Michigan and Ohio State will be paying with their wallets for the ugly on-field brawl that happened after their rivalry game.
The Big 10 announced Sunday that both schools will each be fined $100,000 for the incident after Michigan upset No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday afternoon.
“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 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.
Things escalated quickly after Michigan edge rusher Derrick Moore attempted to plant the school’s flag on the Buckeyes logo at midfield.
It set off both sides as chaotic pushing, shoving and grabbing occurred, with several individuals ending up on the ground.
“I don’t know all the details of it, but I know these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys were not gonna let that happen,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said after the game. “I’ll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. We certainly were embarrassed of the fact that we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys on this team that weren’t just gonna let that happen.”
Police resorted to the use of pepper spray to get the incident under control.
The flag was eventually ripped away from Moore by Ohio State linebacker Jack Sawyer, who intercepted a pass during the game, as things finally de-escalated.
The victory was Michigan’s fourth straight over their archrival and came with the Wolverines (7-5) as heavy underdogs.
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings said. “That’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose.
“You can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game. All that fighting, we had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting. And now people want to talk and fight, that’s wrong. It’s just bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People gotta be better.”
