The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 21, 2018 — 7A

Patterson is familiar with, and ready for, Ohio State

When 
Shea 
Patterson 
announced 
his 
transfer 
to 
Michigan last December, he 
did it in the way any college 
student makes announcements: 
on Twitter.
As one would expect, the 
reactions 
were 
varied 
and 
plentiful, and one of them came 
from a surprising source.
Ohio 
State 
quarterback 
Dwayne Haskins quote-tweeted 
Patterson’s 
announcement, 
saying: “Rivalry just got a lot 
more interesting bro.”
From the outside, it was an 
innocuous comment from the 
Wolverines’ rival quarterback, 
simply commenting on the state 
of the rivalry.
But Patterson and Haskins 
know each other well. They were 
the No. 1 and No. 8 quarterback 
recruits, 
respectively, 
in 
the 2016 recruiting class, so 
they went to plenty of camps 
together. 
Tuesday, 
Patterson 
spoke to media and estimated 
that he and Haskins have known 
each other since seventh or 
eighth grade.
“I would (call us friends),” 
Patterson 
said. 
“We’re 
not 
gonna be friends on Saturday, 
but just like anything else, it’s 
football. Off the field. Before the 
game, probably not. Later down 
the road, yeah.
“But nobody not wearing the 
maize and blue is my friend on 
Saturday.”
His relationship with the 
opposing 
quarterback 
is 
a 
reminder that Patterson is more 
familiar than a normal transfer 
would be with the history 
surrounding the program he 
joined.
Patterson grew up in Toledo, 
Oh. as a Michigan fan — his 
father 
was 
a 
season-ticket 
holder — and he says his favorite 
memories of The Game growing 
up were of watching highlights 
of Charles Woodson playing the 
Buckeyes.
It makes sense Patterson 

would look back to those games, 
since Michigan is 2-15 in its last 
17 matchups with Ohio State. 
The last real good Wolverine 
memories from The Game are 
the Woodson days from 1995-
1997.
Patterson is familiar with that 
history too, and he knows what 
Saturday’s edition of The Game 
means to fans and players alike. 
However, he also recognizes 
there is more than just bragging 
rights at stake this season.
“Obviously, everybody knows 
how big of a game it is and how 
much of a rivalry this is to us 
and them,” Patterson said. “But 
there’s just a lot more at stake. 
There’s a Big Ten title and a 
national playoff spot, so not too 
sure how often both of us have 
that opportunity. So there’s a 
lot more at stake than just the 
rivalry.”
In that, Patterson is correct.
Michigan 
has 
a 
chance 
to send itself to the Big Ten 

Championship 
and 
keep 
its 
national 
championship 
aspirations alive for at least 
another week.
And, Patterson is to thank for 
that.
Quarterback play has severely 
handicapped 
the 
Wolverines 
in past iterations of The Game. 
Last season, especially, comes 
to mind, when a consistent 
quarterback may have been 
enough to push Michigan over 
the top in a close matchup.
Patterson has thrown for 2,177 
yards, 18 touchdowns and just 
four interceptions this season. 
He has the 17th-best passing 
efficiency and the 19th-best 
completion percentage in the 
country.
His ability to run the ball 
has changed the dynamic of 
the Wolverines’ offense, and 
what they are capable of doing 
completely.
“Shea has been an integral 
part of this team,” said fifth-

year senior linebacker Noah 
Furbush. “Really just being an 
anchor on offense for us. He’s 
kind of that guy that makes 
plays for us. He is what you want 
a quarterback to be — somebody 
who controls the game, makes 
plays for you when you need it 
and really is a leader for your 
offense and for the team as a 
whole.”
Patterson’s 
impact 
is 
undeniable, and he can make an 
impact on Michigan’s history 
Saturday — if he can do what no 
Wolverine quarterback, or team, 
has been able to do since 2000 — 
beat Ohio State in Columbus.
If there was any Michigan 
team who had a good chance 
of doing that, it’s this season’s 
team, and that is, in part, 
because of Patterson.
In 
that 
sense, 
it 
seems 
Haskins may have been right 
back in December. Patterson 
has made this rivalry game a lot 
more interesting.

