2B — November 19, 2018 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com For better or worse, this is it Y ou’ll read this sentiment several times this week: The Michigan football team will play Ohio State — its biggest rival — Saturday, with a chance to keep its dreams alive. The Wolver- ines can exor- cise their Big Ten Cham- pionship demons, their can’t- beat-the-Buckeyes demons and continue their trek toward rising to the College Football Playoff. Put another way, they control their own destiny. Those will be tired tropes by the time kickoff comes around, but that isn’t without good rea- son. Michigan is staying mum on the topic. The Wolverines have avoided any dream-killing loss for 10 straight games, doing what they must to get to this position by beating any and every team in their path. And they claim they’ll maintain the same mindset this week. “It’s just another game,” said junior quarterback Shea Pat- terson. “We understand the tradition and meaning behind it, and we’re gonna attack it the same way we have the past 10 or 11 weeks. We know that they’re a good ball club, and at their place, but we’re just gonna prepare.” The Wolverines have to say that, of course. But this isn’t another game, for all the rea- sons listed above. It is a game to prove this season has been for something. The last 14 seasons — the time since Michigan last won a share of the Big Ten — have been leading up to this. Realisti- cally, it’s been longer than that, considering the Wolverines lost to the Buckeyes that season. The Wolverines haven’t beaten Ohio State and won the Big Ten in the same season since 2003. “It is different,” said senior running back Karan Higdon. “It’s been awhile since this has been a game to determine our fate in the national champi- onship, for a Big Ten Champion- ship. It definite- ly is different year.” That isn’t exactly true. Michigan was in this same position in 2016, when it came into The Game ranked No. 2, while the Buck- eyes were No. 3. We remember how that went. The Wolverines played about as well as they could, except they couldn’t tackle Ohio State running back Curtis Samuel on a 3rd-and-long. Then JT Bar- rett squeezed out a first down, and then Michi- gan ultimately wilted, losing in overtime. If you think back further, the Wolverines were here in 2006, too, when the teams were ranked first and second, respec- tively, and once again, the Buck- eyes won. What Higdon said is true in that this feels like Michigan’s best chance to actually go into Columbus and win the game in quite a while. The 2016 Wolverines had just lost to Iowa, and they were probably at a talent disadvan- tage with how the Buckeyes’ offense was clicking. If it weren’t for Ohio State’s kicker that afternoon, The Game wouldn’t have even reached overtime — let alone double overtime — that year. In 2006, it was a knockdown, dragout fight, but Troy Smith was Troy Smith, and the Michi- gan defense really struggled against the Buckeyes’ spread offense. This season, though, the Wolverines have blown through every challenge that has come their way. They killed Wisconsin and Penn State, and they physi- cally dominated Michigan State, even if the score didn’t reflect the bludgeoning that the yardage totals did. Those games began the “Revenge Tour” that has shaped how this season has felt for Michigan. All the wrongs that have been done to the Wolverines over coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure have been righted. There is one more regular- season score to settle. “Everybody in the entire country knows what this week- end is,” said junior defensive end Rashan Gary. “We know what this weekend is. So we’re gonna attack it. It’s been a whole year having a bad taste in our mouths. We’ve just gotta go out, prepare the right way and, you know, go out there on Sat- urday and see what happens.” Additionally, the Wolverines are nearly at full strength. Even with the injury to fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich, who hurt his shoul- der Saturday against Indiana, Michigan has had very good luck with injuries. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Tarik Black came back this season. Junior defensive end Rashan Gary came back too. And Win- ovich’s backups, sophomore Kwity Paye and freshman Aidan Hutchinson, have proven capable. So there are no excuses to be had. It has all been leading up to this game for Michigan. Forget the past, forget what has already happened this sea- son and forget the future for now. If the Wolverines want to reach that future, they need to win Saturday. It’s as simple as that. You know it. I know it. They know it. Now it’s time to see if this whole season — the 10-game win streak, the talk of a new attitude in the program, the Revenge Tour — is for real, or if it’s just another opportu- nity in Columbus gone to waste. Persak can be reached at mdpers@umich.edu, on Twitter at @MikeDPersak or on venmo at @Mike-Persak. EVAN AARON/Daily The Michigan football team will travel to Columbus on Saturday for the Wolverines’ annual rivalry game with Ohio State holding a 10-1 record for the season. Michigan slips past Indiana, 31-20, Ohio State looms Oh, you thought this would be easy, didn’t you? With just a week before a clash in Columbus, conventional wisdom assumed the No. 4 Michigan football team would cruise past Indiana (2-6 Big Ten, 5-6 overall) on Saturday. There was nothing easy about it, though. Between costly offensive miscues and defensive lapses, injuries and turnovers, and plenty in between, the Wolverines’ performance will leave much to be desired. But as the saying goes: a win is a win Against a Big Ten foe in late November, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh will take it. “When you’re in playoff mode — that’s our mindset right — playoff wins are big,” Harbaugh said. After a 31-20 comeback victory over the Hoosiers, the Wolverines (8-0, 10-1) will square off against Ohio State next Saturday with the Big Ten East on the line and College Football Playoff hopes still squarely in the balance. “Proud of our guys the way they played today,” Harbaugh said. “Onto the next game, onto the big game, onto the championship game. Onward.” It was evident from the outset Saturday would yield no rout. Running back Stevie Scott scored from 13 yards out to give Indiana a 7-3 lead with 4:14 left in the first quarter. Newly-minted starting kicker, freshman Jake Moody, cut that lead to 7-6 on the next drive — but only after junior quarterback Shea Patterson and redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry failed to connect on a seemingly easy touchdown. Michigan added another field goal on the next drive to take a 9-7 lead, but, again, wasted a precious red zone opportunity. In the half, the Wolverines came away with just nine points in four first half red zone trips. “I couldn’t put my finger on it,” said junior