Ohio State and Michigan players fighting after the game. Photo Credit: Fox
College FootballFoxBy Reice Shipley on

Heading into The Big Game between the unranked Michigan Wolverines and the No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, most expected it to largely be a dominant showing from the far better Buckeyes on paper. But instead, Michigan shocked the college football world in more ways than one.

It was a defensive battle throughout, with both teams struggling mightily on the offensive side of the ball. For Ohio State, special teams were also a significant issue, missing two field goals that would come back to bite them.

Ultimately, Michigan would convert on a 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, which was too much for Ohio State to recover from. Michigan would get a turnover on downs on the following Ohio State possession, coming away with a 13-10 victory on the road against their biggest rival.

The win could go a long way in impacting Ohio State’s chances at making it into the College Football Playoff. But perhaps even worse, it continues a trend for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day of being unable to get it done against Michigan.

After the game, emotions were running high for both teams considering the longstanding rivalry between the two teams. And when Michigan players attempted to plant their team flag at midfield over the Ohio State logo, Ohio State players responded with violence.

Both teams had nearly the entirety of their respective teams on the field pushing and shoving one another over Michigan’s flag gesture. And on the call of the situation, Fox play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson shared his perspective on the melee.

“Now there is some skirmishes on the field. An unsportsmanlike gesture by Michigan,” said Johnson. “It’s unnecessary, they won the game. No need to be disrespectful.”

“Incredibly ugly scene for a beautiful rivalry. Gus, you hate to see this,” added his broadcast partner Joel Klatt.

Ultimately, Ohio State players would later grab the Michigan flag and toss it to the ground, which further led to even more fighting from Michigan players and staff looking to get it back.

Unfortunately, a number of players and staffers on both sides were seemingly injured in the altercation that Johnson alluded to as being rather unnecessary.

While Johnson’s argument that the gesture was disrespectful is obviously how Ohio State players and fans likely feel on the matter, Michigan players clearly feel differently.

In an interview with Fox’s Jenny Taft after the game, Michigan running back Kalel Mullings instead placed the blame on Ohio State for “not knowing how to lose”.

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” said Mullings. It’s bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people, they gotta learn how to lose man. You can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game. All that fighting… 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. People have got to be better.”

[Awful Announcing on X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

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