After Michigan State lost at home to Ohio State 17-16 on Saturday, the Spartans reportedly called into question the Buckeyes’ gamesmanship during the week leading up to the game.
While speaking outside the Michigan State locker room after the game, MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said, “We had tape cut off all week, where they changed the tape, I’m not gonna lie to you,” according to 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.”
The Big Ten requires teams to provide conference opponents with film of all their games as shot by the team’s video staff. According to the report, Michigan State did not get full game film of Ohio State until Thursday and was forced to go to nonconference teams who played Ohio State for more film.
“A few other teams we talked to that they played, and we compared what they were looking at on tape to what we were looking at,” Narduzzi reportedly continued. “We’re like, ‘We don’t see any of that. We see it on their tape but not on our tape.’ So that’s something I’m sure the Big Ten office will hopefully take care of.”
Though Narduzzi indicated to the Free Press that Michigan State had filed a complaint against the Buckeyes with the conference, the paper reported that the schools’ athletic directors worked out the issue without Big Ten intervention.
First-year Ohio State coach Urban Meyer denied knowledge of the alleged doctored tapes.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Meyer reportedly said after his press conference. “I don’t handle the video. What are they saying?
“There is no video issue here,” Meyer reportedly told the Free Press.
Meyer, who won two national championships with Florida, is no stranger to controversy with his fellow Big Ten coaches. He rubbed some of them the wrong way when he got recruits to flip their commitments from opposing schools on National Signing Day.
Photo Credit: Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE
