8A — Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Team cohesion leads Michigan to 13th at Nuttycombe Invitational
There were five minutes
before
the
gun
sounded
when
the
Michigan
men’s
cross country team huddled
together.
Wolverine
coach
Kevin Sullivan was doing his
part to get the team mentally
ready for the task at hand — to
prove the pre-meet rank of No.
19 wrong.
Michigan gathered together
like it always does before a
race to preach the game plan
and remain calm ahead of the
excitement of the race. To the
casual observer, it may seem to
be an odd sight. Cross country
is not typically considered
a team sport, but for the
Wolverines,
teamwork
and
pack running are the name of
the game.
This approach was boldly
apparent at the Nuttycombe
Invitational in Madison, Wis.,
where all five of the runners
who
scored
for
the
meet
finished within 22.5 seconds of
one another. In fact, the spread
was so tight for Michigan
that the times between the
Wolverines’ first and seventh
runners was closer than all but
two teams’ first through fifth
competitors.
“We
talked
about
it
beforehand,”
said
redshirt
sophomore
Jacob Lee. “We
wanted to try to
find each other
because,
you
know, when the
gun goes off,
we kinda get
dispersed,
we
want to try to
find each other,
try
to
pump
each
other
up, work together, constantly
move up throughout the pack,
and that’s what we did really
well, and that’s what we try to
do in practice too. We try to
work as a unit.”
Leading
that
unit
for
Michigan
were
Lee
and
sophomore
Jack Aho, who
finished 58th and
61st at the race,
respectively. Lee
and Aho first saw
the course last
year when they
finished
second
and third at the
Invitational’s
B
race.
Getting as much exposure
to the course as possible is
paramount for the Wolverines.
The
Thomas
Zimmer
Championship
Course
will
serve as the sight of this
year’s
Cross
Country National
Championships,
and
Michigan
will be back in
just
two
short
weeks
for
the
Pre-National
Invitational.
“That’s
one
of
the
reasons
we wanted to be
at Wisconsin at
some point before the national
championship,” Lee said. “So
we get a sense of how the course
runs, what the layout’s like, and
certainly being in a field like we
did this weekend, we got a feel
of a national championship type
field
before
we even get to
the
national
championships.”
However, due
to
the
team’s
youth, it might
be
a
difficult
road ahead en
route to a final
date
with
the
Zimmer Course
in just a couple
months. After losing star power
with the departures of Ben
Flanagan,
Connor
Mora
and
others, this young Michigan team
has had to put in extra effort in
order to maintain the standard of
success.
So
far,
the
team has been
able to do just
that with late-
race surges and
patience.
After
the
first
two
kilometers
of
the
race,
the
Wolverines
started
things
conservatively
and were sitting
in 25th place. After quickly
finding their teammates in
the pack, the team slowly
began to creep toward its 13th
place finish. Highlighting the
patience and perseverance of
the team’s performance was
redshirt junior Ben Hill, who
jumped up twenty spots in the
last two kilometers to finish
89th.
“A
lot
of
it’s
just
understanding
what
the
effort is, and the field that
we were in with the caliber of
competition and the quality
of the other teams that are
in there,” Sullivan said, “The
tendency can be to run too
hard too early, and our guys
did a very good job managing
their efforts early in the race
and that allowed them to
move through the field.
“So we’re in 25th place 2k
in the race but move all the
way to 13th by the end, it
means we’re doing good job
of running within ourselves
early so that we can make
good hard pushes over the
last half of the race.”
For this team, the six spots
of improvement is just the
beginning of what will be a
long season of success, and
it all starts with teamwork.
According to Lee, exceeding
expectations
will
be
par
for the course for Michigan
because of its camaraderie.
“I’d say that all around
we have a great culture,”
Lee said. “I’d say that we’re
young,
but
we’re fighters,
we’re grinders,
we’re ready to
put in the work,
ready
to
do
what needs to
be done. I think
people
can
overlook us in
the Big Ten just
because we are
so young and
because we lost a lot of great
talent, but if they did that,
that would be a big mistake
on their part.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore Jacob Lee finished first for the Wolverines at the Nuttycombe Invitational, followed by sophomore Jack Aho who finished the race in 61st place.
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer
“I’d say that
all around, we
have a great
culture.”
“The tendency
can be to run
too hard too
early...”
“A lot of it’s just
understanding
what the effort
is...”
All five of the Wolverines’ scored runners finished within 22.5 seconds of one another for a 13th-place finish in Wisconsin.
Winovich believes best is yet to come in historic run
After
Saturday’s
20-17
comeback
win
over
Northwestern
—
a
game
in
which
fifth-year
senior
defensive end Chase Winovich
registered nine tackles, three
tackles-for-loss and a sack, and
more broadly, was relentless —
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
said it was one of the best
games of Winovich’s career.
“I think Chase had one of his
better ballgames,” Harbaugh
said after the game. “Just the
way he was flying around and
hustling all night. I mean, play
after play after play after play.”
Winovich
played
“60-something” snaps by his
estimation and received as
many double-teams as he can
recall in a game. It didn’t seem
to matter much.
By any metric or alternative
mode of judgment, Winovich
is having the best season of his
career. Here are just a couple
statistics to drive that point
home:
•
He currently leads the
nation with 10.5 tackles-for-
loss. If he sustains this pace,
he’ll finish with 27 tackles-
for-loss on the season, just
1.5 short of the school record
set by Shawn
Crable in 2007.
That would also
leave him just
four shy of the
career
school
record
set
by
Mark
Messner
from 1985-1988.
•
He’s
on
pace
for
an
eight-sack
season for the
second consecutive year. He
would be the first to notch that
feat since Brandon Graham in
2007-2008. Winovich is just
a few years removed from
playing tight end.
Some might take a few days to
relish in those comments from
Harbaugh, or more generally
take a step back at what’s on
pace to be a historical season
and a historical career. That’s
just not Chase Winovich.
“I’m
definitely
playing
better, and some of my best
football,”
Winovich
said
Tuesday evening. “I still feel
like I haven’t played my best
football.”
If his game at Northwestern
wasn’t what his best looks like,
what does?
“The
way
I see it in my
head, if I had
to
look
at
it
from a numbers
standpoint,
I
would
look
at it and say
‘multiple sacks,’
just
from
a
grading-out
perspective
— from a pass-
rush point of view — I’d say
simply unblockable,” Winovich
said. “In my head, that’s what
I’m chasing. In my head it
could be better.
“I want to be a shark in a
game full of guppies.”
His focus stays squarely
on
the
present.
He’s
not
shy about much, including
throwing
out
phrases
like
“Big
Ten
Championship”
and “the playoffs” in routine
answers. Winovich isn’t like
most athletes, in a way that’s
refreshingly human. He came
back to school for those goals.
He came back to be a dominant
college football player. He
came back partially because
Shea Patterson came in.
But he also came back to
improve
his
NFL
draft
stock and he
doesn’t
hide
that either.
“It’s
always
on my mind,”
Winovich said
of
his
draft
stock. “It’s just
one
of
those
things, in the
pecking
order
of things to do, it’s somewhere
in the middle.”
Having already provided an
appropriate level of candor, a
normal athlete might stop his
answer there. Chase Winovich,
instead, needs to make an
archery analogy to emphasize
his point.
“If you’re an archer and
you’re trying to hit the target
and you’re thinking about the
gold prize,” he hypothesizes,
“all of a sudden you’re thinking
about the gold prize and not
the target you’re trying to hit.”
Both
CBSSports.com
and
Bleacher Report released new
NFL
mock
drafts
Monday
night. Winovich didn’t make
the first round of either.
“The trajectory and what
I’ve heard and
gathered
from
people
is
that
the
trajectory
is
ascending
pretty quickly,”
Winovich
said.
“I’m just trying
to do my part
to make sure it
stays that way.”
