8 — Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Intensity high despite OSU’s loss

By MAX BULTMAN

Daily Sports Editor

As Michigan football fans 

across 
the 
country 
watched 

their team’s path to the Big Ten 
Championship Game get a little 
less direct, the team itself waited 
somewhat blindly.

The Wolverines were still on 

the plane home when Michigan 
State upset Ohio State, ruining 
the winner-take-all buildup to 
“The Game” on Saturday. The 
plane had Internet, so Michigan 
could follow along, but it didn’t 
get the channel to watch Michael 
Geiger’s game-winning field goal.

Even with their fate out of their 

own hands, the Wolverines say 
Ohio State’s loss won’t diminish 
Saturday’s 
game. 
Michigan 

defensive captain Joe Bolden was 
asleep when the game ended, 
but when he woke up, he said he 
wasn’t too shaken up by the upset.

“Whatever,” 
Bolden 
said. 

“If they both lost, it (would 
be) better for us, but that can’t 
happen, right?”

Indeed, one of Michigan’s two 

chief rivals had to win on Saturday. 
And as a result, the Wolverines’ 
only path to Indianapolis requires 
them to beat Ohio State and Penn 
State to knock off the Spartans in 
East Lansing.

Since 
Michigan 
plays 
the 

Buckeyes at noon and Michigan 
State hosts the Nittany Lions at 
3:30 p.m., the Wolverines won’t 
know what they’re playing for 
until long after their game is over. 
But Bolden says the absence of 
a win-and-you’re-in guarantee 
won’t affect his team’s mindset 
throughout the week.

“It could be at stake, so why not 

prepare for it?” Bolden said.

Realistically, most of the team 

doesn’t need a championship on 
the line to get fired up for Ohio 
State. Michigan hasn’t beaten the 
Buckeyes in the last three years. 

There are seniors who have never 
beaten them.

So even if “The Game” amounts 

to nothing but pride, a win wouldn’t 
mean any less to the Wolverines.

For players like junior tight 

end 
Jake 
Butt, 
who 
grew 

up just outside Columbus in 
Pickerington, Ohio, and junior 
cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who 
went to Detroit Cass Tech — a 
high school heavily recruited by 
both universities — the rivalry has 
some additional dimensions.

“Honestly, (Cass Tech head 

coach Thomas) Wilcher is a 
Michigan guy,” Lewis said. “So we 
(are) always Michigan guys. Just a 
few guys stray going to Ohio State. 
But honestly, it’s a Michigan thing 
there.”

Eight Cass Tech alumni will 

be on the rosters for the game: 
three for Ohio State and five 
for Michigan. And with former 
teammates facing off, banter is a 
given.

“We haven’t really talked 

about it yet, but I’m pretty sure 
we’ll get into it later in the week,” 
Lewis said.

As 
for 
Butt, 
childhood 

memories make a chance to play in 
the rivalry even more special. Butt 
specifically 
recalled 
watching 

the 2006 “Game of the Century,” 
which the Buckeyes won, 42-39.

“I grew up around that rivalry 

— friends were Ohio State fans, 
had friends that were Michigan 
fans — and it would always just be 
such a huge event and something 
you look forward to right after 
Thanksgiving,” Butt said. “It’s 
really special to play in that game. 
Growing up around that rivalry, 
it’s something I always dreamt of 
playing in some day.”

Ohio State never offered Butt, 

but on Saturday, he’ll have his 
third chance to beat the Buckeyes. 
Getting his team to the Big Ten 
Championship game would be 
gravy on top.

Harbaugh sticks 
to routine ahead 
of rivalry battle

Wolverines avoid 

putting extra 
attention on 

Saturday’s game

By MAX COHEN

Managing Sports Editor

Among all his eccentricities, 

quips and sideline meltdowns, 
Michigan football coach Jim 
Harbaugh is nothing if not a 
man of routine. He wears the 
same outfit daily, he constantly 
preaches 
hard 
work, 
and 

his intensity hardly wavers, 
whether he’s in the middle 
of coaching a game or if he’s 
conducting a press conference.

But if there were ever a time 

for Harbaugh to stray from his 
routine, it would be this week, 
when he prepares to lead the 
Michigan football team against 
Ohio State for the first time.

The 
rivalry 
is 
personal 

to 
Harbaugh. 
He 
famously 

guaranteed a victory for the 
Wolverines over the Buckeyes 
during the final year of his 
playing career in 1986, and his 
college coach, Bo Schembechler, 
was known for the intensity with 
which he treated the rivalry.

