Never forget how quickly Michigan-Michigan State football rivalry can change

Leave it to the interwebs to mash up a cheeseburger and binoculars and call it the new Michigan football logo. Wolverines are known for their poor eyesight, after all, though they make up for it with a bloodhound's sense of smell.

Whether or not the latest NCAA investigation into U-M stinks has yet to be determined and won’t be for a while. The school said it would cooperate with the NCAA as it noses around to find out if Jim Harbaugh’s coaching staff —or anyone working on behalf of it — surreptitiously scouted opponents on their schedule in person to steal signs.

That's a no-no according to the NCAA, and one on the books for nearly 30 years. For the record, Harbaugh denied any knowledge of the alleged in-person scouting Thursday afternoon in a statement:

“I do not have any knowledge or information regarding the University of Michigan football program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member or others to participate in an off campus scouting assignment. I have no awareness of anyone on our staff having done that or having directed that action.”

U-M's head coach went to say he didn’t “condone” or “tolerate” anyone breaking NCAA rules and then defended his integrity as a head coach, everywhere he’s coached:

“No matter what program or organization that I have led throughout my career, my instructions and awareness of how we scout opponents have always been firmly within the rules. Pursuant to NCAA rules, I will not be able to comment further while this investigation takes place."

Yahoo! Sports broke the story early Thursday afternoon, and if you were looking for a little grist for the U-M/MSU rivalry mill, here it is. I can’t confirm if the cheeseburger wearing binoculars came from a Spartan, but the story certainly juiced what had been a sodden buildup to the big game Saturday night in East Lansing.

Thank goodness.

ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Jim Harbaugh popped again for alleged cheating. It's time to drop the self-righteous act.

No one wanted to sit through a five-touchdown shellacking on a likely rainy night without another narrative to grasp at. Well, Wolverines faithful were probably content to watch a one-sided contest and move on. (Actually, I get the sense that both sides just wanted to get this game finished.)

As for the spirited trash talk that dominated the digital gathering spots for all things Wolverines and Spartans? The cheeseburger/binocular graphic was tame, albeit clever, as it combined U-M's pending NCAA investigations into a single, mocking meme — the school is also accused of recruiting activity during the COVID-19 dead period, another no-no, with one of the allegations believed at one time to involve Harbaugh paying for a recruit’s cheeseburger.

Hence, a spying burger patty.

Not as direct as “Michigan deserves the death penalty!” Or: “Mel Tucker! Mel Tucker! Mel Tucker!”

But then where would a rivalry be without reactionaries?

Frankly, I was beginning to worry. Here it was Thursday and it was All Quiet on the Harbaugh Front. Yeah, there were little gurgles of chest-thumping on the maize-and-blue side here and there but, really, how good can it feel to scream at a wounded and cornered rival?

Spartans, meanwhile, are exhausted by their first six games this season. MSU scheduled an open basketball scrimmage Saturday afternoon, for goodness' sake. Whether it's "Public Relations 101" or not, rolling out your preseason top-five men’s basketball team a few hours before (what’s usually) the most important football game of the year is brilliant.

Or desperate.

Or both.

In the spirit of compromise, let’s go with that.

Oh, the usual conspiracy theorists rose from their maize-and-blue or green-and-white bunkers, all too happy to draw deeper, more sinister meaning with the latest dent to U-M's image, just as the bunkerists came out during the height of the Tucker saga.

Back and forth we go, eh?

INSIDE THE INVESTIGATION: Michigan sign-stealing investigation, explained: Can NCAA penalize Jim Harbaugh's program?

If we can take a breath and acknowledge that a bit of verbal jousting is fun, and even endearing, and that neither school — or program — is the embodiment of all that is pure in college sports, and that mistakes will be made, then we can consider that the state of the rivarly at any given moment is temporary, and that the dynamic — on the field — can change in a hurry.

Before we do that, though, let us acknowledge that if Harbaugh and/or his staff is guilty of the allegations, if the program scouted games in person — a view that would make sign stealing much easier— then that is serious business, and the consequences should be strong.

It’s too early to determine that, however. The facts, as they say in football, are still in play, or something like that. And in the meantime, it’s helpful to remember, as noted earlier, how quickly the state of play can change.

At least it’s helpful for me.

Three years ago, in the leadup to “The Game,” I wrote that Harbaugh had taken the fun out of the rivalry because his Wolverines had won the previous two games and three out of the last four. On top of that, U-M had smothered MSU the year before, 44-10.

Going into the 2020 game, the Spartans had a new coach (Tucker), had lost to Rutgers the previous week, and were almost 25-point underdogs with some betting services. U-M, meanwhile, had just blitzed Minnesota, 49-24.

Well, the holy combination of underdog and football saints — somebody named "Rocky Lombardi" — led the Spartans to an upset in Ann Arbor that day. The next season, MSU, led by Kenneth Walker III, beat the Wolverines for the second year in a row, making Tucker the only Spartans coach to win his first two games in the rivalry.

So, while I wouldn’t expect MSU to beat U-M Saturday night in East Lansing, or even make it a second-half game, I’ll never again forget that this is still the most important game on the schedule for both teams. Maybe the Wolverines enjoy beating Ohio State more than MSU, but they sure hate losing to the Spartans more than they do to the Buckeyes.

All that emotion does funny things. And in college, the perspective can switch in a flash.

Next year, for example, MSU will almost certainly have a new head coach. Perhaps one of their young quarterbacks develop. Maybe a few transfers add sizzle to the offense on the edge and some playmaking on defense. U-M could take the field for the game having lost its superb quarterback in J.J. McCarthy and a dozen other difference-makers to the pros.

Maybe Harbaugh reloads. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he wins a national title this season and bolts to the NFL. Maybe the NCAA brings the hammer down (though that seems unlikely).

About all we can say for certain is that Saturday night’s game will draw a full house for the first Spartans/Wolverines night tilt in East Lansing, that the players on both sides will hit each other as hard they hit any other team all season, and that the leaders of the teams and the schools can’t say for sure what any of this will look like 12 months from now.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NCAA investigation of Michigan football adds needed rivalry spirit