The
“status
quo”
doesn’t
seem to be in Winovich’s
vocabulary
these
days,
or
ever. He’d rather hone in on
his inner shark, terrorizing
everything in his path, leaving
no doubt.
“I’m setting myself up for
that game that’s like ‘This is
Chase Winovich.’ I don’t think
I’ve played that game yet,” he
said.
Then a warning.
“I think it’s coming.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich leads the nation in tackles-for-loss with 10.5 through five games.
Defense focus shifts
toward covering slants
The Michigan football team’s
defense had trouble in the first
quarter of Saturday’s win over
Northwestern.
It started right away, as the
Wildcats (1-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten)
drove down the field and scored on
their first three drives, leaping out
to a 17-0 lead.
That result was a bit surprising,
considering
the
Wolverines’
defense is as strong as it is — the No.
1 total defense through five games
this season.
But
Northwestern
still
accumulated 145 yards on its first
three touchdowns, cutting its
way through Michigan’s vaunted
defense, all until the Wolverines
(4-1, 2-0) locked down for the
rest of the game, aiding in a 20-17
comeback victory.
“I can’t really put my finger on it,”
said junior cornerback David Long.
“Credit to them, they came out
hungry. We just made adjustments
and got back in there and competed
and fought our tails off to get back
into the game and ultimately win
it.”
It
was
the
second
time
Michigan’s defense has struggled in
the first quarter of a road game this
season. In its season-opening loss to
Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish got
nearly all their production in the
beginning of the game.
The difference is that Notre
Dame got its production with deep
bombs and a running quarterback.
The Wildcats, on the other
hand, used short, quick passing
plays to pick their way through the
Wolverines’ defense.
On Northwestern’s first drive, it
was a 36-yard screen pass that set it
up for a touchdown. For the rest of
the game, the Wildcats used slant
patterns effectively to move the
ball.
It continued a trend for Michigan.
Against Western Michigan and
SMU, though the final defensive
stats were still good, the Wolverines
had trouble covering the slant route.
Specifically, Michigan’s safeties
didn’t cover slot receivers very well.
“I mean, you know, it’s a quick
route,” said sophomore safety Brad
Hawkins. “Having a quick route
and playing a little off, it’s kind of
difficult, I guess. But we fixed it, you
know, so we’ve got a lot of things —
schemes and stuff coming in. So it’s
gonna be all right.”
In the second half, though, the
Wolverines made an adjustment
and stopped the slant route better.
That was part of the reason for
Northwestern’s worse offensive
performance, as it had just 56 yards
in the final 30 minutes.
“Same as anything else, just lock
in,” Long said. “Lock in and just get
our feet under ourselves and just
focus. Take the coaching, make the
adjustments and go in there and do
what we know how to do.”
Added Hawkins: “We kind of,
like, tightened down a little bit. Try
to hug them a little more. You know,
that’s a quick route, so you’ve gotta
be there fast on it.”
Michigan has heard the critics.
Whether it is about giving up 17
points to the Wildcats in their first
three drives or the penalties that
have plagued the Wolverines, they
have heard frustrations.
This week, Long responded to
the haters, tweeting, “If you’ve
never played man to man, please
refrain from making comments
about secondary play. Second, if you
can’t check me, please refrain from
giving your hot take as well.”
In the end, Michigan still has
the No. 1 total defense in the
nation. Surely that fact makes the
adjustments to slants or penalties or
whatever else much more palatable.
But the Wolverines still recognize
there are plenty of facets in which
they can improve.
“Haters are gonna be out there,”
said fifth-year senior defensive end
Chase Winovich. “It just is what it
is. It’s the nature of the game. We’re
playing crème de la crème football,
in terms of this is big boy football.
And with that, you’re gonna have
a lot of expectations, and the
expectations for the season are
high. So, people are gonna say what
they want, but at the end of the day,
yeah, we’re gonna go out there and
play.”
FOOTBALL
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
“I want to be a
shark in a
game full of
guppies.”
“I’m definitely
playing better,
and some of my
best football.”