Rowdy fans riot after football game

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Police fired tear gas and wooden pellets to break up rioting by college football fans who set fire to cars, threw bottles and burned furniture in the streets early Sunday in celebration of Ohio State University's victory over rival Michigan.\nOther football celebrations also got out of hand in South Carolina, California, North Carolina and Washington, leaving several people injured.\nIn the minutes after Ohio State's 14-9 victory Saturday, which assured a Fiesta Bowl appearance for the unbeaten Buckeyes, fans swarmed the field and threw chunks of turf at state troopers who used pepper spray to try to keep them from pulling down the goal posts.\nPolice said the crowds finally left the stadium, then got rowdy again around midnight.\n"Once we'd get one street under control, the crowds would move to one or two others and things would break out again," said police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio.\nAt least a dozen fires were set near campus, nine cars were burned, and 45 people were arrested for disorderly conduct and alcohol violations. Officers used wooden pellets known as "knee-knockers" to disperse one crowd of several hundred people, Mercurio said.\n"I'd like to say most of these people are not our students, but unfortunately they are our students," said Bill Hall, university vice president for student affairs.\nBy midday Sunday, the burned cars had been removed and broken windows in nearby homes and other cars had been replaced or covered over.\n"Everyone pretty much expected this; everyone was drinking for like 12 hours," student Mark Stevenson, 21, said Sunday on the porch of his apartment. Nearby, a paper plate was taped over a hole in a window that he said was caused by a thrown bottle.\nDuring another Saturday game, at Washington State University, fans pelted visiting players from the winning University of Washington team with bottles, plastic souvenirs and other debris.\n"I feared for my life," Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges said following the dramatic 29-26 triple-overtime win, which was decided by a referee's call that went against Washington State.\nIn Clemson, S.C., a 67-year-old sheriff's officer and a female fan were injured when fans rushed the field and tore down a goal post following the Clemson Tigers' 27-20 win over South Carolina. Fans piled on top of Officer James Booth, who was hospitalized in stable condition. Details on the woman's condition weren't immediately available, but officials said her injuries were not life-threatening.\nIn Raleigh, N.C., one person's leg was broken and two people suffered knee injuries on the field when fans tore down goal posts following North Carolina State's 17-7 victory over No. 14 Florida State.\nIn California, some fans were taken away in handcuffs after hundreds of University of California fans overwhelmed security guards and tore down the goal posts following the Golden Bears' 30-7 win over rival Stanford.