This Week in College Football: Politics and Pigskins Collide

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I typically don’t enjoy having politics mixed in with my football games — that’s my break from what’s going on in the world — but occasionally, it can be fun. Like today, for example, when soon-to-be President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance made an appearance at the annual Army-Navy game, a football rivalry between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis that dates back to the late 1800s. 

Trump and Vance were joined by other members of their squad, including Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, Ron DeSantis, Mike Johnson, and Pete Hegseth, and the crowd went wild when their pictures flashed on the big screen. During the national anthem, Trump could be seen saluting, while Vance had his hand over his heart. How refreshing is it to see leadership that loves our country once again?  

Something else worth noting is that U.S. Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny was in attendance. Vance, who is also a Marine Corps veteran, invited Penny to be his personal guest. Imagine being on trial for criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter one week, and sitting with the leaders of the Free World at a football game the next.  

Most other college teams have already played their annual rivalry games and have moved on to prepare for next year or are awaiting the postseason, but one in particular can’t seem to accept the fact that they lost. I’m looking at you, Ohio State. If you’ll remember, the Buckeyes lost to an unranked Michigan team over the Thanksgiving weekend, and an on-field brawl broke out when the Wolverines tried to plant their team flag in the middle of the field on Ohio State’s home turf. 

Well, according to ESPN, Ohio State Representative Josh Williams responded by introducing the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act, a bill that would make planting a flag at Ohio Stadium a felony. The law states: 

No person shall plant a flagpole with a flag attached to it in the center of the football field at Ohio stadium of the Ohio State University on the day of a college football competition, whether before, during, or after the competition. Whoever violates this section is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree. 

Oh, come on. I’ve always been under the impression that Ohio State takes itself a little too seriously, and this feels symbolic of that. We can’t win on the field, so we’re going to turn our rivals into felons! Williams also got his panties in a wad because “Michigan coach Sherrone Moore also mimicked flag planting while appearing on the videoboard at the school’s men’s basketball game Saturday at home against Iowa as the crowd roared.” 

“That indicates that that institution is not taking this incident seriously,” Williams said. Can someone say sore loser?   

Williams claims the law will help reduce “harm” to athletes, fans, and law enforcement officers by preventing fights such as this in the future. But is that really the government’s job here? Doesn’t the state of Ohio have more pressing issues than telling grown people not to get into fights? Both teams were fined $100,000, and NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN that there has been talk among the conferences about creating some sort of rules about flag planting. And that’s how it should be. Let the schools and the NCAA handle it. Sheesh.  As you can imagine, he was roasted on X. 

And finally, I got a good laugh out of this one. Georgia Congressman Mike Collins took to the House floor this week to suggest that the Texas Longhorns return to the Big 12. As a University of Georgia fan and alum and SEC loyalist, this is something I can get behind. Despite it being their first year in the SEC, the sports media has done its best to prop Texas up as the best team to ever play in the conference (even with their overrated offense and weak schedule — yes,  I said what I said), yet my beloved Bulldogs beat them during both the regular season and the SEC Championship Game. To quote Rep. Collins, “The Dawgs have proved without a doubt that Texas just ain’t ready for SEC ball.” Amen to that.