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November 27, 2017 - Image 10

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The Michigan Daily

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4B — Monday, November 27, 2017
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Chase Winovich reached out

at the air, grabbing at something
that wasn’t quite concrete and
had already passed him by.

He spoke in platitudes of just

how close the Wolverines were to
finally beating Ohio State. Except
this time, they weren’t really
platitudes at all. Michigan really
could touch victory, and actually
could taste it.

But in the end, he was left

standing in front of the media,
holding back tears, forced to
reduce a loss to the Buckeyes to
the simplest of expressions.

“It’s tough.”
Perhaps
it’s
even
tougher

because of Winovich’s own self-
admission.

“At the end of the day, it’s on

us,” he said. “People love to point
fingers at the offense and say this
or that. But we had a lead. They
don’t score, they don’t win.”

Sometimes it’s that simple.

Michigan didn’t have only one
lead
over
the
ninth-ranked

Buckeyes on Saturday. It had two.

The first, of course, was larger.

The Wolverines came out firing,
putting 14 points on the board in
the first quarter.

The second came later, with

just over seven minutes left in the
third quarter.

Sandwiched
in
between

were mistakes — ones that
are uncharacteristic for this
Michigan defense, but ones it is
not immune to.

Perhaps the most troubling

part,
though,
is
that
those

mistakes
weren’t
necessarily

forced.

Rashan Gary said that Ohio

State didn’t do anything special.
He said Michigan didn’t see
anything that it hadn’t already
seen during practice. And fifth-
year senior linebacker Mike
McCray echoed that sentiment.

“We didn’t execute,” McCray

said. “The touchdown (that) the
tight end caught up the middle, it
was on us … made a mistake, and
they took advantage of it. If we
wouldn’t have made a mistake, he
wouldn’t have been wide open.
Maybe he wouldn’t have scored.
Maybe we would’ve held them to
a field goal.”

The
touchdown
McCray

is referring to, of course, was
Marcus Baugh’s.

With just under six minutes

remaining
in
the
second

quarter, quarterback J.T. Barrett
took the snap on 1st-and-10
from Michigan’s 25-yard line.
Sophomore
VIPER
Khaleke

Hudson misread the run-pass
option, and Baugh was the

beneficiary — catching a pass up
the seam to tie the game at 14.

And as for the rest of McCray’s

comments,
‘maybe’
is
the

operative word — because the
game was full of opportunities to
use it.

Maybe
if
Josh
Metellus

accepted Barrett’s gift of an
interception
in
the
second

quarter, the Buckeyes would
have never sparked a 14-point
comeback.

Maybe if the Wolverines kept

Mike Weber out of the end zone
at the end of the fourth quarter,
John O’Korn would have had one
final opportunity to redeem his
previous interception.

Maybe if Michigan didn’t allow

Ohio State to convert eight of its
16 third-down conversions, the
result would have been different.

But none of those things

happened, and no game can
really be reduced to a single play.

Winovich, then, summed it up

best. If the Buckeyes don’t score,
they don’t win. Instead, they did
both.

The result? You could see it all

across the team.

As the fans headed for the

exits after Weber’s proverbial
dagger, Hudson came off the field
and threw his helmet. Then he
whipped a towel at the bench,
and sat down with his head on
his chest.

When Mike McCray was asked

what Jim Harbaugh’s message
was after the game, he admitted
that he didn’t know because he
was crying too hard.

Rashan Gary — he was in

tears too, watching his fifth-
year senior quarterback choke
out the admission that he feels
responsible for a repeat of this
rivalry’s recent history.

And
Chase
Winovich,
he

reached out at the air, grabbing
at something that wasn’t quite
concrete and had already passed
him by.

Buckeyes prove too much for Michigan in ‘The Game’

‘M’ defense surrenders two leads in heartbreaking loss
Fifth-year seniors fail to top Ohio State once again

John O’Korn sat at the podium

in the postgame press conference
and broke down in tears.

The
fifth-year
senior

quarterback tried to compose
himself, but his voice cracked as the
words came out.

“The hardest part for me is that

you come here to win this game,”
he said. “And our senior class
wasn’t able to do it.”

Saturday, the Michigan football

team lost to Ohio State for the sixth
consecutive time. Even in five years
as a Wolverine, O’Korn was unable
to come away with arguably the
most important victory.

He isn’t alone in that regard.

Linebacker
Mike
McCray,

defensive tackle Maurice Hurst,
center Patrick Kugler and fullback
Khalid Hill have also spent five
years on the sidelines of Michigan
Stadium and Ohio Stadium, yet
they have never come away with
the elusive win.

There was the five-point loss in

2012, and then the one-point loss
in 2013. There was the double-digit
loss in 2014, and then the blowout
in 2015. There was the overtime
loss in 2016, and now, another game
that will be written in rivalry lore.

Michigan — unranked and

with an 8-3 overall record — once
had a 14-point lead over the ninth-
ranked, Big Ten championship
game-bound Buckeyes. And yet,
when all was said and done, the
Wolverines lost by 11.

“I wish we could have won, wish

we could have sent the seniors
out with a victory,” said Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh. “They gave
it everything they had and played
extremely hard. ... Great bunch of
guys to coach, great character guys,
so it’s disappointing.”

It started with the defense,

which forced three straight three-
and-outs in the first quarter to yield
negative yardage from Ohio State’s

prolific offense. McCray dropped
quarterback J.T. Barrett for a loss
on the Buckeyes’ first play of the
game, and then combined with
Hurst to stop running back J.K.
Dobbins for a short gain.

The offense took it from there.

On Michigan’s opening scoring
drive, Hill converted a crucial
first down and then punched it
into the end zone. On its second,
the Wolverines were gifted field
possession by freshman receiver
Donovan
Peoples-Jones,
who

returned a punt all the way to Ohio
State’s 11-yard line. O’Korn finished
it off, finding sophomore tight end
Sean McKeon over the middle.

At that point, Michigan had the

Buckeyes where it wanted them.
The Wolverines held the ball for 10
minutes, while the Buckeyes did for
just four.

They could have kept the

momentum swinging firmly in
their favor. They could have run
away with the game.

McCray said the Buckeyes were

doing everything they expected
them to, but, according to O’Korn,
Michigan took its foot off the gas. It
cost the Wolverines dearly.

In the second quarter, Ohio State

won the possession battle, nine to
six, and found the end zone twice
in just four minutes. Suddenly, the
game was tied.

“It’s kind of hard to stay hot as an

offense when you’re not on the field
as much,” Hill said. “Ohio State
did a great job of keeping us off the
field. We were hot, we would have
scored lots of points I feel like.”

But Michigan scored just six

points the rest of the way. After
letting the Buckeyes back into the
game, the Wolverines couldn’t
keep up with them and suffered yet
another rivalry loss.

Michigan had one more chance

to change its fate late in the game.
Already inside their 30-yard line,
the
Wolverines’
defense
held

Ohio State to a field goal, and the
Buckeyes’
kicker
subsequently

missed wide left.

Down just four points with 2:47

left to play, Michigan needed a
touchdown.

But on the very first play

of the drive, O’Korn threw an
interception to seal the Wolverines’
fate: another loss to Ohio State.

“I hold myself responsible for

a lot of that, and it sucks,” O’Korn
continued. “I can’t imagine a worse
feeling right now.”

Then he stood up slowly with his

head hung low and walked out of
the room.

It was his last game at Michigan

Stadium and his final game against
Ohio State, as it was for McCray,
Hill and the rest.

The Wolverines lost ‘The Game,’

and there was nothing else to say.

BETELHEM ASHAME

Managing Sports Editor

KEVIN SANTO

Managing Sports Editor

EVAN AARON/Daily

Chase Winovich was clearly emotional after Michigan fell short to Ohio State.

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