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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Monday October 22, 2018 — 3B
It’s time to believe
EAST
LANSING
—
It
was
a
scene
not
even
Michigan
State coach
Mark
Dantonio
himself
could
have
scripted.
Rain
pouring down for the second
storm of the day, for the second
consecutive year, Spartan fans
gradually rising from the prior
malaise
with
each
passing
moment.
All it took was a Chris Evans
fumble on Michigan’s own
10-yard line to turn that energy
up to a fever pitch. Then, in a
trademark Dantonio Moment,
the Spartans tied the game
on a wide receiver pass to
quarterback Brian Lewerke —
the Philly Special, as seen most
famously in last year’s Super
Bowl.
You’d seen this script before,
and you knew how it ended.
This is where Michigan lays
down.
The
mentally-tough
Spartans do what they do the
way they want to do it, the
way they’ve done it eight of
the past 11 seasons against the
Wolverines.
After seven breezy weeks,
you wanted a test of this team’s
mental fortitude? There it was.
And with it rested the hopes
and
dreams
of
Michigan’s
season, teetering precariously
in the balance.
Then,
junior
quarterback
Shea Patterson found Donovan
Peoples-Jones for a 79-yard
touchdown — a throw Peoples-
Jones called “the most perfect
pass” — and the rain subsided.
And so did the monkey draped
on
Michigan’s
back,
as
it
paraded to a 21-7 win.
“This was big time. Every
week it seems that people will
… find a reason to critique us,
about why we don’t deserve
to be a top-ranked team,” said
junior running back Karan
Higdon. “Last week it was we
don’t show up in big games. This
week it’s Michigan State has
the number one run defense.
“Blah, blah blah.”
Certainly,
though
Higdon
may dismiss them, many of
those
questions
have
been
warranted. Prior to this win, the
best road win of the Harbaugh
era was either
the 32-23 win
in East Lansing
two years ago,
against a team
that
would
finish
3-9,
or
a
come-from-
behind win over
Minnesota
in
2015. Neither of
those approach
this triumph.
Along the step-ladder that
has been the last seven weeks,
there has been appropriate
skepticism.
It had to come against a
ranked opponent. It had to
come on the road. It had to
come against a rival.
Check. Check. Check.
And
you
know
what,
Michigan fans? It’s time to
believe.
You can believe this team
is different, that those scars
unearthed in the week one loss
to Notre Dame are healing.
After
beating
a
ranked
opponent for the first time
since 2006, the first time in
18 attempts to do so, you can
believe that this program is
turning
a
corner.
Perhaps
permanently.
And you can believe that
Saturday marked a new chapter
for Michigan in this rivalry. Or
so Wolverines players would
like you to believe.
Two
hours
before
the
game, both teams got started
as you might expect. With
Michigan on the field for pre-
game
warmups,
Michigan
State started their “Spartan
Walk,” in which the players
link and walk across the field.
When the Wolverine players
wouldn’t
move,
fifth-year
senior Lawrence Marshall was
clotheslined
by a Michigan
State player.
Minutes
later,
junior
linebacker
Devin
Bush
walked toward
the
logo
on
the middle of
the
field
and
adamantly
scuffed
it
up
with his cleats.
After the game, fifth-year
senior Chase Winovich, still
unquestionably pumping with
adrenaline, channeled his inner
Mike Hart in 2007.
“We came in here. I openly, in
the public, called it a ‘Revenge
Tour.’ Called them out, said
they’re next. We came in here,
slashed their field before the
game, and we still came out
here and just got after them
every single play.
“We knew that they couldn’t
hang with us. We did what we
had to do. Sometimes your
little brother starts acting up,
and you just gotta put them in
place.”
Put aside for a moment
whether this will be used as
motivation for the foreseeable
future (it will) or whether
Winovich — off to the NFL next
season — will have to deal with
the repurcussions (he won’t).
That was the exhalation of a
decade’s worth of frustration, a
privilege he and his teammates
have now earned.
