Ohio State, Michigan Fined $100K by Big Ten for Postgame Fight on Video

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVDecember 1, 2024

Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

The Big Ten announced Sunday it is fining both Ohio State and Michigan $100,000 for Saturday’s postgame fight after the Wolverines attempted to plant their flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium following their 13-10 upset.

“We respect the Big Ten Conference’s decision in this matter,” Ohio State said in a statement. “What happened post-game yesterday was unfortunate. 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 two teams scrapped for several minutes before they were separated by on-field police, who even utilized pepper spray to end the melee.

FOX College Football @CFBONFOXAn on-field view of the Michigan flag plant and the altercation with Ohio State that followed ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/If9Ng7ecW0

FOX College Football @CFBONFOXA fight has broken out between Michigan and Ohio State after The Game pic.twitter.com/XPwdAjfYzN

Bleacher Report @BleacherReportThis angle of Michigan-Ohio State brawl 😳

(via @NicoleShearintv)pic.twitter.com/nT8o64JOEN

Jake Trotter @Jake_TrotterPolice finally broke up the fight with what I think was pepper spray (or something similar). Ohio State assistant coaches and staff were seen bloodied coming off the field pic.twitter.com/GGoyp3jk7g

Pat Forde @ByPatFordeA lot of people got hit w the pepper spray. Both teams. https://t.co/xyA8Tyo21Q

It was one of many flag-planting incidents—and in one case, pitchfork-planting—in rivalry games across the country. And yes, other scuffles ensued:

SportsCenter @SportsCenterCollege football today 😳

Florida planted its flag on FSU’s field 😬 pic.twitter.com/zIs7AMVgRl

no context college football @nocontextcfbpic.twitter.com/Xoemrdt1yz

The practice, as you might imagine, divided opinion on social media:

Albert Breer @AlbertBreerCredit to Sark for this. Honestly, you win, you can do what you want—but if you’re going dance on the logo or plant a flag, you should 100% expect a fight. Because you’re picking one. And Sark clearly knew that here. https://t.co/UOciyFkZ1B

Seth Davis @SethDavisHoopsIf you are good with or like flag plating, logo dancing, jumping on a scorer’s table etc then you are saying it is not important to win with class. That’s cool. Totally legit and defensible position. But recognize that’s precisely what you are saying.

Dennis Dodd @dennisdoddcbsFirst conference to ban flag planting gets a cookie, because it should happen this week. Now. There is no central authority (NCAA) that will do it. The 10 FBS conferences on their own will have to do it. This is ridiculous.

Andrew Brandt @AndrewBrandtWhen did planting the flag become a thing?
For winning a football game?
You didn’t conquer a country.

🦫✨America Is Musty✨🦫 @DragonflyJonezSeems the anti-flag planting crowd is on the side of “sportsmanship” and taking up for the losing team’s feelings and my counter to that is this…flag planting actually gives the losing team a chance to win something: a fight.

Taylor Twellman @TaylorTwellmanI’m with @joelklatt 100%.
Good game call my man and I’m with you the flag is planted you move on….you fight after the game, after losing??? come on Buckeyes….

As for the melee between the Wolverines and Buckeyes, it was Michigan’s fourth straight win in the rivalry, and came as a shocker against the No. 2 team in the nation, costing Ohio State a berth in the Big Ten title game.

So it wasn’t surprising that emotions were running high after the contest.

“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 said on the Fox broadcast after the fact. “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.”

Ohio State, of course, saw things differently.

“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,” head coach Ryan Day told reporters. “So, I will find out exactly what happened, but this is our field and certainly we’re embarrassed at the fact we lost the game. But there are some prideful guys on the team that weren’t just going to let that happen.”

It will end up being an expensive act for both schools. And given the various incidents across college football, it wouldn’t be shocking if a number of conferences outright banned flag-planting on an opponent’s field going forward.