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So which one is the poor sport?
After Michigan’s thumping of rival MSU, 44-10, on Saturday, there was a lot of celebration by the home team, while the Spartans were literally waved off the field by the victorious Wolverines.
The game was filled with plenty of unsportsmanlike conduct and personal foul penalties, and Michigan State’s Jacub Panasiuk was ejected from the game after notching two of the sort, with a late hit on Michigan QB Shea Patterson sealing his early departure from the game.
In the postgame, Wolverines safety Josh Metellus praised his team for keeping its composure, noting that MSU was engaging in extracurricular activities beyond the whistle.
Par for the course in this rivalry.
“I’m pretty pleased, because I feel like we’re way more classier than them,” Metellus said. “They try to take it to a level that isn’t playing football. We play football over here – I don’t know what they do over there, but we play football, and it showed today.”
But Michigan waving MSU off the field? That was apparently a bridge too far.
According to the Lansing State Journal, former Detroit (MI) King standout and MSU linebacker Tyriq Thompson took exception to the Wolverines shunning the Spartans off the field in the postgame as they simultaneously trotted the Paul Bunyan Trophy around the stadium. Thompson also accused Michigan of poor class and lacking sportsmanship.
“I think it was a little bit of poor class on their part, poor sportsmanship to come over to our sideline barking how they were,” Michigan State linebacker Tyriq Thompson said. “It comes with the game, with the rivalry. It is what it is. Still, it’s just terrible taste.”
In the aftermath, Michigan made no bones or apologies for the gesture. LB Josh Uche went as far as to tell FOX Sports that MSU had no right to be on their field after the drubbing.
“We kicked them out the building, they should never come back here” – @_Uche35 😳#FOXFieldPass pic.twitter.com/PFT46ZvdSw
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) November 16, 2019
Naturally, Michigan fans will likely point to last season’s pregame antics by the Spartans, where MSU was late to its stadium walk, uncharacteristically wore their helmets, and didn’t break the chain for particular Wolverines on the field. The Big Ten found MSU culpable in the matter, reprimanding the program for incident.
The Spartans again wore their helmets upon arrival, this time as they got off the buses at Michigan Stadium.
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