Michigan State’s Mel Tucker Addresses Postgame Tunnel Altercation

The Spartans coach said “swift and appropriate action” will be taken in regard to Saturday night’s incident.

Saturday night’s Michigan-Michigan State game became marred in the minutes following the Wolverines’ 29-7 victory when several Spartans players were caught on video assaulting a Michigan player.

Michigan State coach Mel Tucker issued a statement about the incident Sunday morning, tweeting in a thread, “As Spartans our program has a responsibility to uphold the highest level of sportsmanship. While emotions were very high at the conclusion of our rivalry game at Michigan Stadium, there is no excuse for behavior that puts our team or our opponents at risk.

“In complete cooperation with law enforcement, the Big Ten Conference and MSU and UM leadership, we will evaluate the events in Ann Arbor and take swift and appropriate action.”

Both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University police departments will be investigating the matter, UMPD said in a statement, via ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren also confirmed on Saturday that the conference will be investigating the altercation. 

In the video of the altercation, Wolverines defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows appears to be the only Michigan player in the tunnel at the time, but Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Saturday night, “Two of our players were assaulted. You saw the one video, the 10 on one. It was pretty bad. One of our players has a nasal injury, could be a broken nose. It’s just very unfortunate.” 

This is not the first time the tunnel from the field to the locker rooms in Michigan Stadium has become tense this year. The Wolverines and Penn State had a brush-up earlier this month. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin later called this specific tunnel a “problem,” adding that they’re “not the first team to get into a jawing match in the tunnel.”

At the time, Harbaugh dismissed the idea that there is any issue with the tunnel, saying that Penn State instigated the situation. 

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