Players from both teams were involved in a huge brawl after Michigan pulled off a shocking 13-10 upset of no. 2 Ohio State in Columbus Saturday, prompting officers to deploy pepper spray.
The incident appeared to have started when Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore attempted to plant a team flag at midfield at Ohio Stadium and was confronted by several Ohio State players. The situation escalated when an Ohio State player ripped the flag from the pole.
Several skirmishes broke out, with players from both teams throwing punches.
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An Ohio State spokesperson confirmed to CBS News in an email that law enforcement deployed pepper spray during the melee.
“After the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an altercation on the field,” the school spokesperson said. “During this scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray.”
The school spokesperson said the Ohio State University Police Department was the lead agency patrolling the game and will investigate the fight. It is unclear whether there were any serious injuries.
“For such a great game, you hate to see things like that after the game,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings told reporters, according to CBS Sports. “Just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose, man. You can’t fight and all that just because you lost a game. All that fighting, we got 60 minutes , we have four quarters to do all that fighting and now you want to talk and fight. That’s just bad for the game in my opinion.”
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In the upset, the 7-5 Wolverines ended the 10-2 Buckeyes’ hopes of returning to the Big Ten title game. Michigan’s Dominic Zvada kicked the game-winning 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds left.
Ohio State got the ball back but couldn’t move it, with Will Howard throwing incomplete on fourth down to seal the Wolverines’ fourth straight win over their bitter rival.
This Ohio State loss in “The Game” was perhaps the toughest of the past four, as Michigan was unranked and capped off a disappointing season. The Wolverines also played without a pair of top players: tight end Colston Loveland and cornerback Will Johnson.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, the Buckeyes were favored by 21 points, the largest point spread for this rivalry since 1978.
