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College Football Coach Stuns Fans By Smearing Players Blood Across His Face

One college football coach went viral over the weekend following a bizarre postgame celebration.

Videos by Wide Open Country

P.J. Fleck, head coach at the University of Minnesota, was fired up after his team's 27-24 victory over the Washington Huskies on Saturday (September 26). After the win, he celebrated by smearing one of his player's blood across his own face.

Fleck Goes Viral After Bizarre Celebration

How did Fleck celebrate, you ask? By smearing one of his players' blood across his face after the hard-fought victory.

The camera caught the moment between Fleck and Golden Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski, who was bleeding from his mouth after the game. Baranowski said he was hit in the mouth by a cleat on the final play.

After noticing the blood on the linebacker's face, Fleck wiped some of it from Baranowski's mouth and smeared it across his own cheek. Several videos were shared across social media over the weekend.

"The definition of blood, sweat and tears," Fox college football analyst Jack Kizer

Of course, the clip went viral, leading to a bevy of reactions from fans.

"Standard precautions generally mean we treat all body fluids as infectious — not this guy," one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Skipped the medical guidelines & blood-borne pathogens training part of orientation," a second user chimed in.

"That's the kind of stuff you have to do when you don't ever really win anything," a third user remarked.

Despite Fleck's bizarre celebration, Baranowski called it a "great moment."

"Winning's hard in the Big Ten, and when you get to win at a place like this, [it's] just so exciting," he said after the win, per ESPN. "I get to enjoy that with all my teammates and my head coach always having my back for the last five years."

Fleck also spoke about the moment, joking that it reminded him of something "the frontiersmen out West" might have done.

"Back in the day, I'm sure that's what they did," he said. "Little blood on there, I guess."