With the one-game suspension of Manny Harris on Saturday, Michigan head coach John Beilein essentially waved the white flag on Michigan’s season.

Harris, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 19.2 points per game, was suspended for Michigan’s game against Purdue as a result of “unsportsmanlike conduct during practice” on Friday.

“Manny has made great strides both on and off the court over the last three years,” said Beilein in a release issued Saturday morning. “Unfortunately he used poor judgment on Friday. It is best for Manny’s future if he stays home and sits out this Purdue game.”

Details on the act of unsportsmanlike conduct have not been released, so we have to trust the coach’s judgment without criticizing his decision.

Regardless of whether the act merited a one-game suspension or not, Beilein decided that suspending Harris and sacrificing a game would pay off in the long run.

Of course, Beilein would never say that. He, as probably every other coach in America, would say he expected the team to beat Purdue even without Harris. But that’s like expecting the Colts to beat the Jets without Peyton Manning.

Don’t be mistaken by the 10-point margin of victory. It wasn’t that close. Purdue built a 27-point lead midway through the second half before Purdue coach Matt Painter started emptying his bench and Purdue’s defensive intensity dropped off.

DeShawn Sims filled Harris’ void early on, but unfortunately, no one else did. Michigan didn’t get a second scorer until Zach Novak hit a three with 7:38 remaining in the first half.

By that time, Michigan was all but out of the game.

The loss drops Michigan to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten with a matchup with rival Michigan State looming.

At this point, anything short of running the table or winning the conference tournament assures Michigan of a postseason date in the National Invitational Tournament at best.  

So, in such a critical game, was Beilein’s decision to suspend Harris the right one?

It depends on what happened, and we may never know, but one thing is for certain: Beilein is a coach that stands on his convictions as much as any other coach. Win or lose, he does things the right way by caring as much about the growth and development of young men than solely wins and losses.

Consider some recent examples from other college coaches for comparison.

In Florida’s football game against Georgia on Oct. 31, linebacker Brandon Spikes, the leader of the team’s defense, viciously dug his fingers through the facemask of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey.

The attempted eye gouge was caught on camera and was a clear act of unsportsmanlike conduct, to say the least. It was an attempt to injure another player that could have significantly impacted Ealey’s life beyond football.

Florida head coach Urban Meyer responded by handing down a half-game suspension of Florida’s next game against Vanderbilt.

Half of a game against one of the worst opponents on the schedule for attempting to maim another player in an act completely outside of the normal course of the game.

Spikes later responded to the backlash from the fans and media by suspending himself for the rest of that game.

Meyer apparently thought standing Spikes on the sidelines for the first 30 minutes of a pretty much meaningless game was justice for blatantly trying to injure another player.

In other words, Meyer cared more about winning a game than teaching a 20-year old kid a lesson.

At Michigan State, running back Glenn Winston spent four months in jail during the offseason for putting a hockey player in the hospital with severe head injuries.

This wasn’t a black eye. This was a fractured skull and a subdural hematoma, or bleeding of the brain.

According to reports, the hockey player, A.J. Sturges wasn’t even involved in the fight. He was just blindsided by Winston. As a result, he missed the rest of the hockey season, and memory loss caused him to drop classes.

Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio immediately reinstated Winston to the football team when fall practice resumed, and Winston began the season as the starting running back before injuring his knee.

Did he learn his lesson? Apparently jail time wasn’t enough. Winston was involved in another off-the-field incident last November, when he and some teammates stormed into a dorm and assaulted a group of students at a potluck dinner. Only then was Winston dismissed from the team.

Was Harris’ act of unsportsmanlike conduct on Friday as bad as either of those two scenarios? It’s probably safe to say that he didn’t put someone in the hospital with a severe head injury, and it most likely wasn’t as severe as attempting to gouge out another player’s eyes.

Yet Beilein made the tough decision to suspend his best player for a must-win game. He sent a message that no player is bigger than the team, and if a player’s actions undermined the coach or disrespected his teammates, he was going to be penalized for it, regardless of whether he was the star player or the last man off the bench.

If that means losing a game because of it, then so be it, because Harris and the rest of the team will learn from it. Or at least Beilein hopes.

“We will meet with Manny and the team again when we return to determine if he has learned enough from this suspension to rejoin the team for Tuesday’s game,” Beilein said. “I am confident that this learning experience will be valuable in the future to both Manny and our basketball program.”