Michigan ousts Lehigh, 
21-13 in first home meet

Wrestlers swipe at each other’s 
ankles, referees circle the mat and 
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasts 
from Crisler Center’s speakers.
Michigan wrestling is back in 
Ann Arbor.
In the first home dual meet of 
the season, themed ‘Wrestle ‘n 
Roll,’ the fifth-ranked Michigan 
wrestling team (2-0) beat sixth-
ranked Lehigh (0-1), 21-13, with 
key wins from sophomore Drew 
Mattin, redshirt junior Myles 
Amine and redshirt freshman 
Jelani Embree.
The Wolverines started the 
meet 
strong 
with 
dominant 
wins in the 133 and 141-pound 
weight classes, delivered with 
gritty takedowns by redshirt 
junior Stevan Micic and redshirt 
sophomore 
Kanen 
Storr, 
respectively. The wins swung 
Michigan’s score to 6-0 early in 
the meet.
Despite 
initial 
momentum, 
redshirt senior Malik Amine 
faced a tough opponent in the 
149-pound division and came 
away from the second period tied 
2-2. Amine left the match with 
an injury soon after and went 
through 
concussion 
protocol, 
dropping the match by default 
and evening the team score to 
6-6.
Frustrated by the default loss 
in a close match, the Wolverines 
came back with a 9-7 win by 
redshirt junior Ben Lamantia and 
a 5-3 win by redshirt junior Logan 
Massa. Michigan began taking 
control of the meet, after Myles 
Amine’s 5-4 win over Lehigh’s 
Jordan Kutler in the 174-pound 
division. Amine and Kutler, both 
All-Americans and ranked in the 
top-10 nationally for their weight 
class, wrestled each other twice 
last year — each earning a win.
Amine delivered a takedown to 
start the match, which Lehigh’s 
coach challenged. Despite the 

objections, the referees upheld 
the call and Kutler responded 
with a takedown, tying the score 
at 2-2. Quick footwork at the 
start of the second period led to 
a Michigan escape, and a final 
takedown in the last 30 seconds 
captured the win for Amine and 
pushed the overall score to 15-6.
“I knew that if I went out there 
and stayed offensive that I’d come 
away with a win,” Amine said. “I 
wrestled a very similar match to 
how I did at the NCAA’s against 
him, so it feels good.”
Embree continued Michigan’s 
success, ousting his opponent 7-3 
after early takedowns.
Though the Wolverines lost 
their next two matches in the 
197-pound 
and 
heavyweight 
divisions, Mattin rounded out 
the meet with a dramatic pin 
and scrappy 3-2 win. Mattin’s 
win brought the team score to 
21-13 and secured the win for 
Michigan — a hard fought result 
considering the letdown after the 
meet was postponed from Friday.
“We won against Central 
(Michigan) and then we had a lot 
of buildup, and I feel like our guys 
were really keyed up to wrestle 
Friday night,” said Michigan 
coach Sean Bormet. “Continuing 
to wrestle hard and work over 
the full seven minutes will be an 
important piece going into Las 
Vegas.”
Myles Amine seconded the 
disappointment of the change in 
date, but noted the importance 
of 
the 
win 
on 
the 
team’s 
preparations for the Nov. 30 
tournament in Las Vegas.
“You really just have to not 
focus on those things and just 
focus on what’s relevant, which 
is just showing up and wrestling, 
whether that’s on a Friday or a 
Sunday,” Amine said. “Lehigh 
was a team that beat us up pretty 
bad last year, so to turn around 
and gain some momentum going 
into Las Vegas is a good win for 
the team.”

