Big Ten hands down punishment to Michigan, Ohio State after postgame melee
Things got ugly on the field between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday in Columbus following U-M’s 13-10 upset, its fourth-straight win in the rivalry. Both schools have been fined $100,000 as a result by the Big Ten as a violation of the league’s sportsmanship policy.
The conference says it considers the matter closed.
After Michigan closed out the win, a large contingent of its players went to plant a Block M flag at midfield before Buckeye players ran over to start a fracas, which included a lot of pushing and shoving and plenty of expletives. During the scuffle, Ohio State police also deployed pepper spray towards several Wolverine players and media members on the field.
“The Big Ten Conference has determined that the actions of both teams following the Michigan-Ohio State football game on Saturday, November 30, 2024, violated the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy,” the release from the conference said. “Not only did the actions of both teams violate fundamental elements of sportsmanship such as respect and civility, the nature of the incident also jeopardized the safety of participants and bystanders.
“As a result of these violations, the Big Ten Conference has issued an institutional fine to both the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University in the amount of $100,000 each.
“The Big Ten Conference considers this matter concluded and will have no further comment.”
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore addressed the situation after the game, expressing some remorse and regret for his team’s role in the incident.
“Those were the officers that were around, so they were just trying to control everything,” Moore said. “The security was trying to control everything. They got both sides of guys trying to make sure that we took care of them. We gotta do a better job handling that as a group. I’ll address it in the locker room, we’ll address it again. But that’s both sides.”
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OSU head coach Ryan Day stood by as his team was involved in the scuffling on the field, which included senior EDGE Jack Sawyer attempting to steal the Michigan flag. At the time, Day said his players were simply defending their home field and that he was unaware of all the details.
“I don’t know all the details of it, 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,” the Buckeye head coach, who is now 1-4 against Michigan, said. “So I’ll find out exactly what happened. But this is our field, and certainly, we’re embarrassed with the fact that we lost the game. But there’s some prideful guys in this team that weren’t just gonna let that happen.”
The boiled-over emotions have become emblematic of the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry, especially with the rhetoric ramping up over the last few years. Moore was proud of his team for taking care of its business in the 60 minutes of game time.
“It’s a heated rivalry,” Moore said. “It’s one that we all talk about. They talk about it, we talk about it. It’s in my office. I walk in and the first thing I see is Ohio State. What are we doing to beat Ohio State today? It’s something you think about. 365. We’re excited we won the game. We’re excited we won the game and I’m proud of our guys.”
