MSU president says Michigan staged pregame incident

Michigan State’s interim president doesn’t appear ready to let things go between MSU and Michigan after a brawl nearly ensued before the game last week.

The incident led to MSU receiving a $10,000 fine, head coach Mark Dantonio was reprimanded for failing to take action to mitigate a foreseeable conflict from occurring. Devin Bush was reprimanded for his conduct, while Jim Harbaugh was reprimanded for his comments to the media about the incident.

MSU president John Engler may be facing a similar fate as Harbaugh in terms of being reprimanded, as he had a load of provocative comments about the incident on the 94.9 WMMQ pregame show, where he called the incident staged and a setup.

Engler’s comments

• “It was a setup. I think the whole thing was staged and the behavior just outrageous. The idea that Michigan State gets fined is absurd. The Michigan player (Devin Bush) that was out there tearing up the field, that seemed to be the single-most egregious act. I mean, blocking the players was dumb, the players as they did the march. But his behavior in front of everyone, trying to tear up the field and forcing our groundskeeper to come out and fix it.”
• Said Big Ten President Jim Delany has “God-like authority”
• “Down at the Big Ten headquarters, the scarlet and gray (Ohio State) and the maize and blue (Michigan) have a little status. And it sure looked like it this week.”
• “The third time in 11 games they get a win, and we’re right back to you think it’s business as usual. Well, we’ll see.”

Worth noting: Michigan State had their pregame walk against Purdue on Saturday morning, and they didn’t wear helmets like they did vs Michigan

Here’s how the walk looked vs Michigan