Moving On

Chase Winovich wasn’t 
chosen as a captain this 

season, but he has proven to 
be a leader for Michigan on 

and off the field.

» Page 2B

Blitzed

Michigan falls back to .500, 
as Northwestern scores four 
goals in a game for the first 
time in two seasons against 
the Wolverines.
» Page 3B

Michigan avoids near-devastating loss to Wildcats

EVANSTON — Shea 

Patterson and the Michigan 
football team’s offense stepped 
onto the field with 10:05 left in 
the game.

The 14th-ranked Wolverines 

(4-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) had 
struggled all night on that side 
of the ball, especially in the 
first half, when they fell into a 
17-0 deficit on the road against 
Northwestern (1-3, 1-1). And 
after halftime, when Patterson 
and company did string together 
some positive plays, they 
struggled to punch it in the 
endzone, settling for two field 
goals from inside the 10-yard 
line.

With that, Michigan’s 

offense faced a 17-13 deficit and 
an opportunity to reverse its 
fortunes.

On the first play of the drive, 

Patterson found fifth-year 
senior fullback Jared Wangler 

for nine yards. Patterson hit 
redshirt junior tight end Zach 
Gentry for 13 yards on a corner 
route on the next set of downs, 
then he scrambled for a key 
third-down conversion after 
that.

Patterson then put the 

Wolverines in striking position 
when, on second-and-10 from 
the Wildcats’ 28, he threaded a 
pass through three defenders to 
Gentry, who fell to the ground at 
the six-yard line. Senior running 
back Karan Higdon completed 
the comeback two plays later, 
plowing into the endzone for 
a five-yard score with 4:06 on 
the clock, as Patterson wildly 
pumped his fist behind him.

Michigan’s defense took it 

from there, snuffing out any 
Northwestern late-game heroics 
and finishing off a nail-biting 
win, 20-17.

“A lot of guys really left it out 

there, you know, played their 
hearts out,” said Michigan coach 
Jim Harbaugh. “Tested in the 

ball game and had to show what 
we were made of. And (I) like 
what we’re made of.”

Despite the happy ending for 

the Wolverines, the rest of the 
game was surely not how they 
drew it up.

After building momentum 

with three, dominating wins in 
the last three weeks, Michigan 
came in heavy favorites against 
the Wildcats, who were fresh off 
losses to Duke and Akron.

With that, when the 

Wolverines won the opening 
coin toss, they opted to receive 
in an effort to seize momentum 
from the jump.

But their first drive 

went three and out, and 
Northwestern responded with a 
56-yard drive for a touchdown. 
7-0.

On the next possession, 

Michigan went three and out 
again, and the Wildcats drove 
back down the field to kick a 
field goal. 10-0.

The Wolverines’ third drive 

started to build momentum, but 
a key drop on a would-be big 
play by junior tight end Sean 
McKeon ended that threat, and 
Northwestern’s offense went 
straight into the endzone again. 
It was 17-0 with 12:56 left in the 
second quarter.

Michigan’s offense had 21 

yards at that point. The Wildcats 
had 145.

The Wolverines scored on 

a 4-yard run from Higdon on 
the next possession for a much-
needed response, but they still 
went to halftime down 17-7.

“Just keep pushing. Keep 

pushing,” Higdon said. “You 
know, there’s four quarters for 
a reason, and that first half they 
were up, and we remembered a 
lot of the adversity we faced over 
the summer. You know, summer 
workouts and stuff like that, and 
we dug deep, and we came out 
with a win.”

Added Harbaugh, on his 

halftime message: “I mean, what 
you’re made of. Can you dig 

down and, you know, continue 
to execute and execute better 
than what you did? So, yeah, it’s 
self-explanatory. Do you have 
the metal? Got the gravel in your 
gut to win a game on the road 
under tough circumstances? I’m 
proud of our guys.”

Michigan’s defense, 

especially, seemed to take that 
message to heart.

Northwestern gained a total 

of 51 yards in the entire second 
half. It went 1-for-6 on third 
downs. The Wolverines sacked 
Wildcats quarterback Clayton 
Thorson five times in the final 
30 minutes. Four of them were 
on third down, and the other 
one was the last play of the 
game, when junior linebacker 
Josh Uche brought down 
Thorson on a would-be Hail 
Mary attempt.

And most importantly, 

Northwestern didn’t score 
another point.

“Coming out (of halftime), we 

knew they couldn’t really hang 

with us,” Uche said. “We (were) 
just having a lot of self-inflicted 
wounds. Went into the locker 
room, got our minds right, came 
back and dominated like we’re 
supposed to.”

For a while, though, it looked 

like the offense didn’t have 
enough.

But when Michigan needed 

it most, the unit, and especially 
Patterson, came through.

In front of a road crowd that 

was half-filled with Wolverines 
fans, Patterson ended things 
with a fist pump after his 
signature drive to this point in a 
Michigan uniform — in a game 
that wasn’t supposed to need 
one.

“I can’t even describe it,” 

Patterson said. “It’s such an 
exhilarating feeling, and you 
know, that’s why you play the 
game. You play the game for 
these moments, and like I said, 
man, I’m just proud to be a part 
of this team and help out any 
way I can.”

MIKE PERSAK

Managing Sports Editor

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | October 1, 2018
SPORTSMONDAY

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