Now the question is whether Harris will respond as a better teammate and role model, or whether he will harbor resentment towards Beilein for sitting him out of an important game and possibly hurting his chances for Big Ten Player of the Year.

We’ll find out on Tuesday when Michigan hopes to hand seventh-ranked Michigan State its first Big Ten loss of the season.

Paul Bunyan woke up this morning somewhat confused. For the majority of the last four decades, Bunyan resided in Ann Arbor, while keeping a vacation home in East Lansing.

He hasn’t spent more than a year consecutively in East Lansing since Lyndon B. Johnson was the president and the first Star Trek episode aired on television.

But following Michigan State’s 26-20 overtime win over hated rival Michigan, Bunyan will be extending his stay for at least another year.

Michigan played poorly for 55 minutes before finally showing some resolve with two touchdown drives in the final five minutes to force overtime.

But it wasn’t enough, as freshman quarterback Tate Forcier threw an interception in the end zone in the first overtime, and State ran for a touchdown on the third play of its overtime possession.

So now that Michigan has tasted defeat for the first time this season, where does it go from here?

I think it all starts with getting its confidence back. It didn’t play well in last week’s win over Indiana, and continued the poor play for three-and-a-half quarters this week.

Remember, this is still a very young team. Nobody expected Michigan to win the Big Ten this year. The 4-0 start raised some expectations and probably gave Michigan fans a false sense of reality.

I wrote following last week’s game that expectations should be tempered a bit because the meat of the schedule began with Michigan State.

Well, in its first road test of the season, Michigan was outplayed for 55 minutes and still had a chance to win the game. This young team has shown it can fight, having already had two come-from-behind wins, and almost another on Saturday. But when it comes down to it, there’s still a lot of room to grow.

“Our team doesn’t give up,” Forcier said following the game. “We’re going to keep fighting until the game is over. It showed. We can’t win all of them, but our guys kept fighting.”

As much as fans of other teams like to rip on Forcier, there’s no denying that he’s a gamer. He’s not perfect. He hasn’t learned how to throw it away instead of taking a sack or an intentional grounding penalty, and he tries to force passes that shouldn’t be thrown. He is just a freshman after all.

Despite the mistakes, he has now led three game-winning or game-tying drives in five games. When it comes down to the final minutes, the freshman finds a way to get it done, and he’s only going to get better.

Forcier cannot be blamed for this loss. Several dropped passes in the first half either killed drives or kept drives from getting started.

For the game, Michigan’s average gain on first down was just a yard and a half (not counting the final two touchdown drives, which were run in more of a two-minute offense).

Second downs weren’t much better, as Michigan picked up just 29 yards on 13 second-down plays, forcing long third downs.

When you can’t pick up yards on first down, you put yourself in long down situations, and Michigan faced an average of nine yards per third down attempt.

Only three of 11 third downs were converted prior to the two touchdown drives at the end of the game.

Some of that was a result of poor execution, but give Michigan State’s defense credit.

In the first half, Michigan consistently tried to run between the tackles on first down. It seemed intent on trying to establish the run game even when it wasn’t working.

Once Michigan State stopped the run on first down, it was able to bring the pressure on Forcier on second and third down.

Michigan needs to work on establishing some offensive consistency. I’m not going to blame the coaching staff, because I know that Rodriguez is a great offensive coach as an innovator of the spread option offense.

The wheels aren’t falling off; Michigan fans just need to realize that the training wheels are barely removed.

If last season was the big wheel, this season is the tricycle. It’s going to take time before Michigan is able to rev up the engines against the good teams.

Running backs Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown had been great in the first four games, but Michigan State seemed set on stopping them on first down and making Forcier beat them through the air.

And that’s where Michigan has to improve. When things aren’t going well, it has to be able to adjust and find another way to get it done.

Maybe it means changing up tendencies on first down. Maybe it’s a matter of opening up bigger holes to run through. Maybe it is merely a matter of catching passes.

Regardless, the offense needs to be able to get some consistency to keep the defense off the field for large chunks of the game.

I’m making no excuses, and the coaches and players won’t either, but the fact of the matter is, it’s hard to get things going on offense with a freshman quarterback, freshmen and sophomores at receiver and tight end, and a banged up offensive line.

College football is a game in which individual freshmen can shine, but a team full of underclassmen is not a recipe for success.

Those realities can only be fixed with time, which means the second half of the season could be rough.

