Michigan 18, Penn State 13
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Throw out the records. Ignore the lack of offense. Forget that Penn State's offensive line looks eerily like Michigan's 2013 O-line.
Michigan won a game tonight in front of a packed house of genuinely excited fans, and it felt damn good. Maybe not for much of the game, an ugly slog in which the two teams combined for just 470 yards of offense, several Wolverines went down with injuries—including Devins Gardner and Funchess—and both coaching staffs seemed intent on out-bungling the other, but come that final drive, it felt like Michigan football should.
The stars of this game, without a doubt, were on defense. The Wolverines limited PSU to just 214 yards, with a paltry 65 in the second half after Michigan came out a little flat against the run. Six different Wolverines accounted for the team's six sacks. Jourdan Lewis came up with a critical second-half interception when the defensive front nearly got to Christian Hackenberg again, forcing an ill-advised throw across the field. Mike McCray anticipated a fake punt and displayed tantalizing athleticism in hawking Grant Haley to blow it up two yards behind the line.
When Penn State needed a field goal to tie with 3:44 left, the defense came through with their biggest possession of the night, as Jake Ryan and Frank Clark sacked Hackenberg on consecutive plays to force the Nittany Lions into punt formation from just outside their own goal line. PSU coach James Franklin bizarrely called a timeout to avoid a delay of game—one that would have cost his team about half a yard—before making the correct call to take a safety and go for an onside kick.
What happened next perhaps made up for the blown call at the end of last week's Rutgers game. Penn State recovered the initial kick, but a questionable flag for offsides negated it, and Blake Countess fell onto the ensuing re-kick without any trouble to effectively end game.
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
In feelingsball world, however, the star of this game was Devin Gardner, who recovered from a bad interception and an ugly-looking ankle injury to engineer the game-winning field goal drive. Gardner's numbers didn't look great—16/24, 192 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT—but without him on the field for two second-half drives, the offense looked helpless with Russell Bellomy at quarterback. Gardner may be inconsistent—yes, often infuriatingly so—but there's no question he's by far the most capable leader of this offense, and it showed most tonight during his brief absence.
Devin Funchess scored Michigan's lone touchdown of the evening in the first quarter, somehow chasing down a Gardner moonshot and snatching it away from PSU safety Ryan Keiser, who looked like he was preparing to field a punt—after a bobble, Funchess secured the ball and streaked towards the home sideline, arms raised in triumph.
That turned out to be the only touchdown the Wolverines would need, with Matt Wile providing the decisive points on field goals of 45, 42, and 37 yards.
Granted, the running game proved non-existent, the offense remained relatively ineffective, and Brady Hoke gifted Penn State a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half by inexplicably taking a timeout with three seconds left on the clock. Those are concerns, to be sure, but they're concerns for another day.
Tonight, we celebrate. Hail to the victors, valiant.
October 11th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 6:28 AM ^
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October 12th, 2014 at 7:56 AM ^
October 13th, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
October 11th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
thank you so freakin much for some oxygen.
GO BLUE!
October 12th, 2014 at 12:00 AM ^
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October 12th, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:09 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:35 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 3:46 AM ^
Instead of firing Brandon, how about we fire the person most responsible for UM being 3-4? Let's fire the head coach, WHO IS ALWAYS the person most responsible for how a team performs on the field.
October 12th, 2014 at 9:03 AM ^
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October 12th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
Yes, if anything, we've shown that the fans are not the problem. It's the AD.
October 13th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
he sucks at every aspect of his job. Should we also hope that the basketball and hockey teams struggle? It's really stupid to hope for failures just to get a change you want. Brandon will get fired because he's brought a culture that's turned too many people off. It's made people intolerant of the big mistakes he's made. That's enough. We should want the next AD to carry on with the positive things Brandon has done and learn from his mistakes. The more he has to work with, the better.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:08 AM ^
Was the safety definitely the right call for PSU? I don't know. I understand the argument for it (you get a shot at an onside kick or can kick it deep for better field position than a punt) but the downside is that you're now down five instead of three, so if you get the ball back you've now got to score a TD.
At any rate, burning a timeout there was certainly crazy on PSU's part. A lot of weird game management on both sides tonight.
October 12th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
Obviously, you don't want to go for a 4th and 32. But I think there's a real debate about whether an onside kick down 5 is better than a punt down 3. Getting into FG range is a considerably easier task than actually scoring a TD, especially for a team with no pass protection.
October 12th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^
A better option would've take the delay (you only lose one yard) save the timeout, punt the ball and trust your defense to stop them on a 3 and out while using your two timeouts to save time. They'd get over a minute to drive for a FG to tie. Think that's a much better option. But...not what happened.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
Their taking the timeout forced them into the situation,where they had to take the safety and hope for the TD possibility. So after their coach called TO, it removed the possibility of punting, getting ball back with time left.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:08 AM ^
Yay!
