2B — Monday, October 1, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Winovich is the voice of the defense
B

efore 
the 
season 
began, the 
week of the 
Notre Dame 
game, Chase 
Winovich was 
dealt some 
unexpected 
bad news.
After a 
season in which he led the 
Michigan football team in 
sacks, tackles for loss and 
fumble recoveries, Winovich 
was one of the unquestioned 
leaders on the Wolverines’ 
defense which finished third 
nationally in total defense.
He saw himself as a leader 
too.
So, when Michigan 
announced its captains, 
voted on by the players, 
and Winovich wasn’t one of 
them, he was understandably 
disappointed.
“That one stung a little bit,” 
Winovich said that week, on 
Aug. 28, before giving some 
context. “But at the end of the 
day, when you think about it, 
I came back to win a national 
championship. 
I didn’t come 
back to win 
a popularity 
contest, so, you 
know, it’s on the 
board. That’s 
all I’m gonna 
say. My role as 
a leader is still 
the same. I woke 
up that day, was 
not the captain. 
I woke up the next day, was not 
the captain. End of the day, it’s 
out of my hands. So I’m moving 
on.”
He said that last part while 
mimicking wiping his hands 
clean. Perhaps he was telling 
the truth. His play has only 
gotten better from last year’s 
coming-out party — captaincy 
or not.
Winovich is tied for the 
most tackles for loss in the 
nation through five games this 

season. He once again leads 
the Wolverines 
in sacks, and 
he is second 
on the team in 
tackles, behind 
linebacker 
Devin Bush.
He is the 
workhorse of 
Michigan’s 
defense, and 
that was never 
more obvious 
than in the Wolverines’ 
win over Northwestern on 
Saturday.
Winovich led Michigan with 
nine tackles, eight of which 
were solo and three of which 
were for losses.
He practically lived in the 
Wildcats’ backfield all game 
long, breaking through their 
line so often you couldn’t help 
but notice his dominance.
“The ends, I think 
Chase had one of his better 

ballgames,” said Michigan 
coach Jim 
Harbaugh after 
the game. “Just 
the way he was 
flying around 
and hustling all 
night. I mean, 
play after play 
after play after 
play.”
Winovich’s 
production 
obviously 
helped the Wolverines in their 
emotional, comeback win. And 
after every game like that, 
there are questions asked and 
stories told about sideline 
or locker room interactions 
that fired up a team or an 
individual player.
On Saturday night, 
Winovich was the subject of a 
few stories.
“Chase is a character, and 
he’s a tremendous leader 
on this team,” said junior 

quarterback Shea Patterson. 
“All he’s gotta 
do is look at 
you, and you 
know what 
he’s saying. He 
sparked a fire in 
me in the locker 
room and on the 
field in the third 
quarter. That 
helped me out 
a lot.”
“I told a lot 
of the guys when we were 
down, I looked each person in 
the eye, because I didn’t want 
the message to be dispelled,” 
Winovich said. “I said, ‘This 
is the part where we double 
down on all the hard work 
we’ve done. All the preparation 
that we’ve gone through. And 
they can’t take this from us.’ 
Even when we were losing I 
said that. It was our game. It 
was nothing they could do. But 
I’m just so fired up about that 

game, and it feels great.”
Another story 
that popped 
up was from 
practice last 
week.
On Thursday, 
Winovich spoke 
to the defense 
in an effort to 
inspire them for 
a game that may 
have looked like 
a cakewalk.
“I said, you know, ‘It’s in 
a sense their season, and it’s 
our season.’ ” Winovich said. 
“You know, we lose this game, 
who knows how that affects 
our chances at the playoffs 
and a Big Ten Championship. 
And for them, this would have 
been the greatest night of their 
lives. And obviously we spoiled 
that.”
It might seem odd to hear 
these stories of Winovich’s 
leadership from Winovich 

himself. For many people, that 
would make the stories less 
believable.
But Winovich isn’t a 
bullshitter. He’ll call an 
opponent’s offense predictable 
after a game if he feels that’s 
the case. He’ll tell you candidly 
that he was hurt when he 
wasn’t named captain.
There was one more bit of 
truth from Aug. 28.
After a question about his 
offseason and the progress he 
had made, Winovich started 
by mentioning the tools he’s 
added and credited strength 
and conditioning coach Ben 
Herbert. Then he finished with 
a prediction.
“It’s gonna be fun,” 
Winovich said. “That’s all I’m 
gonna say about this season. 
Yeah, it’s gonna be fun.”
In hindsight, that almost 
looks like foreshadowing. 
Winovich had fun on Saturday. 
His team did too.
“It was electric,” Winovich 
said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever 
experienced a Michigan locker 
room that was that — like, the 
juice was flowing through 
everyone from the coaches to 
the managers to 
the equipment 
staff. It was 
going through 
everyone.”
Part of that 
can be credited 
to Winovich, 
who has stayed 
true to his word 
that his role has 
not changed. He 
has dominated 
on the field and done his best 
to inspire his teammates.
Winovich didn’t win the 
popularity contest at the 
beginning of the year. But 
he’s moved on from that. The 
reason Winovich came back 
— his national championship 
goals — are still in play. And 
Winovich is leading the push.

