2B — November 28, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘The Game’ lives up to the hype

J

ust after 10 a.m. Saturday, 
Jim Harbaugh led his 
Michigan football team 

off the buses 
and walked 
through the 
gates of Ohio 
Stadium.

Harbaugh 

said Monday 
that he had 
not been 
back since he 
last played 
quarterback 
there in 1986. 
He did not say much else about 
his team’s biggest rivalry.

Does he embrace the rivalry 

with Ohio State? “I do.” Does 
he enjoy it? “I do.” Does he 
look forward to it? “Yes.” What 
makes him look forward to it? 
“Competition. That’s the best 
part about it.”

It was always obvious that the 

rivalry known as “The Game” is 
more serious, more intense and 
more important than any other, 
no matter what sense Harbaugh 
gave in the media. Saturday’s 
unforgettable double-overtime 
thriller was just another example 
of that. Sometimes you end up on 
the wrong end of those games, 
like Michigan did Saturday. But 
you can’t say “The Game” wasn’t 
fun, and that’s good for everyone.

Since he arrived at Michigan 

almost two years ago, Harbaugh 
has been coy about hyping up 
the Ohio State rivalry above the 
others. We don’t know too much 
about how he treats it on a week-
to-week basis.

Here’s what we do know 

about Harbaugh: He knows 
how to motivate his team for 
the biggest game of the year, his 
comments in press conferences 
notwithstanding.

Senior safety Dymonte 

Thomas said Harbaugh will drop 
motivational quotes to show the 
significance of his team’s next 

game. Last Monday, before a 
team meeting, Harbaugh gave the 
players one quote in particular 
— “I can’t say it, because it had a 
little word in it,” Thomas joked — 
that stuck out to them.

“I can’t say the word, but it was 

something about how you can’t be 
something for the rest of your life, 
or in your whole life,” Thomas 
said. “He just said, you kind of 
look at it, we haven’t beaten them 
in so long. So he said it’s time for 
us to stand up and stick up and do 
something for yourselves.

“You have a bully, and he 

continues to bully you each and 
every day. And in order for you 
to get that bully to stop bullying 
you, what do you gotta do? You 
gotta go in there and punch 
him right in the nose. And you 
gotta continue to punch him in 
the nose until he don’t want no 
more.”

Ohio State has bullied 

Michigan for more than a 
decade. The Wolverines entered 
Saturday having lost 11 of their 
past 12 games to their archrival, 
and a few of them weren’t close, 
including Harbaugh’s first as 
head coach last year. In that 
game at Michigan Stadium, the 
Buckeyes did what they pleased 
offensively, trampling Michigan 
for 369 rushing yards and 42 
points in the rivalry’s most 
lopsided game since the Rich 
Rodriguez era.

Saturday in Columbus, the 

Wolverines did what Harbaugh 
urged them to do on Monday: 
They went in there and punched 
Ohio State right in the nose. 
They dominated the game for 
three quarters, allowing the 
Buckeyes just 24 total yards 
from the end of their first drive 
until halftime and leading for all 
but 3:46 of regulation.

Michigan just didn’t have 

enough punches in the end, 
when Ohio State survived with 
a 30-27 victory. But it was clear 

the Wolverines heard Harbaugh’s 
message.

Here’s what else we know 

about Harbaugh: He has just 
the right makeup to make that 
motivation mean something.

Monday, a reporter from 

The Columbus Dispatch asked 
Harbaugh to describe himself, 
saying that some people call him 
crazy and some call him “crazy 
like a fox.” Harbaugh wasn’t 
receptive to the question. He 
doesn’t talk about himself: “I 
don’t know that my personality 
really, how relevant that will 
be to the ballgame this week. 
Probably irrelevant.”

His players know what they 

see, though, and when asked 
the same question, fifth-year 
senior defensive lineman Chris 
Wormley had an interesting 
insight.

“I think with all the good 

coaches, you gotta be wired 
a little differently,” Wormley 
said. “A lot of the great ones do 
things differently. I’m sure (Ohio 
State coach Urban) Meyer does 
and has done things differently, 
successful coach. With Coach 
Harbaugh, he does things 
differently.”

Few can deny that. A year ago, 

Harbaugh’s team lost by four 
touchdowns against an Ohio 
State program that has been the 
class of the Big Ten for the five 
years Meyer has been in charge of 
it. Over the past year, everything 
Harbaugh did — the grueling 
four-week bowl camp, the Spring 
Break trip to Florida, the month-
long satellite camp tour, the all-
out quarterback competition, the 
dominant early-season victories 
— it all prepared Michigan to go 
into Ohio Stadium and finally 
knock off the Buckeyes.

Even once the season started, 

the Wolverines were preparing 
for this game. They kept their 
starters as fresh as any group in 
the country. They tested all of the 

weapons they would need. They 
installed a formation with nine 
players in a straight line behind 
the center. They did everything, 
and then they gave Ohio State all 
they had.

Which brings us to the last 

thing we know about Harbaugh. 
Not that there was any doubt 
about the importance of “The 
Game” in the mind of the coach 
who grew up in Michigan, played 
quarterback for Michigan, 
idolized Bo Schembechler and 
once guaranteed that his team 
would beat Ohio State before it 
actually did, but Saturday showed 
that significance all the same.

Before the game, Harbaugh 

went through warmup drills 
with the quarterbacks, catching 

their passes like he always does. 
Then, he engaged in a cordial 
handshake with Meyer, for 
whom he has, by all accounts, 
tremendous respect.

But when the whistle blew, 

Harbaugh was emotional and 
tenacious. He grew more irate 
than ever at the officials, though 
admittedly in a game where 
there were more controversial 
calls than ever. And then he 
slammed them in his postgame 
press conference, saying he was 
“bitterly disappointed” — to use 
a Schembechler phrase, for good 
measure.

It is not a good look for 

Harbaugh to come into his 
postgame press conference and 
spend almost the entirety of 

it criticizing the officiating. It 
may cost him a fine from the 
Big Ten if the conference makes 
a ruling Monday morning. It 
may even cost him some points 
with the all-important College 
Football Playoff committee this 
week when the members decide 
Michigan’s postseason fate.

But that was Jim Harbaugh’s 

rivalry week, for better and 
worse. In an era many have 
trumpeted as the second coming 
of Schembechler and Woody 
Hayes’ “Ten-Year War,” Saturday 
proved to be quite a second battle.

Perhaps Harbaugh won’t say 

it. Perhaps it won’t quite measure 
up next year. But “The Game” is 
“The Game” again, and let’s all be 
grateful for that.

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh prepared his team all year to play “The Game” again, and it lived up to the billing.

JAKE
LOURIM

Michigan falls to No. 1 
Nebraska in four sets 

The 
No. 
18 
Michigan 

volleyball team was on a 6-1 
scoring run, trailing No. 1 
Nebraska in the fourth set. 
Scrappy defensive plays gave 
the Wolverines the edge in the 
waning points, but they had 
already fallen too far behind to 
catch up to the Cornhuskers.

The 
deciding 
point 
was 

a Nebraska kill by Mikaela 
Foecke, which went off the 
Michigan block and landed 
out of bounds, securing the 
Cornhuskers a 3-1 win and the 
Big Ten championship.

Nebraska 
(18-2 
Big 
Ten, 

27-2 overall) seemed to be in 
control of the 
match 
from 

the start. The 
Wolverines (11-
9, 22-10) only 
secured 
their 

first lead in the 
beginning of the 
third set. The 
Cornhuskers 
held 
Michigan 

to 
just 
a 

.020 
hitting 

percentage in the first set, 
meager compared to their .139.

Though 
the 
Wolverines 

stepped up their offense in the 
second set, their defense paid 
the price. The Cornhuskers 
dominated with a .500 hitting 
percentage and easily took the 
set, 25-17.

Michigan 
went 
into 
the 

break down 0-2, and it had to 
make some adjustments if it 
hoped to come back against a 
strong Nebraska team.

It came into the third set 

on a roll and, following an ace 
from fifth-year senior outside 
hitter 
Kelly 
Murphy, 
the 

Cornhuskers called a timeout. 
The timeout proved ineffective 
for Nebraska, though, as the 
Wolverines came back with a 
4-0 run.

It seemed as if Michigan 

was going to force a fourth set 

easily, but the Cornhuskers 
kept the Wolverines on their 
toes by saving six set points. 
Fortunately 
for 
Michigan, 

sophomore outside hitter Carly 
Skjodt ended the set with a kill 
that hit off the Nebraska block 
and landed out of bounds.

The Wolverines fell behind 

quickly in the fourth set. 
Michigan coach Mark Rosen 
tried to slow the Cornhuskers’ 
momentum 
by 
calling 

timeouts, and even by getting 
a net violation overturned, but 
Nebraska was too effective on 
all sides of the ball. Michigan 
fell in the fourth set, 25-21.

Junior middle blocker Claire 

Kieffer-Wright impressed not 
only in Saturday’s match, but 

also throughout 
the 
season. 

Kieffer-Wright 
finished 
the 

match with 13 
kills 
and 
has 

proven she will 
be an important 
player for the 
Wolverines 
in 

the postseason.