After the game, Harbaugh
mentioned a quote he’d come
across for this week, from
Alonzo Mourning.
“Adversity introduces a man
to himself.”
Saturday
afternoon,
Michigan faced adversity like it
hadn’t since South Bend. There
was every form of precipitation,
fumbles galore, a road crowd,
one
giant
mental
hurdle
weighing down the program.
And on the other end the
Wolverines found out who they
are: a team with legitimate
post-season aspirations, and
with the mental fortitude to get
there.
None of this is to say this
team is assured a Big Ten title
or a College Football Playoff
appearance. Penn State and
Ohio State will surely have
something to say about that.
But it’s now safe to say this
team is different.
As the yards continued to
churn and the clock wilted
away, as fans in green and
white streamed for the exit and
the chants of “Let’s go blue”
steadily gained volume, that
became abundantly clear.
And then the clouds cleared
and sunshine peaked through.
Marcovitch can be reached
at maxmarco@umich.edu or on
Twitter at @Max_Marcovitch.
MAX
MARCOVITCH
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich recorded four tackles against Michigan State in Michigan’s 21-7 win over the Spartans on Saturday.
“We knew
that they
couldn’t hang
with us.”
Michigan tops OSU
in overtime thriller
It was a goal 87 minutes in
the making.
Both teams were exhausted
heading into a second overtime,
and a back-to-back Big Ten
regular season title was on the
line for Michigan.
The
Wolverines’
break
came
with
just
over
two
minutes
remaining
in
the
second overtime. Sophomore
midfielder Kayla Reed found
herself alone along the baseline
with the ball on
her
stick
and
the game in her
hands.
Reed
carried
the
ball along the
right
baseline
directly toward
the
goal
and
snuck it behind
the keeper.
With
the
goal, the No. 7
Wolverines (11-5 overall, 6-1
Big Ten) successfully clawed
their way to a double-overtime
victory against No. 21 Ohio
State (11-6, 4-3), and with it,
another conference title.
“I guess I was lucky enough
to find myself along the baseline
... tried to look for the pass but
they’d cut them off,” Reed said.
“I’d seen the goalie so I just
popped it down and hoped for
the best.”
The game began slowly, with
both teams failing to score in the
first half. Michigan dominated
possession
but
struggled
offensively. The Wolverines had
the momentum at the first half’s
end, but it quickly switched
in favor of the Buckeyes at the
start of the second frame. Ohio
State tallied six shots and five
penalty corners.
A string of three corners led
to Buckeye midfielder Esther
Clotet scoring off a low, hard
shot to the corner. No more
than ten minutes later, the
Wolverines had an answer to
Ohio State’s goal. Reed sent a
hard shot toward the goal off
a restart, and junior forward
Meg Dowthwaite deflected the
ball into the net from the right
post.
It was not smooth sailing
for
Michigan
heading
into
overtime with the game tied at
one. The Wolverines competed
with a player
down for five
minutes of the
first ten-minute
overtime period
— the result of
a yellow card
to
junior
Fay
Keijer
in
the
65th minute of
regular time.
“I mean it’s
extraordinary
to go through an overtime
down a player and survive
that,” said Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz. “Once we
got our player back, I felt really
confident
that
things
were
gonna go our way.”
With
the
defeat
of
the
Buckeyes, Michigan finished
the regular season 7-1 in the Big
Ten, good enough for a share of
the conference title with No.
2 Maryland. The Wolverines
finished the season 8-0 at home
and will host the first round of
the Big Ten Tournament next
Sunday.
“I love playing home, it’s such
a good experience,” Reed said.
“Just a sense of pride, keeping
a clean slate on your field. It’s
always a good atmosphere, it’s
really cool to have your friends
in the stands, cheering you on.”
MOLLY SHEA
For the Daily
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore midfielder Kayla Reed scored the game-winning goal on Sunday.
“I love playing
at home, it’s
such a good
experience.”