Police Appear to Use Pepper Spray on Michigan, Ohio State Players During Brawl

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Chris Phelps | Last updated Nov 30, 2024 4:12 PM ET

College football's rivalry week continued with a major upset on Saturday afternoon as the Michigan Wolverines secured their fourth straight win over their biggest rival, defeating the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes 13-10 in Columbus.

The Wolverines secured the win after an 11-play, 57-yard drive took most of the last six minutes off the clock. With 45 seconds remaining, Dominic Zvada kicked a 21-yard field goal to give the Wolverines the lead.

Ohio State had a chance to tie or take the lead on its next possession but turned the ball over on downs. Michigan took a knee to run out the clock.

In celebration, Wolverines players planted a Michigan flag in the middle of the Ohio State field. The Buckeyes took exception to this and ran to their opponents to stop it from happening.

Michigan went to plant the flag at midfield for the second straight time in Columbus and Ohio State decided now was the time to do something about it pic.twitter.com/i6xo9pHpGs
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) November 30, 2024

This led to a full-on brawl, with players throwing punches and tackling each other to the ground. The incident forced the police on the scene to take action as they tried to break the rivals up.

At one point, cameras panned over to a couple of Michigan players who appeared to be in some agony as they held their eyes shut. According to On3, these two players were apparently pepper sprayed, showing common reactions to such an occasion.

Ohio State police appear to have used pepper spray on players during the brawl

(via @CFBONFOX)https://t.co/FumXdAJzYu pic.twitter.com/nmNFxz7stG
— On3 (@On3sports) November 30, 2024

College football fans were shocked by the potential pepper spraying during the fight, taking to social media to leave their thoughts.

"If this is true, then people need to be fired and prosecuted," one fan said. "Uncalled for in sports."

"Player shouldn’t be pepper sprayed after wins when the other team can’t take an L," wrote a second.

"That’s a first, never seen football players getting pepper sprayed," added another.

A fan noticed a police officer pepper-spraying some Ohio State players during the brawl toward the end of the video below.

"Wasn’t just UM players, can see the cop spraying OSU guys at the end of this video:" the fan commented.

Wasn’t just UM players, can see the cop spraying OSU guys at the end of this video: https://t.co/fnYOo8lnvb
— Compound Average (@CompoundAverage) November 30, 2024

With the loss, Ohio State (10-2, 7-2 Big Ten) no longer controls its destiny for the Big Ten Championship Game. However, they could still make the College Football Playoff with its new 12-team format.

Michigan (7-5, 5-4) ended the regular season on a two-game winning streak and will await an invitation to a bowl game.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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