(Missed you guys)
October 12th, 2014 at 12:39 AM ^
I misseed this pic, glad to see it's resurrection.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:13 AM ^
than a loss.
The final score is more like one of the odd scores Brian use to predict. 18-13.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:13 AM ^
what you guys think. I liked them
October 12th, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^
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October 13th, 2014 at 8:37 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:37 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:38 AM ^
I always wanted to see what blue pants with blue jerseys would look like. Not as cool as I thought they would look (at least on TV), but they were OK. I imagine that they look pretty cool live and up close (see the Funchess pic at the top of this thread), but from a distance on TV they look a little dingy.
I would like to see what the blue pants would look like with the white road jersey. Maybe for a bowl game since we never seem to be the "home team" in bowl games.
October 12th, 2014 at 1:11 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 2:58 AM ^
I despise these unis. I hate them more than the bumblebee unis, and I didn't think that was possible. I had a couple pleasant little daydreams involving Adidas personell and homicide while watching this game.
I guess I'm just old, but I believe that unless you're wearing a suit, you don't combine the same color and shade on top and bottom. You don't wear light tan pants with a light tan shirt. Maybe it's just me.
Also, I didn't think I had to say this, but apparently I do: 'shiny' and 'fabric' are two words that should never EVER go together.
/rant
October 12th, 2014 at 8:21 AM ^
well it is. so there.
October 12th, 2014 at 3:48 AM ^
The university of Michigan's official colors are maize and blue, not "just blue." The new uni's need to disappear forever.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
So they very well may have sucked (the unis), but they had "maize"...so your argument sucks.
October 12th, 2014 at 9:14 AM ^
Congradulations TEAM for the victory!
Uniforms: All thumbs up!
Boycott: While I was not opposed to the kickoff boycott. The boycott of the boycott was much better ;).
Hail To The Victors!!!
October 12th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^
Looked like the entire program got a much needed shot in the arm tonight. Best part was seeing the players look like they were just plain having fun playing football. A newfound cohesiveness on the team - maybe this weekend of former players coming back to lend support made a difference. Towards the end of the first half when Gardner would have taken a late hit and one of our guys kept running into the play and stopped it... I stopped worrying
October 12th, 2014 at 12:25 AM ^
Better than any alts we used so far. Seems more aggressive
October 12th, 2014 at 12:40 AM ^
Gritty, like the win.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:26 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:30 AM ^
Favorite moments:
- Special K letting the band pump up the crowd during a couple breaks in the action in the 4th quarter.
-Norfleet special team dance parties.
-Watching the players celebrate a win!
October 12th, 2014 at 2:05 AM ^
All good will Special K accrued today was lost immediately after the final whistle. I mean... Shout?
I do not get this Athletic Department's insistence that every moment be filled with some form of noise, from the second you walk into the stadium to the moment you leave. We were all trying to figure out why we all got hoarse so quickly tonight, and it wasn't the yelling at the field--it was yelling to be able to talk to each other.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:33 AM ^
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October 12th, 2014 at 12:35 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 7:51 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:35 AM ^
October 12th, 2014 at 12:41 AM ^
Is my new nickname for Norfleet. That was fun.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:37 AM ^
The announcers were nearly as bad as Ward Mowins. Thankfully mute allowed us to enjoy the game.
October 12th, 2014 at 12:40 AM ^
My daughter and I had seats in Section 3. She is 5-0 in Michigan games, which makes me think she should be the team's permanent good luck charm.
I have no idea what Team 136 is going to do without Devin Gardner. If this had been an airport disaster movie, Bellomy was the passenger they ask to land the plane when the pilots ate fish for dinner.
The biggest disappointment, though, was the O-line. Twice they tried a sneak for one lousy yard and got stuffed twice. The play call was itself pretty damn questionable. The line wasn't driving anyone off the ball all night.
I'm really, really glad we got the win. It sure felt good and beat the shit out of the alternative. While I didn't see anything that gave me any confidence against MSU, I can worry about that in a couple of weeks. I'm going to enjoy this one.
Best moment other than the win, though: the MMB's half time show. Most innovative show I've ever seen and it was stunning. Really, really well done.
October 12th, 2014 at 2:46 AM ^
I laughed.
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October 12th, 2014 at 8:07 AM ^
The only thing I saw that gave me any hope against Staee is they gave up 31 to Purdon't and it was a one possession game with 3 minutes left until a pick 6 put it away for Sparty. Hopefully Gardner is 'healthy,' as healthy as a guy namedDevin Gardner can be anyway, but if he's not let us pray that Bellomy is not the guy against sparty. I'd rather them burn Speight's redshirt. Congrats to your daughter on being 5-0.
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