16 — Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By Frank Virzi
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/28/20

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

10/28/20

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2020

ACROSS

1 Word with 

support or enemy

5 Dance wildly
9 Miller’s salesman

14 Princess loved by 

Hercules

15 “Have __ Right?”: 

Honeycombs hit 
of 1964

16 Maine town on 

the Penobscot

17 Graceful 

swimmer

18 Tommy Dorsey, 

e.g.

20 Bonny one
21 Paving supply
22 How silverware is 

often sold

23 USN rank
24 __ man
25 Agree to less
26 Word with more 

or less

28 Tabled, for now
30 Bernie Taupin’s 

forte

32 Flor del amor
33 Face on a fin
36 Car with a tri-

shield logo

37 IRA options
38 Shell lining
40 Like give and 

take: Abbr.

41 Tony Hillerman 

detective Jim

43 Like year-end 

financials

44 Utter
45 Navy 

Midshipmen’s 
mascot Bill, e.g.

46 Coffeehouse 

orders

49 Either “The 

Ballad of Buster 
Scruggs” 
filmmaker

51 Obamacare, 

briefly

54 Sci-fi invaders
55 Hogwarts mail 

carrier

56 “Riiiight!”
57 Flowerlike marine 

animal

59 Knucklehead
60 Spot for a pot
61 Barely gets (by)

62 Bakery fixture
63 Stand in a studio
64 Ukr. and Est., 

once

65 News article intro

DOWN

1 Chapel divider
2 Martin’s TV 

partner

3 School outing
4 Little chicken 

tenders?

5 Snowsuit clip-ons
6 Others, in 

Tabasco

7 Griddle tenders
8 Verbal hesitation
9 One in danger of 

going off

10 Richly decorated
11 Humid, say
12 First name in 

photography

13 Dark time in Pisa
19 Foundation for 

an argument

24 Unofficial means 

of communication

27 Juice box brand
29 Turndowns
30 WSJ news item
31 “Sho’ ‘nuf”

33 Superior to ... and 

what can go with 
the starts of 3-, 7-, 
9- and 24-Down

34 Maidenform 

product

35 Slithery swimmer
37 Head of Cuba?
39 Prefix with -gram
42 “Steppenwolf” 

author Hermann

43 Forever young, it 

seems

44 Bundle on the 

farm

46 Tricky pool shot
47 “Get Here” singer 

Adams

48 Torino farewells
50 One with a deed
52 Gave up formally
53 Observe Yom 

Kippur

56 Object of 

adoration

58 Abril, por ejemplo

SUDOKU

WHISPER

“Did you watch 
the debate?”

“Yeah, I found out 
that Trump is not 
Abe Lincoln!”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

M

INNEAPOLIS 
— There was a 
notion coming 
into 
Saturday 

that this season was supposed 
to serve as an 
in-between 
period 
of 

sorts for the 
Michigan 
football team.

The 
past 

two 
years 

have 
been 

defined 
by 
Shea 

Patterson’s 
presence, even as he devolved 
into a divisive figure. Next year, 
there’s 
the 
much-anticipated 

arrival of five-star quarterback 
J.J. McCarthy, along with the 
maturation of star-studded 2019 
and 2020 recruiting classes.

Both eras carried boundless 

hope and optimism. This year 
was supposed to have neither.

And then, on Saturday night, 

Michigan found its identity.

“I just wanted to go out 

there tonight and just let it rip 
and they did that,” Michigan 
coach Jim Harbaugh said after 
the Wolverines dispatched an 
overmatched Minnesota, 49-24.

What exactly does letting it rip 

entail? Not what you might think.

If you’re conjuring up images 

of 
junior 
quarterback 
Joe 

Milton chucking the football 
70 yards downfield, you won’t 
get what you’re looking for in 
Saturday’s tape. What you will 
get is a masterclass in offensive 
efficiency, thanks to the game 
plan of offensive coordinator 
Josh Gattis. And in the end, you 
get 481 yards on 56 plays, good 
for an eye-popping 8.6 yards per 
play.

It started with a swing pass to 

running back Blake Corum that 
went for 24 yards through the 
heart of the Gophers’ defense.

Blake Corum? On the first 

play of the season? Isn’t he a 
freshman? Fair questions, but 
Gattis won’t have it. This is how 
he wants to operate: in a true 
meritocracy.

That became evident quickly 

with freshman wide receiver 
Roman 
Wilson 
and 
scantly-

used senior fullback Ben Mason 
getting key first-quarter targets. 
For all the murmurs about who 
would start at running back, five 
players saw at least four carries 
and none saw more than eight. 
The situation was similar in the 
passing game, where nine players 
caught a pass with none securing 
more than four.

“I’ve got a lot of playmakers 

and get those guys the ball, 
because that’s what they’re here 
for,” Milton said. “They’re going 
to make a play.”

The reason they’re able to 

make a play lies in the expertise 
of their offensive coordinator. 
He consistently maximized his 
weapons’ skill sets, designing 
bubble screens for Bell, slants 
for Wilson and end-arounds for 
speedy sophomore wide receiver 
Giles Jackson.

It was the type of offensive 

performance 
Michigan 
has 

spent 
the 
past 
half-decade 

watching from afar or, more 
problematically, 
from 
the 

opposing sideline. It was also the 
type of performance that was 
promised when Harbaugh hired 
Gattis in Jan. 2019.

In 
Gattis’ 
first 
season, 

though, the Wolverines’ identity 
remained 
the 
same. 
There 

were hints of his intentions 
here and there, in the form of 
a new read-based offense, but 

Gattis was often handicapped 
by his personnel. Even at his 
best, Patterson was a remnant 
of a previous regime and often 
struggled to make the reads 
Gattis asked of him.

His offense, therefore, was 

often uncreative, and Michigan’s 
identity remained its increasingly 
erratic defense.

This year, Gattis has his guys 

— or at least those like Milton, 
whom his staff has molded for 
the better part of two years.

“We’re gonna run our offense 

and build it around who we 

have at the quarterback position 
as well as who we have at skill 
positions,” Gattis said on Sept. 23. 
“We’ve got a number of different 
skill players that are going to be 
exciting with the ball in hand. 
We’re gonna be well-rounded.”

And as a result, Michigan is 

finally a realization of Gattis’ 
vision. For the first time in the 
Harbaugh era, its identity lies in 
an explosive offense.

That was the promise back in 

Jan. 2019, in the wake of back-
to-back games in which the 
Wolverines allowed a combined 

103 points despite boasting the 
second-best total defense in the 
country. Those games were a 
wake-up call for Harbaugh, a 
sign that defense alone can’t be 
an elite program’s identity in the 
era of spread offenses.

On Saturday, that identity 

revolution was finally complete. 
At least, it looked like it for the 
first time.

It’s a transition that’s enabled 

games like Saturday’s, when the 
Wolverines can dominate despite 
defensive inconsistency.

Bigger tests, of course, lie 

ahead. 
Wisconsin 
and 
Penn 

State are on deck in the next 
month. Neither will see a pro-
spread offense and roll over, 
like Minnesota did. I won’t even 
mention the opponent on Dec. 12, 
because why be a killjoy?

But regardless of what comes 

next, Michigan will be better 
prepared than ever to adjust 
when things go south. And for 
that, it has Gattis and its new 
identity to thank.

Mackie can be reached at 

tmackie@umich.edu or on Twitter 
@theo_mackie.

Barrett shows he can 
change games at VIPER

During 
Michael 
Barrett’s 

freshman year in 2018, Michigan 
defensive 
coordinator 
Don 

Brown decided to think outside 
the box.

At the time, Barrett was 

still bouncing around between 
different 
positions. 
He 
was 

recruited as a general athlete 
following a stellar high school 
career as a quarterback in 
Georgia. When he signed with 
the Wolverines, Jim Harbaugh 
compared Barrett to former 
All-Pro wide receiver Anquan 
Boldin, while others expected 
him to settle in as a running 
back.

For a while, nobody knew for 

sure where Barrett would fit in. 
So when Brown asked Barrett to 
go through a series of defensive 
drills, it didn’t seem like a big 
deal.

But when Brown watched 

Barrett ace coverage workouts, 
it forever changed Barrett’s 
trajectory. 
From 
that 
point 

forward, he was a VIPER in 
traiwning, waiting in the wings 
as Khaleke Hudson blossomed 
into a star. Before Hudson, 
Heisman finalist Jabrill Peppers 
dominated the position.

On Saturday night, it was 

Barrett’s turn to step into the 
role that has defined Michigan’s 
defense since Brown arrived 
five years ago. Now a redshirt 
sophomore, Barrett seized the 
moment, assembling a highlight 
tape of game-changing plays 
in the 18th-ranked Wolverines’ 
49-24 win over No. 21 Minnesota.

It didn’t take long for Barrett 

to make his presence known. 
Less than eight minutes into 
the game, he rocked Gophers’ 
quarterback Tanner Morgan on 
a blindside blitz. The jarring hit 
popped the ball out of Morgan’s 
possession and into the hands 
of senior defensive lineman 
Donovan Jeter, who returned 
it 15 yards for a go-ahead 
touchdown.

The Wolverines never trailed 

again from that point on, thanks 
in large part to Barrett’s steady 
production at the heart of the 
defense.

“Where 
I’ve 
seen 
Mike 

Barrett improve most is just 

consistency,” senior linebacker 
Josh Ross said. “He’s always had 
the athleticism, he just made 
small mistakes all the time. 
Now, he’s consistent, he does 
everything right and he takes 
advantage of his opportunities. 
He’s going to have a really big 
year. … For me, it’s just the 
consistency in doing everything 
the right way in practice and 
displaying it in the game.”

After 
a 
Minnesota 
field 

goal 
trimmed 
Michigan’s 

lead to 14-10, it was Barrett 
spearheading the Wolverines’ 
response. The Gophers’ ensuing 
kickoff landed in front of Barrett 
in no man’s land, but he scooped 
it up, powered through the teeth 
of Minnesota’s special teams unit 
and picked up a sideline block 
on his way to a 66-yard return. 
By the time he was pushed out, 
he’d set Michigan’s offense up 
with a first-and-goal. Between 
the strip-sack of Morgan and 
explosive kickoff return, Barrett 
keyed two of the Wolverines’ 
three first-quarter touchdowns.

A year after turning heads 

with fourth-down trick play 
conversions against Army and 
Maryland, Barrett continued 
to produce on special teams. In 
addition to his 66-yard return, 
he recovered a crucial kickoff 
fumble to keep Minnesota at 
bay. With Michigan leading 
35-24 at the time, his heads-up 
play helped avoid a costly error 
that would’ve given the Gophers 
a chance to make it a one-
possession game.

Barrett’s 
special 
teams 

prowess isn’t new. On Saturday 
night, it was his production as 
the starting VIPER that raised 
eyebrows. He forced a crucial 
turnover and finished with 
seven tackles — 1.5 of which 
came in the Gophers’ backfield.

“I felt great,” Barrett said. 

“It felt good to finally go out 
there with the guys I’ve been 
working with, (linebackers) Cam 
(McGrone) and Josh and go out 
there and let it loose. It felt great. 
I felt like a new man.”

With Hudson and Peppers 

now in the NFL, Barrett entered 
this fall hoping to continue 
a 
strong 
lineage. 
Following 

Saturday night, it looks like the 
Brown may have found his next 
star VIPER pupil.

Gattis’ offense is now Michigan’s identity.

Enjoy.

THEO
MACKIE

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis saw his offense work at full force at Minnesota on Saturday, when the Wolverines scored 49 points in an emphatic win.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor

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