But during his weekly press 

conference Monday, Harbaugh 
held true to form. He made no 
guarantees, predictions or broad 
statements about the importance 
of the upcoming rivalry game.

In his mind, it’s just another 

game. When asked if he was 
looking 
forward 
to 

Saturday’s 
game, 
Harbaugh 
replied that he 
was primarily 
looking 
forward 
to 

meeting 
with 

his 
team 
to 

begin 
game 

preparation. 
His philosophy won’t change.

“You know exactly how we go 

about things,” Harbaugh said. 
“We’ve been trying to be better 
today than we were yesterday. 
We’re 
trying 
to 
be 
better 

tomorrow than we were today.”

Matching up with Ohio State 

will not be a simple task. Before 
the Buckeyes lost to Michigan 
State on Saturday, they had won 
23 games in a row, including a 
national championship.

Ohio 
State 
coach 
Urban 

Meyer provides Harbaugh an 
elite adversary. Last season’s 
national title was his third. 
The stature of the two coaches 
within the college game has 
brought 
about 
numerous 

comparisons 
regarding 
the 

possibility of the Harbaugh-
Meyer rivalry matching the one 
Schembechler had with former 
Ohio State coach Woody Hayes 
in the 1970s.

Harbaugh isn’t buying into 

the storyline.

“My reaction to the coach-

versus-coach buildup is he’s not 
going to be blocking anybody,” 
Harbaugh said. “He’s not going 
to be tackling anybody. I’m 
going to be over there standing 
on the sidelines blocking and 
tackling nobody.”

Harbaugh did take a moment 

to reflect upon one of the battles 
between his mentor and Hayes. 
When he saw the snow on the 
ground in Ann Arbor on Monday, 
he thought about the anticipation 
leading up to the first game 
between 
Schembechler 
and 

Hayes in 1969. Harbaugh was 
just 5 years old at the time, but 
Schembechler’s former players 
have told him the story.

The Monday before that game 

— in which the Wolverines were 
heavy underdogs against a top-
ranked Ohio State team, only 
to later pull off a historic upset 
— Michigan’s practice field was 
covered in snow. Schembechler, 
the story goes, handed his 
players shovels and made them 
clear the field.

Harbaugh did not offer many 

memories of his own playing 
career against the Buckeyes. 
When asked about his famous 
guarantee, 
he 
says 
that 
it 

happened a long time ago, that he 
wouldn’t do something like that 
now. As a coach, Ohio State is just 
another foe.

Harbaugh’s 
players 

understand how he sees things. 
He has told his players all 
along that if they ratchet up the 
intensity during one week of 
practice for a specific opponent, 
it just means that they weren’t 

giving 
their 

all 
during 

another.

“(He’ll 

approach 
it) 

the same way 
he approaches 
every 
week, 

with a lot of 
enthusiasm 
unknown 
to 

mankind,” 
said redshirt 

junior 
defensive 
end 
Willie 

Henry.

Henry 
and 
many 
of 
his 

teammates from Ohio differ 
from Harbaugh in that they 
believe this game is more special 
than the average one. They 
won’t do anything differently 
to prepare, but the game has a 
different feel. Their friends and 
former teammates are Ohio State 
fans, and they hear about the 
rivalry whenever they go home, 
and even when they’re in Ann 
Arbor. They consider the rivalry 
to be the greatest one in all of 
sports, and now they’re looking 
to help lead Michigan to a victory 
against the Buckeyes for just the 
second time in 12 years.

That 
historical 
aspect 

isn’t particularly relevant to 
Harbaugh. All he cares about is 
the week in front of him.

“Our plan every week is 

ceaseless and intense,” Harbaugh 
said. “Never slackening. Always 
continuing at the same intense, 
demanding, punishing level.”

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Jim Harbaugh said he will treat this week like any other, despite the rivalry.

“Our plan every 
week is ceaseless 

and intense. 

Never slackening.”

Finn reflects on barefoot finish 
at second career national meet

Junior ran last 

two-thirds of race 

without shoes, 
finished 19th

By SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Writer

Junior Erin Finn made sure 

to triple-knot her shoes before 
the 6,000-meter course at the 
NCAA Women’s Cross Country 
Championships in Louisville, 
Ky. 

She had lost her spikes in a 

race before during her Michigan 
career. That time, her coach, 
Mike McGuire, told her to drop 
out. But this was the national 
meet. Dropping out was not an 
option. 

As Finn took off from the 

starting 
gun, 
she 
quickly 

positioned herself in the leading 
pack of the 254 athletes. She 
paced herself and only made 
moves in reaction to others. Finn 
was running smart. 

At the 2,000-meter mark, 

however, Finn lost her spikes 
after being clipped in the ankles 
by a runner behind her.

A few more feet, and she lost 

the other shoe, too. Finn was left 
in her socks.

“For maybe a millisecond, 

one of the choices I had was to 
give up,” Finn said. “I could have 
quit, I could have gone back to 
get more shoes, or I could have 
just kept going. But I didn’t 
consider anything else. I went 
forward. My teammates were 
relying on me. And I knew it was 
going to hurt just as much on the 
inside to quit compared to the 
pain running barefoot.” 

Fifty meters after losing her 

shoes, Finn lost her socks.

Yet 4,000 meters later — at 

the finish line — Finn became 
one of just seven Wolverines in 
program history to become a 
two-time All-American, placing 
19th with a time of 20:10.2.

And she did it barefoot. 

To put it in perspective, if 

this had been any other course, 
it wouldn’t have been that much 
of an issue. Most cross country 
meets are held on golf courses 
where the grass is kept and 
the ground is soft. However, 
Louisville’s course is held at 
Tom Sawyer State Park, where 
there are sections on gravel and 
over pine cone-covered grass. 
The course definitely was not 
“conducive to barefoot running.”

“I don’t think during the race 

anyone realized I was barefoot,” 
Finn said. “But there’s a long 
gravel straightaway with a tiny 
bit of grass on the side. So when 
I got there, I was staying to the 
side. But (McGuire) was there, 
and he was yelling at me to get on 
the gravel. But then our graduate 
assistant coach noticed my feet 
and told him. (McGuire’s) face 
just dropped.

“I was a little annoyed when 

he said to get on the gravel before 
he knew. I was like, ‘Are you 
kidding?’ I was almost trying to 
avoid him the entire time before 
then because I didn’t want him 
to tell me to drop out. I couldn’t 
drop out.” 

Despite 
her 
dedicated 

performance, Finn only felt 
frustrated when she finished. 
She had been so focused on 
running and dealing with the 
pain that she didn’t think she had 
even finished 
in the top 40.

And after a 

stellar season 
in which she 
won 
three 

regular-
season meets 
and 
claimed 

the individual 
title 
at 
the 

Big 
Ten 

Championship 
— becoming just the second 
Wolverine ever to claim the title 
twice — Finn wanted to win. 

“I 
was 
extraordinarily 

frustrated,” Finn said. “I was 
shooting for a top-10 finish. I was 
really angry and in a lot of pain. 

I was questioning why this had 
to happen. I didn’t think I was as 
high up as I was. As time went on 
and I talked to my coach, mom 
and teammates, that’s when I 
found out I was All-American. 
I still wanted to be higher, 

but 
they 
all 

made me feel 
proud that I 
continued 
to 

fight.” 

After 
her 

race 
Finn’s 

phone 
was 

flooded 
with 

texts 
and 

calls 
from 

her 
former 

teammates, 

coaches and friends. All of them 
were telling her how proud they 
were of her. It was the only 
thing that made Finn shift her 
perspective. 

“There was nothing in me that 

wanted to learn anything out of 

this,” Finn said. “I just received 
so much support, and that’s 
what made me realize I can fight 
through hard times. And I have 
and I will continue to do so. 
McGuire said that it was one of 
the toughest performances he’s 
ever seen — and he’s coached so 
many great athletes. He doesn’t 
compliment that often, so when 
it happens, it means a lot.” 

The No. 6 Michigan team 

finished in sixth place, led by the 
barefooted Finn. 

Despite 
everything, 
Finn 

doesn’t hold a grudge against 
the girl who clipped her because 
Finn knows it wasn’t on purpose. 
Rather, she recognizes that what 
happened is the “name of the 
game.” 

Though, half-jokingly, Finn 

would like that girl to walk a 
mile in her shoes. 

Or, rather, run 4,000 meters 

barefoot 
over 
gravel 
and 

pinecones.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Erin Finn ran what her coach called one of the toughest races he had seen.

“It was going 
to hurt just as 
much on the 
inside to quit.”

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Senior linebacker Joe Bolden, who grew up in Ohio, will play Ohio State for the final time on Saturday. Both teams are still alive in the Big Ten title race.