Persak can be reached on 

Twitter at @MikeDPersak or 

on venmo at @Mike-Persak.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich is tied for the most tackles for loss in the nation with 10.5 throughout five games so far this season.

MIKE 
PERSAK

‘M’ suffers from frequent penalties

For 
yet 
another 
season, 
Michigan is one of the country’s 
most penalized teams in 2018. 
Teams have accepted an average 
of 9.2 infractions for 84.2 yards 
per game against the Wolverines 
— 13th and 15th worst nationally, 
respectively.
That’s up nearly three penalties 
a contest from 2017, marking the 
third season Michigan ranks 
below average in the category 
under coach Jim Harbaugh.
Yellow 
flags 
were 
again 
plentiful for the Wolverines in 
their come-from-behind victory 
at Northwestern on Saturday. 
Michigan was called for six 
penalties in the first half, their 
effects compounded by the costly 
moments in which they came.
Facing 
third-and-long 
early in the second quarter, 
Northwestern threw a fade to the 
endzone, looking to capitalize on 
a man-to-man matchup between 
David Long and receiver Bennett 
Skowronek. The junior corner fell 
behind the route, however, and 
was forced to grab Skowronek to 
prevent an easy touchdown. Long 
was called for pass interference, 
setting up a punch-in score for the 
Wildcats two snaps later.
Junior corner Lavert Hill was 
flagged for a hold later in the 
second quarter, as he and Long 
struggled against Northwestern’s 
quick passing plays and slants 
early. Thorson completed nine of 
his first 11 passes.
But 
perhaps 
the 
most 
momentum-thwarting 
penalty 
was a false start by redshirt 
junior tight end Zach Gentry late 
in the second quarter. Looking 
for points before heading to the 
locker room, Gentry jumped on 
fourth-and-three, 
forcing 
the 
Wolverines to bring on their 
punting unit in Wildcat territory.
While 
Michigan 
adjusted 
both its discipline and play in the 
second half, those errors were far 
from confidence-inspiring. As 
nearly 16-point favorites in front 
of a split crowd, the Wolverines 
were expected to cruise through 

Saturday.
They showed they could have 
with 
20 
unanswered 
points 
to finish the game. But those 
penalties and self-inflicted errors 
created Michigan’s razor-thin 
margin for error.
It was also the second horrid 
defensive start on the road for the 
Wolverines in as many tries. A 
month ago, Notre Dame jumped 
out to a 21-3 lead after now-backup 
Brandon Wimbush torched the 
Wolverines secondary. Penalties 
had their roll then, too. Junior 
safety Josh Metellus was ejected 
after a targeting call on the game’s 
second drive.
Khaleke Hudson has become 
all 
too 
familiar 
with 
that 
controversial player-safety rule. 
For the second consecutive week, 
the junior VIPER sat out the first 
half after targeting penalties the 
week prior.
Fans, meanwhile, will point 
to a questionable penalty that 
didn’t go the Wolverines’ way. On 
a zone-read in the fourth quarter, 
senior 
running 
back 
Karan 
Higdon was penalized for a hold 
Harbaugh said was a “phantom 
call.”
“I asked for it specifically just 

to make sure they didn’t come 
back later and say it was some 
other player,” Harbaugh said. 
“They called it on 22, they called 
it on Karan, so I asked the referee, 
‘Go ask the side judge who he 
called it on.’ So there wasn’t some 
different explanation days from 
now.”
Fifth-year 
senior 
defensive 
end Chase Winovich also said he 
was “baffled” by what he thought 
were a litany of missed holding 
penalities against Northwestern’s 
offensive line. 
Officials make mistakes. It’s 
part of college football. Many of 
those mistakes happened to not 
benefit Michigan on Saturday.
But it doesn’t discount a 
worrying trend. Penalties, for yet 
another week, proved numerous 
and detrimental. And as the Big 
Ten slate heats up, it could be 
only a matter of time before they 
culminate in another loss for the 
Wolverines.
“We’ve got to make it clear that 
there were no penalties, so there’s 
no grey in-between for the refs 
to throw that flag,” said junior 
linebacker Josh Uche. “Like I 
said, it was self-inflicted stuff, but 
we adjusted.”

MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Wolverines were called for six penalties in the first half of Saturday’s game.

“Chase is a 
character, and 
a tremendous 
leader...”

“But I’m just so 
fired up about 
that game, and 
it feels great.”

“I didn’t come 
back to win 
a popularity 
contest...”

