Wolverines and Spartans meet on the field

Two years after the tunnel fight, Michigan football and Michigan State football ended their final rivalry game with an on-field fight after Michigan quarterback Davis Warren suffered a knee injury to secure a 24-17 victory.

It's unclear who started the fight, but it erupted when Michigan tight end Colston Loveland headbutted Michigan State defensive lineman Anthony Jones.

Jones then grabbed Loveland by the helmet.

“Little brother stays and does little brother things,” Loveland told Big Ten Network. “MSU, the little brother. They can do whatever they want. We knew it would be difficult. Everything within the confines of the game we do right, and after the game they want to be busy, and we're going to be busy.”

SHAWN WINDSOR: Michigan football and Sherrone Moore save the season against hated MSU

Michigan outscored Michigan State in the second, third and fourth quarters to secure the victory at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor in the 117th meeting between in-state rivals. The Wolverines defeated the Spartans for the third straight time.

“It's an emotional game,” Michigan State University head coach Jonathan Smith told reporters. “You don’t like ending that way. I thought the football game itself was physically demanding, I think the boys played really hard and I thought it was a pretty clean game. It was hard to end like that.”

The game was relatively clean from start to finish, with the Spartans receiving six penalties for 35 yards and the Wolverines not being responsible for any penalties, but emotions ran high on both sides after the final whistle.

Michigan running back Kalel Mullings pounced on Jones to guard Loveland, causing chaos. Previously the fight was limited to Loveland and Jones.

A large group of Michigan players left the bench to join the fight on the field.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Michigan State running back Nate Carter told reporters. “It’s an emotional game.”

Trash talk: Michigan football TE Colston Loveland on MSU: “Little brother stays and does little brother things”

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore spoke about the fight in his on-field interview immediately after the game. The first-year head coach was not happy with his players' behavior on the field.

“It’s disappointing,” Moore told Big Ten Network. “That’s not what Michigan football is about. This is not how we represent our program or this university.

Contact or follow Evan Petzold at [email protected] @EvanPetzold.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply