Does the winning coach at the Duke's Mayo Bowl get a mayo bath?
- - Does the winning coach at the Duke's Mayo Bowl get a mayo bath?
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKJanuary 2, 2026 at 3:04 AM
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Does the winning coach at the Duke's Mayo Bowl get a mayo bath?
To the victor go the spoils — or, in the world of college football, a cascade of a bowl game’s sponsor’s product.
As bowls have more nakedly become glorified exhibitions in the age of the expanded College Football Playoff, games have leaned into their quirkier qualities, whether it’s title sponsors, in-stadium entertainment or bowl mascots.
It’s perhaps most evident, though, in postgame celebrations.
Rather than the winning team dumping a tub of water or Gatorade on its coach, players and bowl games have filled buckets with more unusual items over the past several years, usually to go in line with the bowl’s title sponsor.
The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has seen its victorious coach get French fries dumped on him. The Pinstripe Bowl has had coaches get doused in grass clippings, a nod to the game’s sponsor, Bad Boy Mowers. The winning team in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl pours — you guessed it — Cheez-Its over its triumphant coach.
BOWL SCHEDULE: The entire postseason lineup and results through College Football Playoff
Surely, though, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl doesn’t subject a poor soul to a bath of mayonnaise? Right?
With Wake Forest and Mississippi State set to face off in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday, Jan. 2, here’s a closer look at the post-game festivities in store:
1 / 30Best of bowl season: Mascots, trophies, celebrations, Gatorade bathsDefensive back Tony-Louis Nkuba #21 of the Arizona State Sun Devils celebrates by jumping into an inflatable bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes after intercepting a pass against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half of the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl game at Sun Bowl Stadium on December 31, 2025 in El Paso, TexasDuke’s Mayo Bowl coach dump
Indeed, the winning coach at the Duke’s Mayo Bowl has the eponymous sponsor’s product dumped on them after the game.
The tradition goes back to the 2021 edition of the game, when South Carolina’s Shane Beamer was smothered in mayonnaise after the Gamecocks’ 38-21 victory against North Carolina. In each of the three years since, the winning coach — Maryland’s Michael Locksley in 2022, West Virginia’s Neal Brown and Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck — followed suit.
Last year, Fleck became the first victorious coach not to wear a hat of some sort during the mayo bath.
The ritual has received even more fanfare in recent years, with ESPN airing it live and conducting an interview after it. Last year, rapper Flava Flav from the iconic hip-hop group Public Enemy was on hand for the occasion.
Duke’s Mayo took over as the game’s title sponsor beginning during the 2020 season that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bowl has been around in some form since 2002. Previous sponsors have been Continental Tire, Meineke Car Care Center and Belk.
Where is the Duke’s Mayo Bowl played?
The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is played in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
The game has been played there since it launched as the Continental Tire Bowl in 2002.
Mayo Bowl predictionsPrediction: Wake Forest 31, Mississippi State 27
These are two teams heading in different directions, with Wake Forest winning six of their past eight games and Mississippi State dropping seven of its final eight games. Expect the Demon Deacons to keep that run going to cap off a stellar first season under coach Jake Dickert.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does the winning coach at the Duke's Mayo Bowl get mayo dumped on them?
Source: “AOL Sports”
