Theory on tunnel incident with MSU (w/ evidence)

Submitted by Wee-Bey Brice on October 30th, 2022 at 10:02 AM

I was going through tweets/videos of the postgame incident this morning because I was determined to figure out how Ja'Den McBurrows ended up in that situation. I think I have it figured out.

In this video from TomVH you can see two players head up the tunnel while MSU is headed in, Gemon Green and Ja'Den McBurrows after him:

https://twitter.com/TomVH/status/1586554799553757186

 

Look at Gemon Green high fiving a fan as he heads into the tunnel by himself, Michigan is waiting and McBurrows sees him from behind.

McBurrows then hustles around to go with him.

Theory already made sense from a general team/brotherhood standpoint but then I saw a photo from postgame vs PSU:

https://twitter.com/Bry_Mac/status/1586703089364570113

Look at the same pair walking together in the tunnel. There are always teammates you tend to be with more often. 

In the only other video from inside the tunnel, you can see Green by himself jawing:

https://twitter.com/mattcharboneau/status/1586556035816366081

I'd bet Gemon Green got into a jawing match as McBurrows runs to his defense and got the worst of it. 

ST3

October 30th, 2022 at 12:00 PM ^

MSU should not be allowed to host the game next year. I don’t trust their fans to behave rationally. Some Sparty asshole is going to try to get retribution for us making them look bad when it was their own actions that had the spotlight on them. FYS.

SF Wolverine

October 30th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^

Hard to imagine there aren’t a couple of relatively lengthy suspensions for the bad actors.  Couple of Sparty’s (ultimately, not immediately) also looking to get their guys off the UM player.  No upside to Sparty in not coming down hard on the players at issue, and with the B10 commish on site, he’s going to have to own this as well.

kehnonymous

October 30th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^

Sometimes, I kind of wish we’d retire the little brother moniker.

I mean I’m not going to because they get triggered so easily by that phrase, but even at his brattiest you’d stick up for your little brother when push came to shove.  You might have zero issue criticizing your little brother but would get defensive and protective if someone outside your family tried doing that.

Sparty ain’t our little brother.  They’re some runt that keeps crashing our house and stealing the snacks with their poop stained fingers and will never be part of any family I’d willingly claim membership in.

CFraser

October 30th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^

I don’t care if he/they were dancing and making faces or calling their mothers fat, there’s no excuse for jumping anyone. You got shoved around like a boy when it was man on man so now you wanna get back with 5 on 1. What a bunch of bitches. Soft as Charmin. 

Mr. Elbel

October 30th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^

If Matt Charboneau has the video from Green heading into the locker room, I’d bet he has the full video all the way until later. Why cut it up into separate videos instead of posting the full length showing exactly how everything went down, hmm?

Humen

October 30th, 2022 at 5:34 PM ^

Thank you for compiling this. I think it’s time to retire the little brother moniker. This rivalry should be about football. Not life. 

tybert

October 30th, 2022 at 6:36 PM ^

I talked with other MSU grads who are friends. The general feeling (and mine too) is that Green and McBurrows were probably giving some trash talk back to the Sparties, and it was two-way stuff. Green was toasted (along with Gray) two years ago in the same stadium (sans fans) and maybe #1 is his friend on the team. Plus Green got beat a few times on jump balls to a freakish WR MSU should be using more than just one game. That may explain why he wanted to give out a few words (chances are he got more than a few after Coleman burned him). BUT none of this should have ever have led to anything physical, certainly not punching and kicking someone down.

As for Mel, his first response was Sgt. Schultz style (I know nothing!). It was only after the outgoing MSU prez got involved that AD and coach issued their statements Sunday morning. Mel is clearly under maddening pressure. I know some MSU fans that were wary of the huge contract and now are starting to wonder if Mel is Charlie Weis. They are NOT for firing him nor have given up on him completely. However, his reliance on finding gold in the transfer portal is wearing thin. Even Windham showed why he was a UNLV recruit when we exploited him badly in pass coverage. I think that's the 1st game where we had Edwards as a wideout and Blake as RB for several plays. Kudos to the staff for finding that weakness.

I agree that Dicktonio was a far more vile human being (he was the ringleader for the stormtrooper march in 2018 anyway - when guys wore their helmets for the march when they never did that for other opponents). As for MD, he's really 2-4 vs. good UM coaches (Lloyd and JH) and feasted off RR and Brady (6-1). 

I expect a few of the MSU players to be indefinitely suspended - meaning they stay on scholarship and get financial support for the rest of the school year and then are told to move on. I wouldn't be surprised if a few players who stood looking over McBurrows don't get benched for at least the opening half next week. You don't stand around and watch someone on the ground get kicked. 

And yes - please drop the little bro stuff. I didn't like it when Hart said it (when you have close friends who are MSU grads, the LB comment, telling them people who went to MSU wanted to go to UM but couldn't get in, etc.) Please just stop. 

Girlbleedsblue

October 30th, 2022 at 7:35 PM ^

I don’t do the little brother thing, I never thought about until Dantinio made it a thing.  But when some Spartan rando demands to know if I really went to Michigan, or they call someone an arrogant a-hole because he’s wearing a michigan jacket, or a co-worker bitches at me for wearing a plain red sweatshirt during the week they play OSU, then I’m really ok expressing my sympathies that they couldn’t get into a good college.  They obviously believe that it’s true.