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.

