reclaimed the series, as the Buckeyes closed as a 20.5-point favorite at home. Then the nation watched as a 6-5 Michigan team outrushed No. 2 Ohio State 172-77 and ground out a 13-10 victory.
The outcome sent shockwaves through college football, but what occurred at midfield after the game is what grabbed the headlines. As Michigan celebrated its four-year winning streak over the Buckeyes, a block M flag made its way out to the midfield logo. As Michigan attempted to plant the flag in the Ohio State logo, several Buckeye players tried to stop them.
Eventually, police were able to break up the ensuing brawl with pepper spray and the Big Ten would go on to fine both schools $100,000 for the incident.
That wasn’t enough for Ohio state Representative, Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., though, who has introduced the “O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act.”
The bill, if passed, would make it a felony to plant a flag at the center of Ohio Stadium, as the report states it would, “prohibit planting a flagpole and flag in the center of the Ohio Stadium football field on the day of a college football game and to name this act the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act.”
Interestingly, this bill would only make it a felony offense on Ohio State’s football field, leaving the midfield logos at Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami (OH), and Ohio unprotected…
If it gives the reader any hope, House Speaker Jason Stephens isn’t confident that the bill will actually be passed.
“Well, it’s not gonna have time to be passed, you know, this late in the game,” Stephens said, according to On3.
