Spartan Nation

Fight In The Big House Tunnel!

Immediately following the game between the Spartans and Wolverines, there was a fight in the tunnel of Michigan Stadium

Matthew Lounsberry

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For the second time this season, there has been an incident in the tunnel at Michigan Stadium between the Wolverines and their opponent.

Immediately following Michigan's 29-7 victory over Michigan State, Wolverine cornerback Ja'Den McBurrows ran up the tunnel while the Spartan football team was exiting the field.

A fight broke out in the tunnel, and video was captured of the incident by the Detroit News' beat reporter, Matt Charboneau:

MLive's Kyle Austin caught video footage of the scuffle as well:

The footage shows several Michigan State players shoving and striking McBurrows in the tunnel. Defensive end Zion Young, linebacker Itayvion Brown and safety Angelo Grose were among the MSU players seen involved in the incident.

It's being reported that the fight lasted less than 30 seconds. McBurrows is seen walking away seemingly uninjured in the video.

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker said that he didn't know what occured in the tunnel post-game, and that he would need to find out more before commenting on the incident.

"I know it was a heated game. Things were heated. We're trying to get our guys in the locker room, we'll have to figure out what happened."

Asked about the physicality on the football field during the game, Tucker simply said, "It was a physical football game." The head coach was later asked if he addressed what happened in the tunnel with his team in the locker room.

"Listen, I don't know what happened. Okay? " Tucker said. "So, we try to get our guys in the locker room, it's heated and then we'll have to figure out what happened. I didn't address that in the moment because I didn't have anything to address. I don't know what happened. We'll have to figure it out."

Wolverine head coach Jim Harbaugh said that a Michigan player has a nasal injury that could be a broken nose.

“Two of our players were assaulted,” Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference. “I saw the one video, the 10 on 1. Pretty bad. I’m going to let our Athletic Director, Warde Manuel, address it with the authorities …

“Pretty open and shut. One of our players has a nasal injury — could be a broken nose. Just very unfortunate. ... My perspective is I heard from two players when we got into the locker room … we started addressing it. Then the video surfaced.”

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel addressed the incident at post-game media availability:

“What happened after the game is completely unacceptable. I’ve talked to the [Big Ten] commissioner [Kevin Warren],” Manuel said. “He is looking into it. The police are also looking into it because they’ve seen the video, so they’re addressing it.

“We will leave it in their hands. But this is not how we should interact after the game. This is not the way another team should grab a player and do what they did. It’s completely and utterly unacceptable. We will let the Big Ten and law enforcement handle it, but this is not what a rivalry should be about. It’s not how it should be remembered.”

Michigan's athletic director also believes that the post-game incident sullies the Wolverines' victory over the Spartans on the football field.

“We won on the field. This man [Harbaugh] and his team and those players when out there and won, and for that to happen is unacceptable,” Manuel said again. “And that’s all I’m going to say. I’ll leave it to Kevin and law enforcement to handle from here on out.”

After Manuel concluded his statement, Harbaugh was asked about the situation again.

"...you want to protect your players, and 10 on 1, whatever it was. Just bad," Harbaugh said. "Warde addressed it, and [we] move on. It needs to be investigated, brought to a conclusion, and we’ll let our athletic director make sure that takes place.”

In Michigan's last home game, on Oct. 15 against Penn State, the Wolverines and Nittany Lions got into a shouting matchup as the teams exited the field at halftime. It was reported that Penn State players threw peanut butter sandwiches at Michigan players.

Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin called for changes to the Big House tunnel and the halftime policy during his media availability the following week.

More reaction:

Spartan Nation will have more on this as the situation unfolds and information becomes available.

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Matthew Lounsberry
MATTHEW LOUNSBERRY

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