The Cooper Manning-Texas Longhorns flag rumor taking over Ann Arbor, explained

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you seen some stuff about a Texas Longhorns flag flying at an Ann Arbor hotel? And you’re very confused about that whole thing? Don’t worry. We’re here to help.

There’s a perfectly big-time college football rumor spreading across the sport on Saturday as the No. 3 Texas Longhorns visit No. 10 Michigan in Ann Arbor that you may have heard about.

It appears a boutique hotel in Ann Arbor called The Graduate is flying a Texas Longhorns flag and plenty of people think Cooper Manning — the brother of Peyton and Eli and father of Texas’ backup Arch — is responsible.

Is the hotel really flying a Longhorns flag?

Actually, yes. This part of the rumor is true and we have photo evidence.

There’s a rumor in Ann Arbor that Arch Manning’s father – Cooper Manning – may have arranged to have the #Texas #Longhorns’ flags flown in front of The Graduate hotel in the heart of the #Michigan #Wolverines’ campus. Folks at The Graduate aren’t saying. pic.twitter.com/YIL9AcnDM6

— Chip Brown (@ChipBrown247) September 6, 2024

Ok, so why do people believe this Cooper Manning’s doing?

Well, because like most college football rumors, social media said it’s true.

The rumor started on Twitter and quickly jumped to Reddit.

This was shared in our Texas parents group… love it!

“I hear that Cooper Manning paid to have the Texas flag fly outside the Graduate hotel near campus. People in Ann Arbor are not happy about it.”#Hookem pic.twitter.com/ml0Phq5xbD

— Tori Rasberry (@Rasberry_TR) September 4, 2024

There’s also the fact Cooper Manning works for AJ Capital Partners, which founded the hotel chain and continues to remain involved after it was sold to Hilton.

That’s perfect fodder for a college football rumor

It sure is! And a lot of people were all too excited to buy in, including ESPN’s Pat McAfee.

Of course McAfee is involved…but how?

With ESPN’s College GameDay in Ann Arbor this week, McAfee brought up the rumor that Cooper was involved during an interview with Peyton Manning on Friday.

Peyton didn’t know anything about the rumor, but seemed to get a kick out of it.

Allegedly Cooper is flying the Texas flag outside of The Graduate hotel..

"He's in the hotel business and that's one of their top hotels..

I haven't heard that but that will get this rivalry started pretty quick" ~ Peyton Manning #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/EbhC91yLKl

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 6, 2024

McAfee brought it up again on College GameDay Saturday, but again there’s no confirmation Cooper is involved.

Are we sure The Graduate doesn’t fly every visiting team’s flag?

That’s a great question. We are most certainly not sure that flying the Texas flag is out of the norm.

In fact, Michigan fans on Reddit has been saying for days that the hotel typically flies the visiting team’s flag.

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What is the hotel saying?

Reached by For The Win, The Graduate in Ann Arbor declined to comment, but you might be able to just file that under “all press is good press”.

We’ve reached out to The Graduate management and will update this story if we get a response.

Some politician is going to act like this rumor is completely true to try to seem cool and hip, aren’t they?

You already know it.

Thanks Coop!

Ready for @TexasFootball to leave it all on the field tomorrow. #HookEm https://t.co/fiT5TNV1Fb pic.twitter.com/RZP3eQbJo2

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 7, 2024