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

Michigan State athletics director Alan Haller met with the media on Monday and discussed the ugly ending of the Spartans game against Michigan this past Saturday. As the final seconds ticked off the clock of Michigan’s 24-17 win, a fight broke out on the field.

There was pushing and shoving near midfield, before players were eventually separated. Haller revealed Monday that the Big Ten is looking into 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,” Alan Haller said.

“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.”

Michigan being held to the same standard as the rest of the Big Ten was a big part of Haller’s message on Monday. He was asked if in the past he felt like Michigan was held to a different standard.

“I mean held to the same standard every school is held to when it comes to things like this,” Alan Haller said. “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.”

Video shows that the majority of the Michigan team ran onto the field once the fight broke out, while a smaller portion of the Michigan State team ran onto the field.

Alan Haller made sure to point that out during his media availability.

“It happened on their sidelines and we had very few of our players. You could see that our players were restrained and our staff did a great job preventing many of our players getting involved in what happened,” Haller said.

“What I want to do is let the conference look at this and again, make sure that that school is held to the same standard as everybody else.”

He added that he does not have a timeline as far as when everything will be sorted out but he is optimistic proper punishments will be given out.

“I’ve been told they’re looking into it,” Haller said. “I have not been given a timeline. I just know that the conference will be in touch.”