MSU-Michigan football game requires Big Ten to punish Wolverines

On By Littum

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If what appears to have happened is what actually happened in the melee on the field at the end of the Michigan State-Michigan football game Saturday night, then Michigan running back Kalel Mullings should be suspended for several games.

If somehow the video from the broadcast that appears to show Mullings stomping on someone on the ground isn’t what happened — if, say, he just got the little rubber pellets from the turf out of his cleats , and there was never anyone under him – then that must also be explained in detail.

This one doesn’t just disappear. There is too much history, some of it very recent. Too many emotions just under the surface. Too much precedent.

MSU athletic director Alan Haller said Monday that he reached out to Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti shortly after leaving the field Saturday night in Ann Arbor and spoke with Petitti again “several times” Sunday.

“I’m going to turn this over to the conference office and give them an opportunity,” Haller said Monday. “Because there are a lot of new people who weren’t here two years ago.”

Two years ago, you may recall, eight MSU players were suspended — by MSU — for their roles as the aggressors in postgame fights with Wolverines in the tunnel at the same stadium. Seven of them were later criminally charged after former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh planted that seed, and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit followed suit.

Haller said Tuesday that he has no intention of asking for tar and feathers.

“I don’t think that situation (in 2022) should have been a criminal incident, nor do I think it should be,” he said. “This is a sports policy situation and the conference will look into it.

“I want to make sure the school is held to the same level as everyone else.”

RELATED: Michigan State AD wants Michigan ‘held to same standard’ after game on field

It is important that the Big Ten get this right. Or they risk losing the trust of at least one member and harboring a deeply held view that Michigan plays by different rules and, some might say, is all too willing to play the victim while being slow to take responsibility.

Many MSU fans on social media are out for blood right now. But layered in their anger is also a reasonable longing for justice and respect. The Big Ten didn’t give it to MSU two years ago when it took ages to adjudicate the tunnel fights, leaving MSU’s suspended players in the wind while they waited for Savit, who made his decision to charge seven players a month later. In the end, seven of the eight players ended up missing the rest of the season. For most of them it was probably too much. They did no worse than what Mullings apparently did on Saturday night.

Part of the ridiculousness and foolishness of Savit’s accusations at the time was the precedent. What happened in 2022 was moments after the match, not much later than this, still in the arena, physically and metaphorically.

FROM NOVEMBER 2022: Couch: MSU’s suspended football players have paid a heavy price. Accusations for most of them reek of a rivalry gone off the rails

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore opened her press conference Monday by addressing the scrimmage without detail.

“Unacceptable, not how we carry ourselves. We will address that internally,” he said. “… It will never happen again.”

When asked directly by the Detroit Free Press whether he had seen the video of Mullings appearing to “kick a Michigan State employee” to the ground, Moore replied, “No. We’ll handle it.”

Moore could be the hero this rivalry needs if he wanted to get ahead of the Big Ten here and sit Mullings for a few weeks. He has no idea how much it would help reduce the temperature. This rivalry would remain an annual casualty, but the kind of acceptance of blame he hinted at on Monday would tell the other side that this could be a new day.

The Spartans played their part in this. MSU defensive end Anthony Jones and Michigan tight end Colston Loveland were at each other and overly aggressive on the last play, one knee down. That led to Loveland hitting Jones and Jones headbutting Loveland — spurring Michigan’s sideline to rush in and get involved. Lots of pushing ensued. But nothing more than a meeting at the end of an emotional game. No big deal. Until, several seconds into it, Mullings suddenly stomped on someone—or something, maybe a snake? – and then was pushed away from the one below him.

MORE: Couch: UM’s Colston Loveland has earned the right to be insufferable. MSU football still has work to do to be taken seriously.

“At the end of the day, this is a rivalry game, it’s emotional,” Haller said. “So you put all the things in place in the game – I played in four of those things. And there’s probably some things I’ve said and done that I wouldn’t do at 50. It’s something that constantly has to managed, because emotions are high, frustration is there, we will look at it from our point of view if there is something we need to do, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the conference.

“We have to win the game and that’s what we have to work on. But I’m not going to let this go without something being investigated.”

MORE: Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith on Michigan game: ‘We won’t forget Saturday night’

Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch.