Ryan Day defends Ohio State players in postgame fight with Michigan: 'This is our field'

Shortly after his team got into a postgame brawl with Michigan after losing, 13-10, on their home field, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day defended the way his team responded to the Wolverines celebrations.

The altercation kicked off when Michigan, celebrating the stunning upset win, paraded around the stadium and gathered to plant a block M flag at midfield. Ohio State players, still on the field in the corner, singing the alma mater, took umbrage and accosted the Wolverines at midfield, kicking off the skirmish which ended after a few minutes and the police using pepper spray.

Day, though, said his team is full of prideful players who weren’t going to let Michigan plant the flag.

“Yeah I don’t know all the details of it,” Day said in his subdued postgame press conference. “But I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen. I’ll find out exactly what happened but this is our field and certainly we’re embarrassed at the fact we lost the game but there’s some prideful guys on our team that weren’t just going to let that happen.”

Michigan planted the flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium in 2022 after beating Ohio State and no such postgame incident occurred.

Specifically in this skirmish, defensive end Jack Sawyer could be seen ripping down the Michigan flag and stepping on it. Sawyer returned to Ohio State for his senior season, along with countless other Buckeyes who passed up the 2024 NFL Draft, to beat Michigan.

They leave Columbus 0-4 against the Wolverines.

Day didn’t know specifically if all his players were OK after the game, though there did not appear to be serious injuries from the TV copy. He was also shown on the TV broadcast watching the skirmish as staffers and coaches from both teams broke it up.

“I don’t know if I know all that, right now,” Day said about any injuries for his players. “There was a couple things kind of crazy that went on down there but I think everybody is OK. 

He continued.

“Well I just talked to the team after the game and again, without knowing all the details, there’s some prideful guys on our team that aren’t just going to sit back and watch that happen,” Day said.

At the same time, the victorious Wolverines struck a different tone.

“We’re going to win in your house and we’re gonna plant the flag. You should’ve done something about it,” Michigan quarterback Davis Warren said, implying Ohio State had a full football game to stop Michigan from winning and taking a victor lap.