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Published Nov 30, 2024
Mike Norvell on pulling UF flag off field: That's not going to happen here
Curt Weiler  •  TheOsceola
Senior Writer
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@CurtMWeiler

Rivalry football games always have that extra bit of juice.

You saw that throughout college football Saturday, where quite a few teams that won road games decided to plant their team's flag at midfield of the opposing team's stadium leading to fights right after the game concluded.

That's exactly what happened immediately in the wake of Florida's 31-11 win over Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday. A pair of UF players ran out to midfield and slammed Florida flags into the Seminole head surrounding the 50-yard line.

FSU coach Mike Norvell was not having that. After reserve offensive lineman Julian Armella ripped the first UF flag out of the grass, leading to a scrum between FSU and UF players, Norvell himself ripped the second flag out of the field, tossing it aside.

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"That's not going to happen. It's not going to happen here," Norvell said after the game when asked about the incident. "I will do everything in my power to make sure we don't experience that again."

Norvell also was caught on the broadcast talking to UF head coach Billy Napier about the incident, seemingly chastising him for letting his players do that.

"I told him what I thought," Norvell said of what he said to Napier. "They won the game. They have the right to celebrate just like we have in the previous years. There's a way that we operate. That's fine if you want to come do that, that is absolutely your decision you can have within the team. I just told him what I thought."

To his credit, Napier apologized for his team's behavior and said there will be consequences for the Florida players involved in the incident.

"Obviously what happened there at the end of the game is not who we want to be as a program. It's embarrassing to me and it's a distraction from a really well-played football game," Napier said in his postgame press conference. "I want to apologize on behalf of the entire organization just in terms of how we represented the university there. We shouldn't have done that. We won't do that moving forward. And there will be consequences for all involved."

FSU cornerback Azareye'h Thomas made a point of not getting involved in the scrum at midfield. However, he did admit he appreciated his coach being the representative of the program for not allowing that to happen.

"It's kind of disrespectful. Y'all already won the game. I understand it's a rivalry. That's why I didn't even really entertain it because that's what they want you to do. They want to make it on ESPN," Thomas said postgame. "They want to have a big brawl in the middle of the field. The fact that (Norvell) did that, I think it shows pride. I would have liked for just him to do that, but everybody else came and made it a big brawl. It is what it is."

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