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A brawl ensues after Michigan inflicts a surprising upset defeat on rival Ohio State



CNN

An ugly brawl after the final whistle marred Michigan’s surprising upset win over rival Ohio State, which came into the game as the second-largest team in the country.

In the 120th edition of The Game, the Buckeyes were nearly 20-point favorites at home as they looked to end a three-game losing streak against their arch-rival and secure their spot in the Big Ten Championship Game.

The game was tied at 10 points in the final minute of play when Michigan drove the ball deep into Ohio State territory. Michigan took the lead 13-10 on a 21-yard field goal by Dominic Zvada.

With no timeouts left, Ohio State was unable to respond and Michigan escaped The Horseshoe with its fourth straight win in one of the country’s most heated rivalries.

The win helped salvage a disappointing season for defending champion Michigan, but things took an ugly turn after the game ended.

A Wolverines player attempted to place a Michigan banner on the Buckeyes logo at midfield at Ohio Stadium, leading to pushing and shoving and ultimately punches from members of both teams.

According to multiple media reports, it took several minutes for stadium security and police to separate the two teams, using pepper spray to bring the situation under control.

The television broadcast showed players wiping their eyes and coughing after the brawl.

CNN has reached out to Ohio State University police and Columbus police for more information about the incident.

Michigan celebrates go-ahead field goal against Ohio State.

“When you have such a great game, you hate to see something like that after the game. Bad for sport. Bad for college football,” Michigan running back Kalel Mullings said on the FOX broadcast.

“At the end of the day, some people had to learn how to lose. You can’t fight this stuff just because you lost the game. All these fights, we had 60 minutes, we had four quarters for all these fights and now people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong. It’s bad for the game. Classless in my opinion. People need to do better.”

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said he thought all of his players were OK after the incident, adding, “Some crazy things happened down there.”

The sixth-year coach also described the moments that led to the ugly scenes.

“I don’t know all the details, but I know these guys want to plant a flag on our field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen,” Day said. “So I’ll find out exactly what happened, but that’s our area of ​​expertise and we’re definitely embarrassed that we lost the game. But there are some proud boys on the team who wouldn’t just let that happen.”

CNN has reached out to the athletic departments at Michigan and Ohio State for comment on the postgame altercation.

CNN’s Jacob Lev contributed to this report

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