Remember that most reasonable fans and pundits predicted Michigan to win six to eight games this season. With four already under its belt, six certainly seems achievable, and seven likely. But fans need to realize that this isn’t yet a team that will win every game.

While a loss to rival Michigan State hurts, the season isn’t over.

Michigan needs to take things one game at a time, and that begins with Iowa next Saturday.

Iowa features a tough defense and a capable offense to go along with a night game in a stadium that doesn’t prove friendly to visiting teams.

Michigan didn’t seem to meet Michigan State’s energy level this weekend, but I don’t think it will have a problem getting up for a nationally televised night game next weekend.

I expect the coaching staff to work up a game plan to allow Michigan’s offense to function better against another tough defense.

While there is no mythical character to battle for, Michigan will have a chance to pull off the biggest upset so far of Rodriguez’s Michigan career and gain back some national respect.

In anticipation of Saturday’s in-state rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State, I went head-to-head with Michigan State writer Joe Guarr. Each of us presents the keys to winning the game for our particular side and predicts who will win. Check out his article here.

For the first 23-odd years of my life, my younger brother was, well, my little brother. I remember fondly taking him out on the driveway and beating up on him in one-on-one (though he’ll probably deny it ever happened). I also remember one Christmas when we were much younger and got pajamas. I got Batman, while he was stuck with Robin.

But then he grew up – literally. The scrawny teenager gave way to the bulky college kid and then the rugged Marine (pictured right). And now, while he’s fighting to defend my freedom in Afghanistan, I can honestly say that I look up to him.

Many around the country, especially those in East Lansing, Mich., expected a similar situation to happen this year.

Former Michigan running back Mike Hart pinned the term “Little Brother” on rival Michigan State, following Michigan’s come-from-behind win in 2007.

“Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball and you let him get the lead,” Hart said. “Then you come back and take it from him.”

Michigan State players, coaches and fans took offense to it, while Michigan fans played it up and took pride in the fact that the maize and blue have won nearly 70 percent of the all-time meetings.

Last season, however, Michigan State came to Ann Arbor set for revenge and won 35-21. Prior to this season, Michigan State looked primed to take control of the rivalry and make a serious run at a Big Ten title, while Michigan seemed to be in turmoil, fresh off a 3-9 season and allegations of NCAA violations.

And then the season began.

Michigan soared out of the gates with the Big Ten’s best scoring offense, while Michigan State stumbled to a 1-3 record that included a home loss to Central Michigan.

By merely comparing records, one would deduct that Michigan should win this one quite easily. But, as in all rivalry games, the record doesn’t mean much when toe meets leather.

The players certainly don’t need anyone to tell them they can’t win. Just ask Michigan State defensive end Trevor Anderson.

“Before the game last year, Coach D [Mark Dantonio] told us that if you haven’t played Michigan, within 30 seconds you’ll realize why we don’t like them,” Anderson said. “After about 15 seconds, I realized why I didn’t like them. Just the total lack of respect that they have for our school in general. Not just the program, but the general lack of respect they have for us.”

Now, I don’t have a problem with what Anderson said. After all, respect is earned, and when you’ve only won 29 of the 101 all-time meetings, you haven’t earned it.

So what does Michigan have to do to avoid losing back-to-back games to Michigan State for the first time since the 1966-67 season?

Here are three keys for Michigan:

1. Keep Tate Forcier healthy

Forcier could be the most important player in this game for either team. The cool and confident freshman has played well beyond his years at times when it mattered most.

He’s had his freshman moments, but he out-dueled Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen in the final minutes and overcame a sprained shoulder to lead Michigan on not one, but two fourth-quarter comebacks last week against Indiana.

But how healthy is that shoulder? And what happens if he can’t go?

“I fully expect Forcier to be ready to go and do everything,” said head coach Rich Rodriguez on Wednesday.

Is that just hyperbole, or has Forcier’s shoulder significantly improved since this?

I think it’s safe to say Forcier will at least give it a go, but he better play smart. You can bet Michigan State defenders will have that shoulder in mind when given the opportunity to hit him. One hard hit or one bad fall and the reigns of the offense would fall to Denard Robinson.

Robinson has shown incredible quickness and elusiveness in running for three touchdowns. He hasn’t, however, shown he can lead the offense for an entire game.

Against Indiana, Robinson pioneered a seven-play, 65-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. The biggest play was a 36-yard pass to tight end Kevin Koger on 3rd-and-8.

