A good old-fashioned postgame celebration at midfield in your opponent’s home stadium is essentially rubbing salt on the wound of your rival. It is generally viewed as a sign of disrespect, but that never stops players from performing some postgame antics when the emotions run high. Miami head coach Mark Richt wasn’t having any of that after his Hurricanes ended a losing streak against Florida State on Saturday.
As Miami players celebrated their first win over Florida State with a thrilling 24-20 victory in Tallahassee, a handful of Miami players gathered at the midfield logo and started to act as though they were using shovels to dig up the dirt. There was probably some sort of metaphorical symbolism for the gesture that the players bonded over, but once Richt saw what his players were doing in the middle of Doak Campbell Stadium, he sprung right into action to get his players off the logo.
#Canes coach Mark Richt telling his players to get off the Seminole head after #Miami win #GoCanes pic.twitter.com/Vv3qqztDVv
— Carlos Pineda (@CarlosFPineda) October 8, 2017
Being a former University of Miami football player and a former Florida State assistant coach under Bobby Bowden gives Richt quite a unique perspective when it comes to this particular rivalry. Richt may have had his battles on the field as a Hurricane, but he gained a different perspective on the rivalry as an assistant with Florida State, and with that came an appreciation for Florida State’s connection to the Seminole tribe and the pride and pageantry that it all represents. Seeing his players do a shovel act on the midfield logo certainly was seen as something that could have led to some unnecessary animosity in an already heated rivalry.
Earlier this season, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield planted an Oklahoma flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium following a road win at Ohio State. That incident became a hotly debated subject as well. After Iowa State defeated Oklahoma in a Big 12 contest, an Iowa State player planted the state flag of Iowa in the middle of Oklahoma’s Memorial Stadium.
