BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
sdegnan@MiamiHerald.com
He missed the first game of the season, and now he'll miss the last.

University of Miami quarterback Robert Marve has been suspended for next week's Emerald Bowl, confirmed his father, Eugene Marve.

When asked if his son had left for good and was transferring, Eugene Marve told The Miami Herald, ``No. He hasn't left for good. He's coming back to Miami.''

The suspension is based on a team rule that makes a player ineligible, Eugene Marve said, if he misses four or more classes.

''What happened was he was given a warning not to miss another class,'' Eugene Marve said. ``He was 15 minutes late to the class because he was talking to another teacher -- and that was verified. The academic person from the athletic department comes in and checks to see if the players are in class. After five minutes he leaves, and then he marks them absent if they're not there.

``Robert appealed it and he was turned down, based on the circumstances. He had an e-mail and a letter verification through the teacher he was talking to that they did meet. He presented it to the people he was talking to during the appeal. They denied him.

``He knew he couldn't miss a class about four weeks ago and this situation came up -- on the last day of school. It was an English class. His grade for the particular English class was not fine, but his overall GPA was fine so he would have been able to play.''

Eugene Marve said Robert was still in Miami as of Thursday afternoon, and he didn't know when he would return to Tampa. Robert Marve was excused from practice Thursday.

UM coach Randy Shannon was still on the practice field and was unable to comment.

''I don't know when he's coming home,'' Marve's father said. ``But he didn't leave today. He's hurt by it. We're all hurt by it. We're trying to take this and turn a negative into a positive over time.''

Robert Marve also was suspended for the first game of the season against Charleston Southern, when current backup quarterback Jacory Harris played instead. Harris will get his second start Dec. 27 against California.

Marve's first suspension in late August was based on an incident that occurred on Halloween night 2007 in Coconut Grove; he was initially charged with two misdemeanors -- resisting arrest without violence and minor criminal mischief. Police said he broke the mirror of a car and briefly tried to evade police on foot.

The charges were dropped in March.

''I'm glad I'm at an organization where your actions are accountable,'' Marve said the day his initial suspension was announced. ``I made a mistake. I'm sorry for what I did. It was an accident. Of course, I'd take it back if I could, but I believe in Coach [Randy] Shannon. And Coach Shannon said I needed to do this, so if it's best for the team, that's what I'm going to do.''