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
FOOTBALL