4B — Monday, October 1, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Patterson shows resilience in comeback win
EVANSTON
—
Saturday
wasn’t Shea Patterson’s best
performance in a Michigan
uniform. It’s not one that will
litter his highlight reel or show
off to NFL scouts. His statistics
won’t jump off the page come
Sunday morning.
But with 10:05 left in the
fourth quarter, down by four
points, Patterson took the ball
and showed the very reason
Michigan went and got him
in the first place. He showed
talent. He showed moxy. He
showed emotion.
In the process, he went out
and won a Big Ten football
game on the road, roaring back
from an early 17-0 deficit to
beat Northwestern, 20-17.
“I saw a guy with poise,
confidence and belief, a lot
of faith,” said junior running
back Karan Higdon. “When
you work with somebody like
that, who knows what can
happen?”
Against Notre Dame four
weeks
ago,
that
comeback
effort fell short, as Patterson
fumbled on a potential game-
tying drive with 46 seconds
left. That game crept into the
back of Patterson’s head as he
took the huddle, down 17-13 in
the fourth quarter, with the
game in his hands.
“I love when the moment’s
big,
even
when
I
fail,”
Patterson said. “I love that
situation because you’ve got to
fail to succeed.”
Patterson, who entered the
decisive drive 12-for-21 for just
152 yards, found Jared Wangler
on a nine-yard checkdown in
the flat, surveying the field
and choosing to dump the ball
down to his fifth-year senior
fullback. It was Wangler’s first
career catch.
Then, after two consecutive
Higdon
runs
amounted
to
four
yards,
Patterson
and
the Michigan offense faced
3rd down. He knew he was
dropping back. Northwestern
knew he was dropping back.
The whole stadium knew.
Patterson
dropped
back
anyway, firing a 13-yard strike
to redshirt junior Zach Gentry
on
the
sideline,
entering
Northwestern territory as the
clock continued to tick.
Two plays later, he faced a
third-and-six once again, this
time eluding a linebacker to
gain nine yards with his legs.
He got off the ground and
shimmied and signaled a first
down with his arms.
“This is why we play the
game, situations like this,”
Patterson said. “It was just a
fun feeling. Call a zone read,
get the first down, get excited
about the game. I love it.”
Then, the decisive play. The
throw that will be seared into
fans’ memories, the one that
reminded everyone why it
was imperative for Michigan
to bring him in. Moments like
this.
Patterson fired a dart to
Gentry for 22 yards, who was
running down the seam. It
was the perfect location — on
Gentry’s right shoulder. It
had the perfect speed — just
miliseconds before the safety
could come over the top to
make a play on the ball.
“They gave up a lot of stuff
over the middle, and I think
the adjustment in the second
half just let your guy go make a
play,” Patterson said. “Put it in
the vicinity, and that’s the kind
of guy Zach Gentry is.”
Deflect praise, as he may,
it was an NFL throw. It was a
winning throw.
It also brought Michigan into
a goal-to-go situation, where,
two plays later, Higdon walked
in for the game-winning, five-
yard score. Patterson pumped
his arms and sprinted back to
the sideline.
“I like what we’re made of,
starting with the quarterback,”
said
Michigan
coach
Jim
Harbaugh. “He really stepped
up big, took the game into his
hands in a lot of ways there in
the second half.”
His resilience?
“A-plus-plus,”
Harbaugh
added.
In the first half, Patterson
was
uncharacteristically
errant
on
a
few
throws,
lamenting
a
potential
touchdown to senior Grant
Perry in the third quarter that
was overthrown. Throughout
the game, he stayed positive,
entering offense, defense and
special teams huddles to keep
the team morale up.
In the second half, he told
fifth-year senior defensive end
Chase Winovich, “ ‘You take
care of what you need to take
care of,’ as Winovich recalled.
“We’re going to score this
ball, we’re going to score this
touchdown.’ ”
And when it mattered most,
he backed up those words.
He made every throw when
he needed, he found first
downs with his legs when
the situation called for it. He
orchestrated and executed the
17-point comeback at the helm,
on the road.
But there’s something with
Patterson
right
now
that
supercedes
his
talent.
An
ambiguous “it” factor that has
been noticeably absent in the
quarterback room the last few
years.
Some
call
it
leadership.
Higdon
opted
for
“belief.”
Winovich,
Patterson’s
roommate, took it step further.
“I don’t know the statistics
beside the W. I just know
there’s something about him.
I saw it the very first time we
had met. He was a major factor
in me coming back because
there’s just an aura about him.
… He’s a football player.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson threw a pass to fifth-year senior fullback Jared Wrangler to spur a comeback win.
The Michigan Daily Top 10 Poll
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first-place
votes receiving 10 points, second-place votes receiving nine and so
on.
1. Alabama: Ugh.
2. Georgia: Trade Justin Fields to Clem-
son for draft picks.
3. Ohio State: What did you expect?
4. LSU: If he keeps winning, Coach O
is gonna get some looks from big pro-
grams like USC.
5. Clemson: The Tigers could really use
a backup quarterback right now, like
Kelly Bryant maybe.
6. Notre Dame: Lol Ian Book? What a
nerd.
7. Oklahoma: Gonna be a tough match-
up next week, since Texas is definitely
back this time.
8. Auburn: Remember when Jarrett
Stidham played for Baylor?
9. Penn State: It was obvious to anyone
with eyes that the Nittany Lions didn’t
lose because James Franklin called a
few horrible plays but because a few
players don’t do their schoolwork.
10. West Virginia: Other sections of
The Daily have told us we can’t make a
Country Roads joke here.