Big Ten will not suspend players from fight
12/2/2013The Big Ten announced tonight the two Ohio State players ejected for their role in the melee at Michigan will not be suspended for Saturday's Big Ten championship game against Michigan State.
The league did, however, issue a public reprimand of senior offensive lineman Marcus Hall for "his actions while exiting the playing field." The starting guard slammed his helmet to the turf and raised his middle fingers to the crowd after he and freshman receiver Dontre Wilson, along with UM backup linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone, were ejected for throwing punches in the second-quarter fight.
The league also reprimanded the OSU staff for "failing in its duty to effectively manage the process of escorting" Hall to the locker room, but otherwise praised the coaches and officials.
"The officials and coaching staffs from both institutions did a good job of containing the situation once it started," the Big Ten said in a statement. "As bad as it was, we’re fortunate the incident did not escalate any further. More can and should be done by both coaching staffs in the future to prevent similar incidents from detracting from this rivalry."
Meyer called Hall’s gesture "nonsense" and said he was "very disappointed and angry" about the scuffle.
"That's not us," he said. "That's not Ohio State, and it's not them."