Jim Harbaugh is as blunt as a Louisville Slugger to a crystal Spartan statute when he’s torqued.
And he was torqued.
Michigan State fans spent a lot of time talking about Bush prior to Michigan’s 21-7 choke-out of the home team at Spartan Stadium. They were fuming about junior linebacker Devin Bush’s fury-laden, manic, cleat-digging defacement of the MSU logo at midfield.
Harbaugh talked about bush after the game. Only this bush involved bush league and served as the rocket fuel for the Michigan linebacker’s outrage.
The Wolverines were on the field prior to the game, loosening up. The Spartans, 10 minutes tardy for taking the turf, came out for their arms-locked march forward.
Nobody told Michigan to exit the field, according to U-M football public relations representative Dave Ablauf. What followed poured gasoline on the ongoing inferno that is Michigan-Michigan State.
According to Ablauf, the Spartans “clotheslined” fifth-year senior defensive lineman Lawrence Marshall and Bush, with blows to the neck area. They tore the headphones off junior cornerback Lavert Hill.
Bush — a competitor to his core — reacted ferociously. His coach didn’t mince words.
“Total bush league,” Harbaugh assessed. “Apparently, Coach [Mark] Dantonio was five yards behind it all, smiling, so I think it’s bush league. That’s my impression of it.
“But our guys, they didn’t blink. They didn’t come here to back down or get intimidated by anybody. We never have in this game. Guys did what they had to do. It will be a happy bus ride home.”
Michigan State has made a decade off playing the intimidator in the series. From devastatingly effective and physical defenses, to going well over the line by trying to take Denard Robinson’s helmet back to the locker room — with his head in it — the Spartans demonstrated the good, the bad and the ugly in asserting themselves.
This time, they looked to send a message and get under the Wolverines’ skin long before kickoff. They succeeded in getting a crushing, figurative forearm to the facemask and a suffocating 60 minutes.
Ninety-four total yards? Fifteen yards rushing? A donut for 12 in the third-down conversion department? If MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke and MSU’s offense had been any less effective, they’d find a bill for scholarship repayment in their lockers on Sunday.
The MSU defense kept the Spartans in the game for a long while, but Michigan wasn’t losing this one. Not through an hour-and-15-minute weather delay. Not through MSU’s gift touchdown via fumble.
And certainly not because MSU wanted to play bully ball before toe met leather.
“We knew they didn’t want to play us,” insisted senior running back Karan Higdon, who piled up 144 yards rushing. “They were tired. They were hurting. We knew it was going to be a pound-for-pound game, and they weren’t going to be able to last with us.
“We knew when the whistle blew, we were going to go all out — all our frustration, all the personal things we felt about this game, we were going to let it out. We came here, and they were talking trash. The whistle blew, and there was nothing they could do. We won.”
Senior safety Tyree Kinnel insisted the pregame dust-up fed the Wolverines’ fire.
“It was pretty clear what happened,” he said. “[Bush] and a couple of other guys came into the locker room and felt like we were disrespected. They tried to walk through us.”
They’ve been trying to walk through Michigan for more than a decade. All too often, they’ve succeeded. Harbaugh stands determined to put an end to it.
The Wolverines, under Harbaugh, are two plays away from standing 4-0 against the Spartans. Clearly, the days of 29-6 are long gone.
And pregame intimidation backfires against superior talent and proper incentive.
“Yeah, it could have [motivated us],” Harbaugh acknowledged. “It certainly wasn’t going to intimidate us or make us blink. The outcome … yeah, it seemed to help.”
Harbaugh and Dantonio have talked about respect in the series, the MSU coach touching on that subject earlier in the week, in a positive sense. It didn’t take long for all that to go up in smoke once game day 2018 rolled around.
“Yeah,” Harbaugh said, asked if the respect has changed somewhat. “I didn't think it was real respectful. You know my feelings on it. I think it’s bush league, and I’ve got really nothing else to say about it.”
There’s be plenty more said, by plenty more people. Michigan-Michigan State just went up 100 ticks on the ticked-off meter. Clothesline if you must. These days, you’re going to get taken to the cleaners.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
