The intensity between Michigan and Michigan State football stayed in check for the entire 60-minute battle ... until the final play.

Michigan lined up in victory formation with 27 seconds left for the final snap of a 24-17 victory to retain possession of the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The Wolverines executed the final play, but a scrum broke out between both teams.

U-M tight end Colston Loveland and MSU defensive end Anthony Jones got into a shoving match with each other, with a Jones shove coming across Loveland's face, and Loveland responding with a headbutt to Jones' helmet, prompting Jones to grab Loveland by the helmet and throw him to the ground and igniting to a massive scrum between both teams as the clock ticked to zero.

Soon after on the field, in an interview with Big Ten Network, Loveland called Michigan State "little bro." Later, though, he said he took things a bit too far in the heat of the moment.

"I kind of got carried away there at the end," Loveland said. "We were just talking back and forth, kind of did some shoving and stuff, but you know that's how the rivalry gets. It's all just heat of the moment coming off two losses, really needed this one, so just kind of got excited. We respect every opponent we play; they are a great football team."

The fight lasted less than a minute and no flags were thrown. The two teams were eventually separated, with MSU returning to its locker room as the Wolverines celebrated with the Paul Bunyan Trophy on the field. Despite avoiding an escalation on the field, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore still said it was unacceptable for a fight to break out.

"Our job is to represent the university," Moore said. "It's not to respond to that, let the refs handle that. So (it's) something we will handle internally to make sure we take care of, but that's not Michigan football."

MSU head coach Jonathan Smith, who was coaching in the rivalry for the first time, also downplayed the end-of-game incident, saying it was the result of an "emotional" rivalry game. These two teams have a long history of boiling-over moments, including the tunnel fight the last time these teams played in Ann Arbor in 2022, but the fight did not reach that point this time around.

"It's an emotional game and you don't love finishing kind of that way," Smith said. "Especially, I thought for the football game itself, it was physical, I thought guys were playing really hard and I thought it was a pretty clean game, so it's tough to finish that way."

Both Moore and Smith made their head coaching debuts in the rivalry, with Moore getting the early bragging rights. Michigan State outgained Michigan by 87 yards but had one more turnover, a missed field goal and six penalties to the Wolverines' none.

Smith, who joined Michigan State after spending his entire coaching and playing career on the West Coast, said he's familiar with the in-state rivalry now and the intensity between each side.

"It's passionate," Smith said. "Neither side likes each other and that's why I go back to, it's pretty frustrating (to lose)."

And on the other side, Michigan is experiencing the jubilation of its first win in October while making sure Paul Bunyan stays in Schembechler Hall for the next year.

"It's a great feeling just to keep Paul home," said running back Donovan Edwards.

Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city's professional teams, the state's two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan, Michigan State football downplay end-of-game skirmish