Big Ten levies punishment for Michigan, Ohio State for postgame brawl, per report
A postgame brawl between Michigan and Ohio State that even saw police use pepper spray to try to break things up will cost each program a pretty penny.
According to a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the Big Ten is expected to fine both programs $100,000 for a violation of the league’s sportsmanship policy. The schools are expected to accept the fines.
The fracas began after Michigan players attempted to plant a flag at midfield following a 13-10 win.
Ohio State layers did not take kindly to that and stormed toward midfield. Some grabbed the flag, and pushing and shoving quickly followed. Some players ended up on the grass as a result.
In the ensuing chaos, police even used pepper spray to try to calm things down. OSUPD released a statement on the use of pepper spray after the game.
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“Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation,” the statement read. “During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate.”
As for the coaches, they took different tacks after the game.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day seemed to defend his team’s actions to a certain extent, bringing up the heat of the moment and the disrespect Michigan showed in attempting to 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 coach Sherrone Moore was a little more apologetic.
“It was emotions on both sides,” Moore said. “And our guys, I did see they had the flag and guys were waving it around and their guys charged us. So it’s emotion on both sides, it can’t happen. So rivalry games get heated, especially this one, it’s the biggest one in the country, so we’ve got to handle that better.”