After Michigan upset Ohio State in Columbus this past November, a massive brawl broke out. Players on the Buckeyes were clearly upset about the Wolverines planting their school flag at midfield.
Things got so heated that Ohio State University Police had to use pepper spray to break up the scuffle. Multiple players and reporters were unfortunately in the danger zone when this occurred. Although people were outraged about this, Ohio State’s police officers defended their actions.
“Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation,” the OSUPD said. “During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate.”
On Thursday, a report from The Athletic listed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in regards to the use of pepper spray at Ohio Stadium.
Three department officials, including Ohio State’s chief of police, thought the use of pepper spray was justifiable and “reasonable.”
Essentially, the OSUPD won’t be facing any trouble for using pepper spray on Nov. 30.
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When this brawl first occurred, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day didn’t exactly take full accountability for his players’ actions.
“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.”
Michigan running back Kalel Mullings had a much different take on this matter.
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Mullings said. “This is bad for the sport and bad for college football, but at the end of the day, some people have got to learn how to lose. 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. People have got to be better.”
While football fans absolutely love the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State, we can all agree that it’s not great for the sport to have players getting blasted with pepper spray at midfield. So hopefully, next season’s showdown won’t have as wild of a postgame brawl.
Related: Michigan Player Pepper Sprayed After Win Over Ohio State Has Message For Fans
