A dramatic ending to one of college football’s most heated rivalries only intensified after the final whistle Saturday, when Michigan and Ohio State players broke into a fight after the Wolverines upset the No. 2 Buckeyes 13-10 at Ohio Stadium.
How Michigan stunned No. 2 Ohio State for fourth rivalry win in a row: Key takeaways
As the two teams congregated at midfield after the game, a group of Wolverines attempted to plant a Michigan flag at midfield. Ohio State players tried to break up the celebration and the heated exchange evolved into a brawl. At one point, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer ripped the flag away from a Michigan player and threw it to the turf.
A fight has broken out between Michigan and Ohio State after The Game pic.twitter.com/XPwdAjfYzN
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 30, 2024
Police and team staff stepped in to break up the fight. In the process, some players were seen on the ground rubbing their faces after coming into contact with pepper spray.
“Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation,” Ohio State University police said in a statement. “During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate.”
Players and coaches from Michigan and Ohio State had differing viewpoints on the fracas.
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. That’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football, but at the end of the day, they’ve got to learn how to lose, man,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings said in a postgame interview with Fox.
“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. That’s just bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. And people got to be better.”
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said his players were defending home turf.
“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,” Day said.
The loss — Ohio State’s fourth in a row to Michigan — cost the Buckeyes (10-2 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) a spot in the conference title game. No. 1 Oregon already clinched its place in the championship, and No. 4 Penn State earned the second spot with a win over Maryland on Saturday. The Buckeyes still have more than a 99 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff and now have a 92 percent chance of hosting a first-round game, according to The Athletic’s Austin Mock.
Michigan (7-5, 5-4) and Ohio State were tied at 10 for the entirety of the second half until the final minute of the fourth quarter, when Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada hit a 21-yard field goal to give the Wolverines the three-point pad. Ohio State failed to gain more than a yard on its next drive, turning the ball over on downs and giving Michigan its 62nd series victory.
“We’re going to win in your house and we’re gonna plant the flag,” Michigan quarterback Davis Warren said. “You should’ve done something about it.”
The planting of the flag is no novice tradition in college football, especially between these two teams. In 2022, after Michigan captured its first victory at Ohio Stadium since 2000 — a 45-23 win over the then-top-ranked Buckeyes — the team also mounted its “M” over the “O” logo at Ohio State’s midfield. That flag was later placed on display in the Towsley Museum lobby inside Michigan’s Schembechler Hall.
Infamously, former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield planted the OU flag over the “O” emblem in 2017, when the Sooners upset the Buckeyes 31-16. Mayfield even ran a victory lap with the flag before stabbing it into the ground, though the Ohio State team had already departed for the locker room.
Mayfield said at the time that his and his teammates’ reaction to the 2017 upset was in part because it was “embarassing” to hear the Ohio State players sing their fight song on the Sooners’ field after a 45-24 drubbing the year before.
What I saw on the field
With roughly two minutes remaining in the game, several dozen law enforcement officers on bicycles assembled in the end zone as part of the postgame procedure. Michigan players and coach Sherrone Moore were going back and forth with Ohio State fans behind the Michigan bench in the closing seconds, and there was a big celebration on the field with water being sprayed once the clock hit zero. While Moore did his postgame interview on Fox, one group of Michigan players ran to the end zone to celebrate with fans and another gathered at midfield to plant the flag, just as they did after their victory against the Buckeyes in 2022.
Shoving broke out as players were in the process of planting the flag, and a chaotic scene ensued with some staff members rushing in to break up the fight and others running away. The fight appeared to be under control, but then it flared up again. At that point law enforcement officers were involved in separating the teams, and at least one Ohio State fan was being handcuffed on the field. I noticed a strong chemical taste when I got closer to the center of the altercation, and a reporter walked away from the scene rubbing her eyes and saying she couldn’t see. Michigan players said several of their teammates were sprayed with mace as well.
At that point, Moore and other Michigan staff members were trying to hold back players and direct them toward one of the end zones. The law enforcement officers formed a line with their bikes at midfield to separate the teams and players gradually cleared the field. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day stood on the sidelines; the broadcast later showed him asking his players what happened. — Austin Meek, Michigan beat writer
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
