Michigan State OSU doctored scouting footage

10/1/2012

COLUMBUS — Pour another bottle of kerosene on the fire that fuels the growing rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan State.

OSU coach Urban Meyer today defended accusations his staff doctored the game videos they sent to the Spartans in advance of Saturday’s game, then pointed the finger back at MSU.

Meyer said Ohio State asked the Big Ten office to review an alleged eye-gouging incident from the Buckeyes’ 17-16 win. Replays show Michigan State offensive lineman Jack Allen jabbing his fingers into the face of OSU defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins at the bottom of a scrum.

A Big Ten spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

“I dealt with that at Florida one time,” Meyer said. “We had to sit a player down for doing that in the SEC.”

Meyer, meanwhile, said he was unaware of any video issues until after Saturday’s game. Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said OSU had edited the scouting tape it was required to send to the Spartans.

It is an unwritten rule — and in the Big Ten’s case, a written one — that teams exchange videos of their past games with upcoming opponents.

“We had tape cut off all week, where they changed the tape, I’m not gonna lie to you,” Narduzzi told the Detroit Free Press. “They send you tape and they've got it all cut off and you don't get to see shifts or motions or anything else.

“A few other teams we talked to that [Ohio State] played, we compared what they were looking at on tape to what we were looking at. We're like ‘We don't see any of that. We see it on their tape but not on our tape.'”

Meyer said he spoke with one of his video staffers on Sunday and learned there had been an issue last Tuesday.

“It was corrected immediately, and that's all I was told,” Meyer said. “There was no intent or deception or hiding anything, nothing like that.”