The Wolverine

December 2018

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1051817

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 17 of 67

18 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2018 BY JOHN BORTON I t began amid simmering frus- tration, over a season of near misses and failing firepower. M i c h i g a n f o o t b a l l p l a y e r s channeled their discontent into de- termined effort, quietly vowing it wouldn't happen again. They worked furiously for eight months, driven by their dismay. Oth- ers joined — new coaches, and a self-assured quarterback who made fast friends and empathized with the indignities his new teammates had suffered. The pain of 2017 became a balled- up fist as the 2018 season ap- proached. It even acquired a stinging sobriquet. The Revenge Tour. Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich first uttered the term publicly following Michigan's 38-13 cow-tipping of Wisconsin Oct. 13. It has exploded since, appearing on T- shirts, incorporated into the parlance of national broadcasters, etc. Some initially thought it meant getting back at those who knocked off the Wolverines in last year's 8-5 effort — a too-long list, to be sure. Winovich corrected them. The Re- venge Tour, for him, isn't about just knocking off Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State — which the Wolverines accomplished consecu- tively, with devastating decisiveness. It's about payback for an entire sea- son where injuries and inexperience left Jim Harbaugh's squad scram- bling, and in some quarters, scorned. Make no mistake, though. The teams that beat (and beat up) the Wolverines a year ago were in for a special measure of payback. A com- bined score of 101-27 against the then-No. 15 Badgers, then-No. 24 Spartans and then-No. 14 Nittany R evenge T our The Michigan Turns The Tables On Its Tormentors

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Wolverine - December 2018