Michigan, Ohio State players fight as Wolverines try to plant flag after fourth straight win in The Game

Pepper spray was deployed by police to separate the fighting teams

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Moments after Michigan shocked No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 for their fourth straight rivalry victory, players from both teams broke out in fisticuffs at midfield. Wolverines defensive tackle Mason Graham was being interviewed by the broadcast when a fracas broke out behind him. Michigan players attempted to plant their flag at midfield and Ohio State players appeared to storm at them to try and prevent them from doing it.

After things settled down for a moment, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer ran at a Michigan player and ripped the flag off the pole, setting off a second round of fighting. Players once again went at each other and had to be separated by staff and security.

Law enforcement used pepper spray to separate according to a statement from the Ohio State University Police Department. Two Michigan players and a photographer were seen rubbing their faces afterwards.

“Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation,” the OSUPD statement read. “During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate.”

The fight was the final parting shot as Ohio State lost an emotional and shocking fourth straight matchup against the Wolverines, the first for Michigan under coach Sherrone Moore. Wolverines kicker Dominic Zvada hit a 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining to ice the game at Ohio Stadium.

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” running back Kalel Mullings said. “Just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose, man. Can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game. All that fighting, we have 60 minutes, we have four quarters to do all that fighting and now you want to talk and fight. That’s wrong. It’s just bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People got to be better.”

In his postgame press conference, Ohio State coach Ryan Day addressed the altercation. Day admitted he was still gathering details but noted that his players have too much pride to stand by and watch Michigan plant its flag in the middle of Ohio Stadium.

“I don’t know all the details of it,” Day said. “I know that those guys were looking to put a flag on our field, and our guys weren’t going to let that happen. I’ll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. Certainly, we’re embarrassed that we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys on this team that weren’t going to let that happen.”

On the other side, Moore said emotions got the best of both teams in the moment, asserting that several Buckeyes “charged” the Wolverines carrying the flag. The Michigan coach added he thought his team could have handled the situation differently.

“Our guys, I did see they had the flag,” Moore said. “Guys were waving it around, and their guys charged us. There was emotion on both sides, and it can’t happen. Rivalry games get heated, especially this one. This is the biggest one in the country. We gotta handle that better.”

Moore said the pepper spray affected players on both teams. He also said he addressed the fight in the locker room, and he will do it again in the future.

“Those were just the officers that were around,” Moore said. “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 addressed it in the locker room. I’ll address it again. But that’s both sides.”