I love Robinson as a change-of-pace quarterback to compliment Forcier. But I’m not yet sold on his ability to quarterback an entire game yet.

So the biggest key to Michigan’s success is keeping Forcier in the game.

2. Score early

As I mentioned in my piece on how Michigan beat Indiana, Michigan has shown a propensity of getting off to fast starts.

Michigan has scored 52 first quarter points through four games and given up just 20.

In three of the four games, Michigan scored on its fist possession (two touchdowns and a field goal). In the fourth, against Notre Dame, Michigan scored a touchdown on its second possession, and followed it up with a kickoff return for a touchdown the next time it touched the ball.

A fast start is important in this game for two reasons:

First of all, to get the Michigan State crowd out of the game. This is Forcier’s first road test of his career, and while he’s done an admirable job of running the offense to this point, he hasn’t had to do it with a stadium full of rabid fans yelling at him.

Spartan Stadium will be electric on Saturday because for those in green and white, this is the biggest game of the season. This is the game that gets the blood boiling more than any other. Saturday is a chance to avenge a poor start and re-claim another piece bit of older brother’s birthright.

If Forcier can march down the field and score on the first possession or at least put up a couple of scores in the first quarter, it could mean a much quieter crowd than if he gets sacked a few times or knocked out of the game.

Which brings me to the second reason a fast start is critical: to build a lead in case Forcier isn’t able to play the entire game.

Michigan State leads the Big Ten in passing offense, and with three talented receivers in Blair White, Mark Dell and B.J. Cunningham, it can put up points.

Michigan’s secondary, outside of junior Donovan Warren, has been suspect so far this season, giving up an average of 243.8 passing yards per game. Notre Dame, a comparable passing offense, torched the secondary for 336 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2.

I’m not confident that a Denard Robinson-led offense can keep up, especially if it doesn’t already have a lead.

Robinson has established he can run, but he hasn’t shown that he can make the big throw when needed, or lead the team down the field in the final minutes like Forcier can.

If Forcier gets knocked out of the game, whether by Michigan State or not, Robinson needs to have a lead and Michigan needs to be able to pound the running game and work the clock.

3. Get solid play from the offensive line

Last week, against Indiana, Michigan surrendered about 70 yards on poor snaps from guard-turned-center David Moosman. The fifth-year senior moved from right guard to center when David Molk broke his foot against Eastern Michigan.
One of those, early in the third quarter, took Michigan out of field goal range, forcing a punt. Fortunately, those mistakes didn’t cost Michigan against Indiana, but you can’t keep giving away points and expect to win.

The offensive line has given up just six sacks so far through four games, though it’s hard to compare sacks against a spread-option offense to those against a drop-back passing offense.

Still, the line has done a pretty good job of protecting Forcier, and has paved the way for the nation’s seventh-ranked rushing offense, averaging 240.3 yards per game.

Expect Michigan State to bring a lot of pressure to try to rattle Forcier and knock him out of the game. It’s up to the offensive line to give him time to throw and lanes to run through.

Michigan State features probably the top linebacker in the Big Ten, in Greg Jones. Jones was picked as the Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and has lived up to the hype, leading the conference in tackles (52) and tackles per game (13).

The line, as well as backs Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown will have to be ready to pick up the blitz of Jones and junior Eric Gordon. Look for some big plays by the slot receivers and tight end Kevin Koger.

Prediction:

Michigan State will be ready to go and eager to atone for its early disappointment. Michigan might even make State feel disrespected less than 15 seconds into the game this time, although seconds have a way of standing still in East Lansing, so who really knows how long it will take?

All kidding aside, this should be a good old-fashioned shoot-out, just like Michigan’s games against Notre Dame and Indiana.

Prior to the season, I predicted Michigan would lose this one, but after seeing the two teams play four games apiece, Michigan has the hot hand, while State returns home with its tail between its legs.

Yet, the game is in East Lansing, after all…a place where Michigan is just 4-4 since 1993 (though Michigan has won the last three).

However, cold and rainy weather is expected in East Lansing on Saturday, which should favor Michigan’s running game.

I foresee Michigan reclaiming the Paul Bunyan Trophy by pulling out a close one. Minor and Brown combine for a pair of touchdowns and 150-175 yards, Koger and Junior Hemingway catch TD passes from Forcier, and Robinson runs for a score.

Michigan wins 35-31.