It was rivalry week last week in the state of Michigan as the Michigan football team hosted Michigan State on Saturday night. This rivalry is a unique one as you can walk through the campus of the school hosting the game, and you will see Spartans and Wolverines at just about every tailgate getting together just fine. However, it's a different story on the football field, and there was some more controversy after the game on Saturday night.
In 2022, the biggest storyline from the rivalry game had nothing to do with what happened during the game, but it was about what transpired after. A large group of Michigan State players teamed up on a couple Michigan players in the tunnel. Videos showed the Spartans swinging their helmets violently at the Wolverines, and it was an all-around ugly situation. Jawing back and forth is bound to happen between rivals, but the physical violence doesn't belong.
There was more violence after the game this year, but it appeared to be much less serious than the 2022 situation. It all started on the final play of the game when things were already settled, and Michigan tight end Colston Loveland got into it with Michigan State's Anthony James. There was some jawing from both sides, and things really escalated when James grabbed Loveland by the head and tried to yank him down.
After that, Michigan players rushed to Loveland's aid, and other Michigan State players got involved as well. A massive mob of players ended up forming and it was hard to tell what happened in the pile. However, Michigan State is asking the Big Ten to review the situation as some people are wondering if Michigan running back Kalel Mullings was stomping on somebody.
“I haven’t thoroughly looked at every angle and all of that,” Smith said, according to an article from The Athletic. “It was a lot of bodies out there. My experience, and then learning yesterday, yes, we had a staff member that was in the fray of it and a player in the fray of it. That’s what we’re hoping they’re looking into.”
After everything cleared, Colston Loveland participated in a postgame interview on Big Ten Network, and he still had the adrenaline pumping from the incident.
“Little bro stays doing little bro things, you know,” Loveland said. “MSU the little bro, they can do whatever they want. We knew it was gonna get chippy, but everything within the confines of the game we do right, and then after, if they wanna get busy we'll get busy.”
Regardless of who started it, Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore was still disappointed that his team got involved.
“That’s not how we represent the University of Michigan, the Block M or the winged helmet,” Moore said. “We’ll take care of that. That will never happen again.”
When Moore was asked if he saw Mullings stomping on anyone, he said no.
All in all, you never want to see a situation like that happen after what was a very good football game. If the Big Ten finds reason for anyone to be punished, then they should act accordingly, but it was good to see the situation get worked out fairly quickly on the field to stop anything worse from happening.