Michigan, Ohio State Fined Over TV Footbrawl

The Big Ten Conference has fined Michigan and Ohio State $100k each for their involvement in Saturday’s postgame brawl, the conference announced.

“The Big Ten Conference has determined that the actions of both teams following the Michigan-Ohio State football game on Saturday, November 30, 2024, violated the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy,” the conference said in a press release.

Following Michigan’s 13-10 victory, a Wolverines player attempted to plant a Michigan banner on the Buckeyes logo at midfield in Ohio Stadium, which led to pushing and shoving and eventually punches being thrown by members of both teams. Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer was seen snatching the flag and throwing it away.

Massive fight ensues after @UMichFootball tries to plant flag midfield in Ohio Stadium

Players from both teams engaged in a massive brawl after Michigan pulled off a shocking 13-10 upset of No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus Saturday, prompting officers to deploy pepper spray. pic.twitter.com/qJkIURI4xt

— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) December 1, 2024

CNN reports it took several minutes for stadium security and police to separate the two teams, with pepper spray being deployed to get the situation under control, according to multiple media reports. The television broadcast showed players wiping their eyes and coughing in the aftermath of the brawl.

“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 added.

According to the Big Ten, no other fines or suspensions will be handed out.

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. Bad for the sport. Bad for college football,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings told the Fox broadcast.

“At the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose. You can’t be fighting this stuff just because you lost the 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. It’s bad for the game. Classless in my opinion. People got to be better.”