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

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. 

Some police on the field appeared to use pepper spray, according to 247Sports Brandon Marcello. Two Michigan players and a photographer were seen rubbing their faces afterwards. Police moved to midfield to separate the two teams. 

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.”