For Gary, frustration for last two years lingers

Tuesday afternoon, Rashan 
Gary faced reporters with a 
measured edge. Asked about 
his brief recruitment with 
Ohio State, Gary provided 
terse answers.
“What else do you want 
me to tell you about that?” he 
chided. 
With the biggest game of his 
college career to date looming, 
Gary had only one thing on his 
mind.
“Everybody 
knows 
what 
week it is,” he said. “I’m 
focused. I’m trying to hurry 
up, get back to watching film. 
It’s one of those types of 
weeks.”
The junior defensive end 
will anchor the top-ranked 
defense in the country heading 
into Saturday’s de facto Big 
Ten East title game. At this 
point, 
everybody 
knows 
what’s on the line: a spot in 
the Big Ten Championship 
game against Northwestern, 
College Football Playoff hopes, 
perhaps the balance of power 
in the conference for the 
foreseeable future.
So, in short, just about 
everything.
It mirrors the game two 
years ago — Gary’s freshman 
year — in which Michigan fell, 
30-27, in double overtime. For 
those around at the time, Gary 
among them, that heartbreak 
festers.
“My freshman year, we were 
close to winning. A couple of 
plays went sideways,” he said. 
“It’s just that one big play 
that 
everybody 
remembers. 
I don’t want to talk about it, 
but 
everybody 
knows 
that 
play. That’s what I keep in the 
back of my head, and I know 
my brothers keep that in the 
back of their head and use it 
as motivation going into this 
game.”
“That one big play,” of 
course, 
was 
JT 
Barrett’s 
fourth down conversion. The 
referee awarded Barrett a first 
down, 
despite 
inconclusive 
replays questioning the spot 
of the ball. Gary doesn’t want 

to talk about it, but the trauma 
still lingers. Asked about his 
recollection of those moments, 
the memories unspool.
“Man. 
Bring 
me 
back,” 
he 
said. 
“I 
was 
highly 
disappointed, 
because 
I’m 
looking up at the screen and to 
myself I’m like, ‘Nah, can’t be a 
first down.’ Then they end up 
getting it. It’s 
a little slap on 
the face, but you 
know what it is, 
it is what it is.”
A 
year 
later, 
more 
disappointment. 
Michigan 
led 
14-0 after the 
fourth 
quarter 
and 
appeared 
poised to upset 
the Buckeyes. Led by backup 
quarterback Dwayne Haskins, 
Ohio 
State 
subsequently 
stormed past a tired Michigan 
defense.
For the Wolverines, that’s 
what this rivalry has been for 
the better part of two decades: 
annual frustration. 

“We came out hot to a 
good start (last year), then 
we just started making small 
mistakes,” Gary said. “And 
small mistakes end up putting 
points on the board. They 
started gaining big yardage 
plays. That’s something I take 
apart from last year. This year 
we’re a different team, and I 
feel like we’re 
closer 
as 
a 
team. We know 
what we need to 
do and we know 
what we need to 
take care of.”
Gary 
says 
that this year, it 
feels different. 
This is no lip 
service.
Michigan has 
marched its way through the 
“Revenge Tour” with utter 
dominance, rattling off nine 
consecutive dominant wins 
after the loss to Notre Dame.
For one, it has quarterback 
Shea Patterson running the 
show, who is in the midst of one 
of the best statistical seasons 

by a Michigan quarterback 
in several years. Gary called 
him “a piece of the team we 
needed.” 
The 
Wolverines 
enter Columbus a four-point 
favorite for good reason.
And Gary, for his part, 
appears ready to make his 
mark. He returned from a 
lingering 
shoulder 
injury 
three weeks ago against Penn 
State. 
Last 
week 
against 
Indiana, he notched 1.5 sacks, 
tossing 
around 
offensive 
linemen the way he’s shown in 
flashes during his three years.
He 
won’t 
make 
any 
guarantees or offer any baited 
one-line zingers. But Gary and 
his teammates aren’t hiding 
their confidence. What makes 
this year different?
“Just our brotherhood. I 
feel like how our swagger is 
and what we want as a team 
goal.”
And for Gary specificially, 
there are conversations to 
have, NFL decisions to make 
in the near future. No time for 
that now, though.
He’s got film to watch.