“She’s 
been 

one 
of 
our 

most 
consistent 
performers 

offensively,” Rosen said. “And 
not only her execution side 
of the ball, but I think her 
personality and her leadership 
has been great.”

Despite the loss to Nebraska, 

the Wolverines finished with 
a winning Big Ten record – a 
good sign with the postseason 
on the horizon. They will 
enter the NCAA Tournament 
as the No. 12 overall seed, 
which is a testament to the 
stiff competition they’ve faced 
throughout their conference 
play. They will face American 
in the first round on their home 
court at Crisler Center.

“I think we’ve gotten a lot 

better because of the strong 
competition and now we go to 
postseason really prepared,” 
said Rosen. “We’ll try and take 
it one match at a time.”

VOLLEYBALL

PAIGE VOEFFRAY

Daily Sports Writer

“We’ll try and 

take it one 
match at 
a time.”

Fourth-quarter struggles prove costly

COLUMBUS — Jourdan Lewis 

scooped up the squib kick and ran.

If he could find the right holes 

and cut the perfect path, he would 
give the Wolverines their first win 
over the Buckeyes in five years. 
After 
a 
disappointing 
fourth 

quarter that saw No. 3 Michigan 
go three-and-out on all three of 
its possessions and collect just five 
total yards while No. 2 Ohio State 
(8-1 Big Ten, 11-1 overall) found 
new life through quarterback J.T. 
Barrett, Lewis had the chance to 
save the day.

He sprinted down the field as 

Ohio State fans who had assumed 
overtime held their breath. There 
was no time left on the clock, and 
with the game tied at 17, anything 
could happen. Lewis cut left across 
the field after weaving through 
defenders for 40 yards, and then, 
finally, the Horseshoe exhaled. 
Cornerback 
Joshua 
Norwood 

took him down on the Buckeyes’ 
43-yard line, and the game would 

indeed go to overtime.

As Lewis picked himself up, he 

shook his head in disappointment 
of what could have been. His run 
was a fitting cap to a disastrous 
quarter, and Ohio State would 
retain its momentum through two 
overtimes, ultimately coming up 
victorious, 30-27.

The 
game 
didn’t 
have 
to 

end in disappointment for the 
Wolverines, though. Had they 
continued to play the way they 
did throughout the first three 
quarters, the Buckeyes would have 
needed much more to win.

“We were just playing lights out 

that first three and a half quarters,” 
said defensive end Chris Wormley. 
“They got some plays, they have 
good players — I mean, they go to 
Ohio State, they have good players. 
So, we need to make a few plays at 
the end and the outcome probably 
would have been a little different, 
but I thought we played pretty well 
for the most part of the game.”

The Wolverines headed to the 

locker room at halftime with a 
10-7 lead after pure defensive 

domination held the Buckeyes to 
just 81 offensive yards in the first 
half. Ohio State had converted only 
one of seven third-down attempts, 
and J.T. Barrett was 5-for-11 for no 
touchdowns. The Buckeyes’ lone 
score came off a 16-yard pick-six 
by Malik Hooker.

But Ohio State looked minimally 

better after the break, and then 
like a completely different team 
in the final quarter. In the fourth 
quarter alone, Barrett rushed for 
71 yards and threw for another 59, 
and running back Curtis Samuel 
caught two passes for 23 yards.

“J.T. didn’t start out very good,” 

said Ohio State coach Urban 
Meyer. “We had some misfires. 
We weren’t playing very well. … 
We had some protection issues. 
And the pass game is a constant. 
It’s either protection issues or 
a misfiring, and I thought the 
receivers played decent. … They 
just keep swinging. It’s a very, very 
good defense we faced.”

Meanwhile, Michigan’s offense 

stopped producing. All three of 
its 
fourth-quarter 
possessions 

amounted to just 3:53 of game 
time, allowing Barrett to wear 
out the defense further. Cracks in 
the Wolverines’ defensive armor 
began to show as the Buckeyes 
gained seven first downs in the 
fourth quarter (Michigan had 
none) and 127 yards.

Both units faltered in the final 

frame, but the Wolverines thought 
their defense was strong enough to 
lead its team to victory.

“It’s a bummer, you know,” said 

redshirt sophomore quarterback 
Wilton Speight. “I feel like I let the 
defense down with the game that 
they played. It stings.”

When asked if he thought 

Michigan played well enough to 
win, he responded right away.

“Yeah, absolutely.”
But as he said it, Buckeye cheers 

traveled from the concourse and 
permeated through the walls of 
the press room 45 minutes after 
the end of the game.

The Wolverines may have 

done enough to win in the first 
three quarters, but not in the 
fourth.

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight couldn’t lead Michigan down the field for a clinching drive in the fourth quarter of the loss Saturday.

KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN

