By Susan Gelfand
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/17/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
10/17/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Thursday, October 17, 2019
ACROSS
1 Quick blows
5 In need of a
massage
9 “Back to the
Future” surname
14 Kitchen topper
15 Repeatable toy
vehicle sound
16 Pine or Rock
17 Duo in the news
18 Pushed the bell
19 Fountain pen
precursor
20 Article about life
jackets?
23 Whirl, so to
speak
24 Brewed
beverages
25 Didn’t let renege
on
28 Chi follower
29 Bumbler
30 Steal from
31 Article about
a European
language?
36 Serpent suffix
37 Latest thing
38 Monet medium
39 CBS military
series
40 Texter’s “Yikes!”
41 Article about
crosswords?
45 Solemn
assurance
46 Word ending for
enzymes
47 Deli delicacy
48 Surround, as with
a glow
50 Cherokee on the
road
52 Dude
55 Article about a
dessert?
58 Choral work
60 Small addition?
61 Honey haven
62 Ward off
63 School near
Windsor
64 __-friendly
65 Entourage
66 “The Metaphysics
of Morals” writer
67 Cubs spring
training city
DOWN
1 Support beam
2 Destination for a
wedding
3 Like many
wrestlers
4 Unspecified
amount
5 Nail salon
material
6 Irritate
7 Sharpens
8 Class with mats
9 “12 Years a
Slave” director
Steve
10 Boor
11 Panda Express
staple
12 Short short?
13 Designer
monogram
21 Assignment
22 Classic 1954
horror film about
giant ants
26 Vodka __
27 More than a bit
heavy
28 Middle of Tripoli?
29 One advocating
buying
31 Trees of a kind,
often
32 San __, city near
San Francisco
33 Meringue
ingredients
34 Go slowly
35 Claiborne of
fashion
39 Scuttle
41 Painter’s set of
colors
42 Biennial games
org.
43 Mercury, for one
44 Orchestra name
reflecting its
music
49 Superb servers
50 Volkswagen
sedan
51 Big name in
stationery
52 Capital WNW of
Cheyenne
53 Wanders
54 Stage
performance with
singing
56 Give a strong
impression (of)
57 Buddy
58 Hiker’s guide
59 Lacto-__
vegetarian
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
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HSHLD TASKS
Walk to UM
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6A — Thursday, October 17, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Ed Warinner hoping Michigan has
found its identity in the run game
Monday
afternoon,
when
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
was asked whether he likes the
progress from the run game,
he offered up only one word
before pausing for further
contemplation.
“Yes.”
And so far through six games
of the Josh Gattis era, the
numbers back him up. Since
averaging a miserable 2.1 yards
per carry against Wisconsin,
the Wolverines have managed
at least 3.4 in every game since.
Not lighting the world on fire,
but progress.
On
Saturday,
Michigan
football’s ground resurgence
peaked in a 14-carry, 161-yard
first quarter against Illinois.
The
Wolverines
had
five
explosive plays (which they
define as rushes of at least 12
yards) on the ground in the
first 15 minutes — more than
their last four games combined.
“We got the outside zone
game going with the pin-and-
pull, getting some linemen
out on the edge, pulling our
guards and center out there,”
said offensive line coach Ed
Warinner. “They did a nice job
of that. But it was just good to
establish the run game.”
Early in the season, teams
were taking away that pin-
and-pull play — Michigan’s
most-used run scheme a year
ago, according to Warinner.
The play requires the strong-
side tight end to seal the edge,
allowing either a guard or
center to pull and get to the
second level, and opening up
holes for potential big plays.
But
facing
different
defensive
looks
in
Gattis’
spread offense, the Wolverines
hadn’t been able to open up
holes on pin-and-pulls until
Saturday.
“The difference in what you
see defensively when you’re in
more spread-out formations
and when you’re in more
condensed (is big),” Warinner
said. “Yeah, that for sure has
been the biggest difference for
how you block.”
Michigan’s
issues
establishing the pin-and-pull
underscore that larger point.
It’s week eight now, and the
Wolverines are still finding
out which run packages work
in Gattis’ offense.
Warinner knows that’s not
okay. He also believes they’re
still figuring it out.
“I just think it becomes
clearer what you can and can’t
do and what you’re good at
and what you’re not good at,”
Warinner said. “And it just, as
that picture clears itself up,
then you stick with that, do it
more, build on it. So we’re all
into doing that.”
The goal, of course, was
to have an identity solidified
long before entering the meat
of their schedule — a bruising
slate
featuring
marquee
matchups against Penn State,
Notre Dame, Michigan State
and Ohio State in the latter
half of the season.
Wednesday
afternoon,
Warinner said he evaluates
what a team’s identity should
be after two to three games.
This year, its third game was
a 21-point loss to Wisconsin,
with just 40 rushing yards and
a carry split in flux. Senior
quarterback Shea Patterson,
who ran for 273 yards a year
ago, had a long of four yards
that day.
Now, he has 42 yards in
Michigan’s last two games. A
modest total, but enough to
get the Wolverines’ zone-read
game working.
“That makes a defense stay
honest,” Warinner said. “And
when I say honest, they have to
protect all the gaps. They can’t
collapse extra people into the
box and so they have to be real
cognizant of him as a threat.
Because he is a threat, you’ve
seen it the last couple weeks.”
In
front
of
Patterson,
the offensive line play has
been there — “really getting
consistent, gelling and playing
with a style of play that’s
physical, smart and tough,”
as Harbaugh puts it. The
running backs, despite their
inexperience,
have
enough
explosiveness to get the job
done. The key is putting it all
together into a coherent run
game.
“You have to establish who
you are and what you want to
do,” Warinner said. “And then
you evaluate. At some point,
you have to say, here’s what
we’re good at.”
As
the
11.5
yards
per
carry in the first quarter
against Illinois showed, the
Wolverines are getting there.
As the 3.9 yards per carry after
that showed, they still have a
ways to go.
McGrone playing in Bush’s image
Cam
McGrone
briefly
shuffled
his
feet
as
he
approached
the
line
of
scrimmage, sizing up the play
before launching. He kept his
eyes forward, identifying the
roll-out,
play-action
Illinois
was attempting to execute. The
redshirt freshman linebacker
then bolted, darting toward
Illinois
quarterback
Matt
Robinson, grasping his right
arm and holding tight.
Moments later, he jarred the
ball loose, as the convulsion
of Robinson’s body met the
force of McGrone’s strength.
The ball came free. Fifth-
year senior linebacker Jordan
Glasgow fell on it. In doing so,
the defense put to rest any hints
of an upset bid on Saturday —
and McGrone added another
chapter to his rapidly-evolving
breakout campaign.
“They didn’t really want
to play with us anymore,”
McGrone
said
confidently
after the game. “I had an
opportunity, and I had to take
it.
“I saw the opportunity to
make a big play. So, I had to for
my team.”
It was the kind of play
Michigan
fans
have
come
to expect from their MIKE
linebacker
in
recent
years.
Devin Bush, now flirting with
NFL stardom himself, made
those plays at Michigan on a
near-weekly basis, when his
whirring
sideline-to-sideline
speed and uncanny instincts
landed him among Michigan’s
best ever. When Bush left,
charting off to millions of
dollars as a top-10 NFL draft
pick, it was reasonable to
expect a degree of drop-off at
the position.
Cerebral linebackers with
running
back-speed
don’t
just grow on trees. Or so the
coaching staff thought.
“(Bush) was able to cover
up
for
some
mistakes
of
the
linebackers,
but
we’ve
grown as a linebacker room
as individuals,” Glasgow said
before the season. “I feel that
we’ll be able to cover each other.
We might not have a top-10 pick
in the linebacker room now, but
that doesn’t mean that we can’t
be as effective as linebackers,
like, in total.
“As everyone improves, I feel
that we’ll be just as good as we
were last year.”
Even
that
confidence,
though, did not promise a like-
for-like replica of Bush. No
one assumes that mantle four
games into a career, no matter
how impressive, but McGrone
has shown glimpses of a similar
skillset.
And with 2.5 sacks and 3.5
tackles for loss, there’s reason
to believe he’s learning how
to translate that talent into
on-field production.
“You can have a good idea
of when guys are seeing it,
because like I said, your eyes
control the function of your
body,” said linebackers coach
Anthony
Campanile.
“They
tell your feet what to do. When
guys’ feet start playing fast, you
got a pretty good idea as a coach
that this guy is taking a step
and he’s kinda entering another
level.
“I think the reps he got, even
in the Wisconsin game, were
invaluable to him. Any work
you get as a young guy, in terms
of developing confidence, it’s
huge. He’s done a great job with
it, he’s taken a step each week.
From camp on, I think he’s just
gotten progressively better and
better, incrementally.”
What Campanile describes —
a kind of measured, incremental
rise — might well be true. But
what’s been on display on the
field for McGrone has been
meteoric.
Mere weeks ago, he was
comfortably
second
on
the depth chart at MIKE
linebacker, with Josh Ross the
heir apparent to Bush’s throne.
Ross, in fairness, had filled
in admirably before he was
sidelined with an undisclosed
injury less than a month ago.
Now there’s a real question as
to whether Ross will reassume
that starting spot.
“That’s a good problem to
have,” Campanile said. “I think
we’re back to the issue — it’s not
an issue, it’s a great situation —
in the summer. We had had that
situation in the summer. ‘Hey,
this guy we can (win) with on
Saturday. We can win with that
guy on Saturday. We can win
with that guy on Saturday.’
“Never a bad thing to have a
bunch of guys that can help you
win on Saturday.”
Seniors leaving stamp on program
It’s hard to replace 1,000
points, a two-year starter and
“Miss Hustle.” It’s even harder
to replace 2,000 points, a four-
year starter and the pacemaker
of your team. Nicole Munger
and Hallie Thome were the
heart of the Michigan women’s
basketball team, on the court
and off it. They graduated last
year – leaving the Wolverines
needing a transplant.
But where some teams have
trouble finding new leaders,
there was no sign of such
problems in Crisler Center at
Wednesday’s media day. Senior
forward Kayla Robbins and
senior guard Akienreh Johnson
have filled the gaps and made
the team their own.
“I
think
sometimes
the
younger kids took a kind of
backseat,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “Kind of just
listened to (Thome) said this or
(Munger) said this, we’re just
going to follow what they say
because they know best. Now,
I feel like, the team really feels
like, each individual person can
contribute to the success of our
team. Whether that’s from a
basketball perspective or that’s
from a voice.”
With the new season, Johnson
and Robbins are each bringing
their unique perspectives to
the team. Neither of them have
been regular starters for a whole
season in their college careers
–
Johnson
handicapped
by
injuries, Robbins coming off the
bench. The pair nevertheless
used their experience to reach
out and make every member feel
valued.
“What I’m trying to do is
sit back and listen,” Johnson
said. “When I was a freshman,
I didn’t really have a voice
because I didn’t think I could
speak up. I didn’t think there
was a place for me to speak up.
But I always make sure that this
year, everything is a debate.”
The two seniors are taking
the mantle of what is probably
the most talented Wolverine
team under Barnes Arico. The
coach’s 12th-ranked recruiting
class from last season now has
a year of experience under its
belt. Three players have played
internationally, and Michigan
is coming off two straight trips
to the NCAA Tournament after
going five without a ticket to the
dance.
The expectations are higher;
the next steps are steeper. To
climb them, the Wolverines
need to grow over the course
of the season by having leaders
empower
players
who
may not make
an
immediate
impact.
“(Johnson
and
Robbins)
opened (it) up
so
everyone
feels like they
have a voice,”
Barnes
Arico
said.
“Now
when you come in there’s just an
energy of everybody’s looking
around, everybody’s ready to go.
And that’s something different
we haven’t had and I think that’s
something the kids really like as
they all feel they can contribute
to our success.”
Added
freshman
guard
Michelle Sidor: “If they see
you getting down on yourself,
if I’m having a bad practice or
something, they’re definitely
there to, especially (Johnson),
to lift you up and be like ‘It’s
alright, you got the next play,
keep your head up.’ I think that’s
huge.”
For Johnson and Robbins,
though, building a team goes
beyond
the
court.
When
freshman center Izabel Varejão
arrived at her dorm, without
her family, the team made time
for her. They welcomed and
supported her, grabbing dinner
and ice cream to make her feel
at home.
“They’ve done a really good
job of helping us with anything,”
said freshman guard Maddie
Nolan. “Not even basketball-
wise,
if
we
needed
advice
about
school
or stuff around
campus
they’ve
done
a
really
good
job
of
integrating
us
into a team.”
Added
Robbins:
“Me
and
(Johnson),
we’ve
had
a
different journey than everyone
on the team and we’ve been the
freshmen who came in and don’t
really know what to say or what
to do so we really just opened
it up for the team. If somebody
has a problem or somebody has a
suggestion, they can always just
bring it up. It’s never an issue.”
Johnson
and
Robbins
probably
won’t
end
up
as
Michigan’s
leading
scorers.
They may not be the type of
players that dominate a game,
but they’re already making
their mark on the team before
the season has even started:
a culture that prides itself on
inclusivity.
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Senior guard Akienreh Johnson has emerged as a leader for the Wolverines.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
If someone has
a problem ...
they can always
bring it up.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor
MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Freshman running back Zach Charbonnet was part of a 161-rushing yard first quarter against the Fighting Illini.
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
MIKE linebacker Cameron McGrone has stepped into Devin Bush’s role.