News of Jim Harbaugh's suspension brings out worst in Michigan-Michigan State rivalry

In the end, it won’t matter on the field.

Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines will almost certainly win the four games he misses — unless he negotiates a lesser suspension. There will be stories written about his return. And then it will be over and U-M's football team will move on in its quest for a Big Ten three-peat and another trip to the College Football Playoff.

Those who believe the NCAA enforces rules randomly and unfairly will continue to do so. Those who believe Harbaugh has nothing to be ashamed of, as he said Thursday during his news conference at the Big Ten media days in Indianapolis, will continue to do so.

And those who believe Harbaugh is a high-horsing hypocrite will continue to do so. All will have some manner of fact to buttress their beliefs. And all those beliefs will be, in part, a matter of point of view, and where the heart lies in that view.

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One thing’s for sure, objectivity regarding all of it is in short supply. College football inspires too much love and passion for that.

A good thing, mostly. The principal thing when it comes to rivalries. Which makes news of a potential four-game suspension not much more than acidic grist.

Just take a look at the back-and-forth the last few days between U-M and its most heated rival — sorry, Ohio State, but it ain’t you; you know it’s true. Wade into the message boards that bleed maize and blue and the Buckeyes’ incoming mortars aren’t the ones Wolverines are dreading.

That would be Michigan State’s.

Want a sampling?

“Arrogant, worthless (expletive).”

“No shame in lying and cheating as long as you win!!”

“Liar liar khakis on fire!”

And these are on the tamer side.

It’s equally nasty the other way:

“Spartans are a bunch of animals!”

“How’s life in the landfill?”

“At the end of the day lil bros, this doesn't matter. Michigan is a winner. Jim is a winner. We own you.”

This sort of chatter is hardly new to the rivalry, or any good college football rivalry in general. It's more a matter of ratio, which is clearly getting worse, to the point that when news broke that the MSU-UM game this fall would be played at night, some talk turned apocalyptic.

And for good reason.

Obviously, the rivalry handled a night game not that long ago, in 2017, at Michigan Stadium. Now, things have gotten testier since, and the tunnel fight after that night game at U-M's stadium last fall didn’t help.

This is the context in which news of a probable Harbaugh suspension broke, and why the chatter between the two sides felt almost toxic this week. It’s too much. And it’s not even August.

The basketball rivalry isn’t as hard-edged, though both of those programs — and their coaches — get used as fodder, too, often when a war of words breaks out over football. Thankfully, it remains a war of words, but as the words grow nastier, well, humans have shown a pretty reliable pattern when this happens.

Speaking of words, Harbaugh told reporters Thursday he wished he could share a lot more of them regarding the NCAA’s accusations. It was his way of suggesting he was in the right, something he has never shied from suggesting.

That he and his program allegedly broke rules when he’s had a history of complaining about other programs breaking rules is clearly part of the fodder, too. That part is on Harbaugh. Not that he cares. He’s stubborn that way, so stubborn that he’s facing a four-game suspension he probably could’ve avoided.

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For the record, the football program has been charged with four Level II NCAA violations, among them spending time with a recruit during the “dead period” in 2021 and watching a workout on Zoom. If that’s all there were, the NCAA would’ve admonished U-M and moved on its way.

Instead, the organization accused Harbaugh of lying about one of the minor violations. That accusation is a Level I infraction and thus, why Harbaugh and the school are reportedly negotiating a four-game suspension at the start of the season.

All of which brought us here, to a days-long finger-pointing contest that’s getting tiresome. Yes, U-M fans are right that other schools have done worse. Yes, the NCAA is often a joke, though mostly because it fought letting its athletes share in the spoils the athletes largely created.

And, yes, Harbaugh seems to have broken rules, and rules are rules, and maybe on some level for those that root against the Wolverines it's satisfying to see what appears to be comeuppance. But trash-talking and toxicity don’t have to be synonymous.

It’s not surprising that it played out this way given the state of the football rivalry. But it’s exhausting, this business, and if we can say anything for certainty about the state of college football: It’s a business.

Which is a good thing, that the curtain’s finally been pulled, principally because the players are able to earn a share. For that, Harbaugh was ahead of the curve. So, too, was he out front on player empowerment in the transfer game.

He’s complex that way, as are most coaches who lead multi-million-dollar programs. He’s nuanced, too, even as he can be exasperating for those who don’t love maize and blue, and even for some who do.

It’d be helpful if we could remember that the next time news like this breaks, because it will. Not everything has to be an ultimate referendum on the whole of an individual or the entirety of a program and the university it represents.

A healthy dislike in the context of a football game is one thing. Painting the other side with venom is another.

The game is still almost three months away.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jim Harbaugh suspension news brings worst out in Michigan-MSU rivalry