Big Ten releases statement on Michigan-Michigan State fight

The rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State has been intense and the tensions between the two sides boiled over on Saturday night when a fight broke out at the end of their game. Now, the Big Ten has released a statement on the incident.

In the statement, the Big Ten shared that it had reviewed footage of the incident. However, due to an inability to clearly see the athletes who were in the middle of the skirmish clearly, the conference had an inconclusive review of the incident. Therefore, no further action will be taken.

“The Big Ten Conference thoroughly reviewed video of the incident that occurred at the conclusion of Saturday’s Michigan-Michigan State football game,” the statement read. “Amidst the confrontation, student-athletes from both teams were on the ground and surrounded by so many individuals that both players were completely obscured from view.”

The incident began while the Wolverines were kneeling on the ball to finish the game when players from either side got into one another’s faces. That’s when the fight broke out and both teams poured onto the field, though given that the fight began closer to Michigan’s sidelines there were plenty of Wolverines surrounding the skirmish.

“The video review was inconclusive as to whether individual discipline was appropriate for anyone in the immediate vicinity of the two players who were on the ground,” the statement continued. “While the confrontation was a disappointing conclusion to the contest, the Conference appreciates the efforts made by staff from both teams, security personnel, and game officials to rapidly de-escalate the incident, as well as the responses by both head coaches. The Big Ten discussed the situation with both institutions and determined that no further action will be taken.”

This fight came just two years after the fight between Michigan and Michigan State in the tunnel at the Big House. That led to seven Michigan State players facing charges, including one who faced felony assault charges. The Big Ten also fined the Spartans $100,000. Notably, that incident was before Jonathan Smith was Michigan State’s head coach.

Michigan State AD Alan Haller calls for Michigan to be ‘held to the same standard’ for postgame incident

Following the fight, Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller made it clear that he wanted to Big Ten to hold the two programs to the same standard over the incident.

“I did call the commissioner immediately after the game. I thought the sportsmanship policy should be implied, and I’ve requested that the Big Ten look at this. Look, you know, I played in four of these. And the emotions are high. This game is not like anything that any of our teams play throughout the year, so the emotions are high. I can’t play in this game anymore. But when we play that team, I’m going to make sure that our kids have a fair playing field and we’re held to the same standard as everybody else,” Haller said.

“I mean held to the same standard every school is held to when it comes to things like this. I mean, we’re held to a certain standard. I want them to be held to that same standard. We have a new commissioner. We have new leadership in the conference office. My wish is that the new leadership handles this in a clean slate and treats every school with the same standard.”