When you beat your hated rivals, especially for the fourth straight season, you get to say and do what you want, within reason and without breaking the law.
Michigan running back Kalel Mullings took that to heart on Saturday. The Wolverines, who entered the game against Ohio State as nearly three-touchdown underdogs, stunned the second-ranked Buckeyes 13-10 in Columbus.
Mullings did his part in the win, rushing for 116 yards on 32 carries and a touchdown. Mullings was asked about the brawl on the Fox broadcast immediately after the game: ‘It was such a great game and you hate to see stuff like that. It’s bad for the sport, it’s bad for college football.’
Then Mullings had a message for his Ohio state counterparts, with perhaps the quote of the year.
‘But at the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose,’ Mullings said. ‘You can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost the game. We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting. Now people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong. Classless in my opinion. People got to do better.’
What happened in fight between Ohio State, Michigan players?
After the game, fights broke out between the teams in the middle of the field. The scuffle appeared to start after Michigan players danced and planted a blue-and-maize flag on Ohio State’s logo at midfield.
Pushing ensued and punches were thrown between Ohio State and Michigan players. At one point, Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore was carrying the team flag before Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer ripped it out of his opponent’s hand and tossed it on the turf.
A visibly upset Sawyer said, ‘They’re not (expletive) planting a flag on our (expletive) field again.’
Police intervened and officers lined up to form a human wall at the 50-yard line as the fight escalated, according to Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.
Videos shared across social media showed sheriff officers dispensing pepper spray toward players from both teams as they were trying to separate them. Multiple players from Michigan, including linebacker Jason Hewlett and running back Tavierre Dunlap, were captured rinsing their eyes out with Gatorade bottles as they winced in pain.
Stephanie Otey, a sports reporter with 97.1 The Fan, said she was struck with pepper spray during the melee and shared a video of her red, watery eyes in the aftermath: ‘Cops came out and started pepper spraying everywhere. I got nailed in the eyes. I don’t know where it came from, but there was a lot of chaos.’
Otey was filming as she was hit by the pepper spray and repeatedly screamed, ‘I can’t see.’
Ohio State coach Ryan Day: ‘We’re embarrassed’
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said he’s not certain of all the details that led to the fight, but he did say it stemmed from Michigan players ‘looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen.’
‘I’ll find out exactly what happened, but it’s our field,’ Day said after the game. ‘Certainly we’re embarrassed with the fact we lost the game, but there are some prideful guys that weren’t just going to let that down.”
The Wolverines now await their bowl assignment, while Ohio State needs help getting into the Big Ten championship.
This story was updated with new information.
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