running back Karan Higdon said of the struggles. “I think it was us just not executing and being efficient the way you needed to be.” With miscues piling up, responsibility fell on Moody, who answered the call dutifully. He finished 6-for-6 on field goals, a school record for made field goals in a game. Even when Michigan’s offense seemed to break, though — like on a 41-yard touchdown catch by junior tight end Nick Eubanks in the second quarter — Indiana had an answer, marching down the field in three mintues to take back the lead. The most boneheaded mistake of the game came at the end of the first half. With the clock winding down, Patterson found junior tight end Sean McKeon near the end zone. McKeon was tackled short of the goal line, allowing the half to expire without adding points and the attempt to spike the ball in time failed. Video later surfaced of an Indiana defensive lineman kicking the ball in an attempt to delay the snap. “They made a great play on it, a great tackle in the field of play,” Harbaugh said. “… There seemed to be some problems getting the ball back in. Whether that was us not getting the ball to the official quick enough or seeing that they kicked the ball, I don’t know.” The Wolverines came out of the half clearly re-energized and re-focused, particularly defensively. They forced a three-and-out on their first defensive drive and drove 67 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown immediately after to lead 22-17. Despite an uneven performance throughout, Michigan held onto that lead the rest of the night. “That kind of just tested our resiliency. It kind of felt like the Northwestern game a little bit, just a gritty game, they’re a good team,” said junior quarterback Shea Patterson. “I think there’s a lot of positives to take out of this. When you’re tested, you either give in to whatever or come out resilient.” Despite the result, Saturday’s game will be clouded with unease. Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich left in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury. Fifth-year senior running back Berkley Edwards left the game in the fourth quarter after getting hit on a special teams play. After the game, Harbaugh said Winovich’s x-rays were negative. Despite the grim nature of the injury, Harbaugh was also optimistic Edwards would be OK. For Michigan it was one of those games — ugly injuries, inefficient red zone play, mental and physical errors aplenty. But, in the end, a win. And a win that secures a date with Ohio State next Saturday with everything on the line. “We’re proving stuff to ourselves,” Higdon said. “That we can definitely be the best team in the country. That we’re definitely a top-four team. And that we’re a playoff contender and we deserve to be in the playoffs. That only happens if we continue to dominate each and every week.” Wolverines suffer emotional injuries in win over Indiana The Michigan football team has gone relatively unscathed this season in terms of injuries. Really, the only notable ones were redshirt freshman wide receiver Tarik Black, who missed a majority of the season with a broken foot, and junior defensive end Rashan Gary, who sat out four games with a shoulder issue. That has pretty much been the extent of it for the Wolverines. On Saturday night, despite defeating Indiana, 31-20, Michigan’s injury luck turned on its head. It began, in earnest, in the third quarter. Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich was rushing the passer, matched up with the Hoosiers’ right tackle. Right guard Simon Stepaniak came over to help on Winovich, dumped him to the ground hard on Winovich’s left shoulder and dove on top of him to keep him down. As it turns out, he kept Winovich down for quite a while. Winovich lay motionless on the field for a few moments before being tended to by trainers, as his teammates milled around on the sideline, hoping for the best. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson — Winovich’s roommate — even walked onto the field to give Winovich some words of encouragement. “I don’t know the severity of his injury,” Patterson said after the game. “I know him really well. I just told him I love him, and we’re behind him no matter what happens. That’s basically all you can do. Just him, with his work ethic and as a senior in his last game … I just wanted to let him know I was there and the whole team was there for him.” Reports later surfaced that Winovich’s parents joined him in the locker room, raising the level of concern among Wolverine fans. However, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Winovich’s x-rays and CT scans were negative after the game. From there, the Wolverines had no choice but to rally together. “It’s a brotherhood,” Gary said. “So when you see one of your brothers go down, of course you’re gonna feel attacked and feel let down and hurt. But, you know, football is football, and when they went out, now the game is for them and us. So I tried to play any snaps with Chase just how he would when I wasn’t playing. That’s my brother, and we just had to play like that.” That wasn’t the end of the jarring injuries for Michigan. In the fourth quarter, on a kickoff return, fifth-year senior backup running back Berkley Edwards got blown up while trying to block. The offender, Indiana’s Cam Jones, was ejected for targeting, while Edwards was eventually carted off the field on a stretcher and brought to the hospital. Edwards’ brother, Braylon — the legendary former-Wolverines receiver — updated the situation later via Twitter. “Berkley, everything looked good when he left the stadium,” Harbaugh said. “He did have a concussion — he had a pretty good-sized concussion. He looked good when he left here, but he was taken to the hospital as a precaution, so we’ll have later updates there.” These two injuries, in particular, gave Michigan a sour taste in its mouth. After Edwards went down, several players were jawing at the Hoosiers’ sideline. “It did get chippy,” said senior running back Karan Higdon. “… Obviously, the situation with my brother Berkley Edwards didn’t sit well with anybody, and that was a situation that was unfortunate, and it kind of shook the team up a little bit.” In both Winovich and Edwards’ cases, the prognoses were better than originally expected. Still, as Gary and Higdon said, the pauses were long and clearly emotional. But the Wolverines simply had to rebound. If the final score is any indication, they did. FOOTBALL MIKE PERSAK Managing Sports Editor ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily Junior tight end Nick Eubanks notched a 41-yard touchdown for the Wolverines in the second quarter of Saturday’s game. MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor MIKE PERSAK “We know what weekend it is. So we’re gonna attack it.” “It’s been a whole year having a bad taste in our mouths.”