Five Wolverines met with the media this afternoon at Schembechler Hall to discuss Saturday's showdown with Penn State, as well as several other topics.
Here were our biggest takeaways:
The Team Wants 'Revenge' After Last Year's Blowout Loss in Happy Valley
Penn State handled Michigan last October in State College, 42-13, and the game has stuck in the minds of the Wolverine players.
The contest will be the next step of the ‘Revenge Tour,' a term that fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich coined earlier this season as U-M began taking down the teams who beat it in 2017.
“We knew we had revenge to give to everyone who beat up on us last year when we were in an in-between season,” he explained. “I want our lunch money back and for those teams to pay interest. It’s actually not even exclusive to only the teams who beat us last year.”
Junior right guard Mike Onwenu agreed with Winovich in that the ‘Revenge Tour’ could apply to every team on the schedule, and even offered his own definition.
“It just means we’re on path to get what we want,” Onwenu explained. “Our hard work will eventually pay dividends.”
The Wolverines’ ‘Revenge Tour’ has already been successful against the likes of Wisconsin and Michigan State, and still includes Saturday’s matchup with Penn State and a road contest at Ohio State to close the year.
Junior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp admitted he still remembers how he felt after each of those 2017 losses.
“We have a lot of bad tastes in our mouths we want to get rid of,” he recalled. “We’re saving those memories up and bringing them out this week — they’ve been sitting in the back of our minds, but now we can bring them to the front.”
“A lot of those games last year could have had a different outcome,” junior cornerback David Long chimed in. “It’s good to get revenge, especially in Big Ten play.”
