One of college football’s fiercest rivalries went to a new level after Saturday’s game.
Moments after the Michigan Wolverines upset the Ohio State Buckeyes, 13-10, a brawl broke out between the teams near midfield at Ohio Stadium, aka The Shoe. The confrontation started when Michigan players tried to plant their flag on Ohio State’s logo.
Multiple players could be seen fighting as police, team staff and game security tried to break them up.
Emotions typically run high in this rivalry, the intensity no doubt magnified by the upset win by Michigan that may knock Ohio State out of the college football playoffs.
Michigan’s Derrick Moore was seen in the middle of melee, holding his team’s flag and trying to plant it on the Ohio State logo at midfield. Ohio State linebacker Jack Sawyer wasn’t having it, trying to take the flag away.
“I don’t know all the details of it, but I know these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t not gonna let that happen,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said after the game. “I’ll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. We certainly were embarrassed of the fact that we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys on this team that weren’t just gonna let that happen.”
Police used pepper spray, according to multiple reports, with members of both teams getting hit.
Several Michigan players were shown on the Fox broadcast rubbing their eyes in obvious discomfort.
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings said. “That’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose.
Michigan entered the game unranked and as big underdogs, with Ohio State ranked No. 2 in the country.
Michigan now sits at 7-5, while Ohio State is 10-2.
