Programs like Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson set the tone for what’s considered the college football ideal in 2020. But you could make the case that there is no college football program that sets the tone on the internet quite like Ole Miss.
The football team that gave us the endzone pee celebration that changed the course of college football in Mississippi has stepped up their troll game to another level. On Saturday, they took on the “bagman” mythos head-on.
After a turnover against Florida, the Ole Miss players unveiled their version of the turnover prop. While other schools have turnover necklaces, turnover belts, and even turnover trashcans, the Rebels went with the very meta “turnover bag,” which makes the person holding it “the bagman.”
— Max Olson (@max_olson) September 26, 2020
Nice to see Ole Miss honoring Hugh Freeze’s legacy pic.twitter.com/Y6SU3k7GND
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) September 26, 2020
Whether intended or not (but definitely intended), the bagman is a reference to a documented process of Ole Miss boosters delivering bags of cash, so to speak, to football players under former coach Hugh Freeze’s watch. Per an investigation into the program, various Ole Miss employees and boosters arranged for “impermissible benefits” to be given to players, which included car loans and cash. Freeze resigned over the scandal (which also included the discovery of a call he made to an escort service) and Ole Miss was given a two-year postseason ban, three years of probation, and a four-year ban on certain scholarships.
For most programs, it’s the kind of thing you’d want to try to move past quickly and hope everyone forgets. But Ole Miss is not most college football programs. They’re the kind of college football program that will turn the “bagman” into a pseudo mascot.
Lane Kiffin’s program breaks out the most Ole Miss turnover prop ever created $$$ pic.twitter.com/fLCmlJCFua
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 26, 2020
College football truly is back.
