-
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
The Big Ten fined Michigan and Ohio State $100,000 each on Sunday for their football programs’ roles in the postgame melee following the Wolverines’ stunning 13-10 upset of the No. 2 Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium, the league announced.
In a statement, the league said it “considers this matter concluded and will have no further comment.” The league doesn’t plan to suspend players for their roles in the fight and Michigan and Ohio State officials said no individual discipline is being handed out by them at this time.
In its statement, the Big Ten said the teams violated the league’s sportsmanship policy.
“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,” the Big Ten statement said.
Ohio State released a statement Sunday saying it respects the Big Ten’s decision.
“What happened post-game yesterday was unfortunate,” the statement said. “Good sportsmanship is always important in everything we do at Ohio State. Moving forward, we will continue to examine and address our post-game protocols to ensure our student-athletes, coaches, visiting teams and staff safely exit the field.”
The brawl started between players from both teams after the Wolverines planted their flag at midfield in The Horseshoe following their fourth consecutive victory over the Buckeyes.
The fight lasted for roughly five minutes before police officers used pepper spray to disperse the mob of players. Players and coaches from both sides were left bloodied, and Ohio State University police said one officer was injured.
As the Wolverines gathered on the Block O logo in celebration, several Buckeyes players rushed in throwing punches. Michigan players punched back, according to ESPN’s Jake Trotter.
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore and Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork were among those who tried to break up the multiple skirmishes that broke out. Several police officers eventually stepped in and attempted to form a line separating the two teams.
Ohio State University police said in a statement that “officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation. During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray.”
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, whose record fell to 1-4 against Michigan, later blamed the Wolverines for starting the melee by planting the flag.
“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 weren’t going to let that happen,” Day said. “I’ll find out exactly what happened. But this is our field and certainly we’re embarrassed of the fact that we lost the game, but there’s some prideful guys in this team that weren’t going to just let that happen.”
Moore told reporters that players on both teams could have handled the situation better.
“It was emotions on both sides,” Moore said. “I did see they had the flag and guys were waving it around and their guys charged us. There’s emotion on both sides. It can’t happen. Rivalry games get heated, especially this one, it’s the biggest one in the country, so we got to handle that one better.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter contributed to this report.