Wolverines cap season 
at NCAA Championships

The wintry white of the Thomas 
Zimmer Championship Course in 
Madison, Wis. was streaked with 
maize and blue on Saturday as the 
men’s and women’s cross country 
teams competed in the NCAA 
Championships.
After its fourth consecutive 
Great Lakes regional title last 
weekend, the No. 6 women’s team 
capped off its 2018 season on the 
national podium with a fourth-
place finish behind Colorado, New 
Mexico and Oregon. The No. 20 
men’s team beat its ranking with a 
19th-place finish — the fourth top-
20 finish in the last five seasons.
Redshirt 
freshman 
Camille 
Davre and fifth-year senior Avery 
Evenson led the women on the 
snow-covered course at 29th and 
38th, respectively. Those under-40 
finishes qualify Davre and Evenson 
for All-American titles.
“It definitely was tough in that 
the course had a few inches of snow 
on it,” said Michigan women’s 
coach Mike McGuire. “But that’s 
something that everyone had to 
navigate.
“We 
were 
well 
prepared 
knowing that a midwestern city 
like 
Madison 
would 
possibly 
present those elements to us, and 
being from Michigan, it isn’t like 
we haven’t been in it before.”
This strength in the elements 
was evident in the Wolverines’ 
recovery from a difficult start to 
the six-kilometer race.
“At the start, it felt a little dicey 
just with the snow and everyone 
getting out pretty quick,” Davre 
said. “We kind of got swarmed 
because we were in the middle 
of the pack, but I think looking 
back I was surprised at how good 
I felt at the halfway point and I 
kept moving up, looking ahead to 
the next pack and trying to catch 
them.”
In the tough terrain of the last 
two kilometers, Michigan settled 
into its fourth place position — 
which held until the end of the race 
— and edged out the Stanford team 
that had been nipping at their heels 

in the final stretch. Ultimately, 
Michigan finished seven runners 
in the top 100.
The men’s team was led by 
All-American 
sophomore 
Jack 
Aho’s 35th-place finish and also 
highlighted by true freshman John 
Travers’ 79th-place finish in just 
the second ten-kilometer race of 
his cross country career. After a 
strong start, Aho maintained his 
place in the pack in the last five 
kilometers.
Aho’s performance marked a 
significant improvement from last 
year’s race.
“I had run here last year and 
finished 122nd, which was alright 
but nothing crazy,” Aho said. “So I 
took that experience and knew this 
year I wanted to get out hard and 
put myself in contention to be All-
American right away.
“You just have to keep your foot 
on the pedal I guess — that’s how I’d 
describe my strategy throughout.”
Despite 
Aho’s 
strong 
performance, the men’s team 
believed that there was some room 
for improvement. Its 19th-place 
finish was the culmination of 
a season that saw both ups and 
downs.
“We didn’t necessarily run our 
best race yesterday,” Aho said. “But 
I really don’t think we can hang 
our heads at finishing 19th in the 
nation.”
“I think it was a good season for 
us to build off of — we graduated 
three really high quality seniors 
from the team last year and so 
we’ve been in a bit of a rebuilding 
mode this year,” said men’s 
coach Kevin Sullivan. “We’ve got 
everybody back next year and 
we’re adding some really good 
parts to the team, so I think the 
future is very bright for us moving 
forward.”
Both teams ultimately felt their 
seasons ended on a positive note, in 
spite of the snowy conditions.
“It really did help that we were 
wearing our maize bows,” Davre 
said. “Just having those colors — 
the maize and blue — against the 
snow to keep pulling me and the 
others forward throughout the 
race was a tremendous help.”

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

CROSS COUNTRY

AIDAN WOUTAS
For the Daily

WRESTLING

LILY FRIEDMAN
For the Daily

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

CARTER FOX/Daily
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary had 1.5 sacks last week in the Wolverines’ 31-20 win over Indiana in Ann Arbor.

“‘Nah, can’t be 
a first down.’ 
Then they end 
up getting it.”

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson has improved Michigan’s quartback game this season, throwing for 18 touchdowns.

