No. 5 Texas A&M wrapped up its best season to date under coach Jimbo Fisher with a 41-27 victory against No. 14 North Carolina in the Orange Bowl.
After the New Year's Six bowl game, which marked arguably the biggest win of Fisher's three-year tenure in College Station, Aggies players excitedly tried to douse Fisher with a traditional postgame Gatorade bath – but the coach wasn't having it.
The 55-year-old hilariously sprinted away with surprising agility, staying dry before he went to shake hands with North Carolina coaches. Eventually, with pleasantries with the Tar Heels completed, players caught up to Fisher in the end zone and got an extremely small amount of liquid on the coach.
In the trophy celebration, Fisher cracked that he "hadn't ran that fast in 25 years" but also said he injured himself running away from the dousing. Fisher said he pulled a hamstring, joking that "somebody in there is going to pay for that."
Joining Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter later Saturday night, Fisher confirmed he did pull a hamstring.
"I didn’t pull it bad, but I did pull it," Fisher told Van Pelt.
His reasoning for running away from the Gatorade bath?
"That thing is cold," Fisher said. "I love it, but I had to go out there and do that post-game and do that bowl thing. That’s freezing cold. I don’t mind it if they get me, but if they don’t, I ain’t getting it. "
Fisher said the last time he pulled a hamstring like that was when he was running down the sideline in the fourth quarter of the 2014 BCS national championship game, when Florida State's Kermit Whitfield returned a kickoff for a touchdown against Auburn.
Texas A&M fans are hoping Saturday night's win is just the first of many big New Year's Six wins for Fisher in College Station. He has now won the Orange Bowl three times – two of those coming at Florida State. At FSU, Fisher also won a Peach Bowl (then called the Chik-fil-A Bowl) and the national championship for the 2013 season.
This Texas A&M team (9-1 overall) is almost certain to finish in the top five and carries significant momentum into 2021.
"Our goal is to win the national championship. That’s why we came here. That’s what A&M is here for," Fisher told Van Pelt. "We went 8-1 in the SEC, the best league involved, the best division involved. We know we got work to do when Alabama’s in there, we know Auburn, we know LSU, we know Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas all of them.
"We can play with anybody. We’re not arrogant, but we’re confident in what we got. We’re recruiting well, and that’s the next step, which we got to take, and tonight was a big step."
Contributing: Mike Brehm
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