The Big Ten has fined both Michigan and Ohio State after a brawl erupted between the teams following the Wolverines’ 13-10 upset victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon.
The conference handed $100,000 fines to both schools and said it will add no further comment on the situation in its announcement.
According to AP News, after Michigan’s 13-10 victory, a Wolverines player attempted to plant a Michigan banner on the Buckeyes logo at midfield in Ohio Stadium. This action sparked pushing and shoving, ultimately leading to punches being thrown by members of both teams. Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer was observed grabbing the flag and throwing it away.
It took several minutes for stadium security and police to separate the two teams, during which pepper spray was used to regain control of the situation. According to the Ohio State University Police (OSUPD), multiple officers from both Ohio and Michigan were involved in deploying this crowd dispersal tool. The television broadcast showed players struggling to wipe their eyes and coughing in the aftermath of the brawl.
OSUPD said one of their officers was injured and required medical attention.
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. Bad for the sport. Bad for college football,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings told the Fox broadcast.
“At the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose. You can’t be fighting this stuff just because you lost the game. All that fighting, we had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting and now people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong. It’s bad for the game. Classless in my opinion. People got to be better.”
