Michigan vs. Penn State: The History

Submitted by SpikeFan2016 on

 

Overall Record: Michigan leads 12-7

  • This Saturday will be the 20th meeting between the two schools.
  • Michigan and Penn State did not play until the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993.
  • This series has been one of streaks. After Michigan took the very first matchup in 1993, the series has gone as follows:

o   Penn State wins 3 in a row (1994-1996)

o   Michigan wins 9 in a row (1997-2007, did not play in 2003 or 2004)

o   Penn State wins 4 in a row (2008-2013, did not play in 2011 or 2012)

o   Michigan wins 2 in a row and is a heavy favorite for a 3rd (2014-Present)

  • Michigan has the highest all-time winning percentage against Penn State of any Big Ten team at 0.632 (Ohio State is next at 0.567. MSU and Wisconsin both hold all-time winning records against PSU by a razor thin margin of 1 game each (15-14 and 9-8, respectively; however, 8 of the Spartans’ 15 wins came before 1967). PSU has winning records against everyone else in the B1G.
  •   NOTE: OSU has a higher winning percentage against Penn State since they’ve joined the Big Ten. However, Penn State has beaten UM and OSU the same number of times (7) since joining the conference; OSU has played them more frequently (every year) allowing for more wins/a higher percentage. In the four seasons Michigan did not play PSU in Big Ten play, the Wolverines finished with more wins than the Nittany Lions in three of them (2003, 2004, 2011) and the same amount of wins in the 4th (2012). And, in 2012 Michigan finished the season ranked while Penn State did not. Not that you can predict games that didn’t happen, but I’d say Penn State is pretty lucky they got to play Rich Rod all 3 years, but didn’t have to play either of the last two of our Big Ten Championship teams (Penn State was 3-9 and 4-7 in '03 and '04).

 

Home Field Advantage:

·      This has been a series where, at least in the macro sense, home field has meant very little. Michigan has split its 12 wins evenly between Ann Arbor and State College, with a 6-3 mark against PSU in The Big House and a 6-4 record in Beaver Stadium.

·      Penn State won the first two games it ever played in Ann Arbor (1994 and 1996). Since then, however, the Nittany Lions have gone 1-6 in the Big House with their only win over the 5-7 2009 team.

·   Penn State actually only won 1 of their first 6 games against Michigan in Happy Valley. They then won 3 home games in a row against Hoke/Rich Rod teams, before Harbaugh snapped the Wolverines' State College losing streak last November, in what is his best true road win as a UM head coach to date. 

 

Michigan Coaches Against PSU:

  • Gary Moeller: 1-1
  • Lloyd Carr: 9-2
  • Rich Rodriguez: 0-3
  • Brady Hoke: 1-1
  • Jim Harbaugh: 1-0

(If Lloyd Carr could post an 82% winning percentage against Joe Paterno, can you even imagine what Jim Harbaugh could do in this series against James Franklin?!?! *cackles with glee*)

 

 

Most Noteworthy Michigan Wins:

·      1993- In the first ever meeting between these two Blue Blood programs, #18 Michigan was a significant road underdog against undefeated, #7 Penn State. Michigan started the 1993 season ranked #3; however, the Wolverines were coming fresh off a rivalry loss in East Lansing the week before, and had lost to Notre Dame a month earlier at home. It looked as if the season was heading for a complete unraveling. Penn State fans and Joe Paterno also had a lot of bluster about how they would walk in and own the Big Ten upon joining the conference. Yet, the Wolverines stormed right into a Happy Valley White Out and handed PSU and Joe Paterno their first ever Big Ten loss by a score of 21-13. This game included arguably the most impressive ever 4 down goal line stand by Michigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ztIRawkvCM (BUILD A F^$&#&% WALL) This game was one of two spectacular highlights that provided some success in an otherwise “meh” 8-4 season. The other of course being a 28-0 shutout of #5 Ohio State (We miss you, John Cooper). 

 

·      1997- Marketed as part of “Judgment Day”, in which several undefeated teams were playing each other in early November, undefeated #4 Michigan headed to State College to face undefeated #2 Penn State. What happened next was a complete and utter throttling. Michigan OBLITERATED #2 Penn State by a score of 34-8, but that score makes it seem closer than it was. Michigan was winning 34-0 into the 4th quarter, and 24-0 at the half; PSU got their lone touchdown and 2 point conversion in 4th quarter garbage time after Michigan had the backups in. The eventual National Champion Wolverines used this game to nationally assert their clout more than any other, and in the process snapped a 3 game losing streak to PSU. This certainly goes down as one of, if not the most, impressive road victory Michigan has posted in modern times. Full game here (you won’t have to watch long to get to the Michigan domination): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SENR2AXKfY4

 

·      2005-Michigan started the 2005 season ranked #4; however, going into the Penn State game on October 15th we already had 3 one-score losses: 7 points to Notre Dame at home, 3 points to Wisconsin in Madison, and 3 points to Minnesota at home. Thus, Michigan entered the game unranked. Penn State on the other hand was riding high; undefeated and coming off a home win against #6 Ohio State the week before, the #8 Nittany Lions entered Ann Arbor with lots of confidence and poised to break a long, 6 game losing streak. They would leave with heartbreak. A great game was capped off by the legendary Henne to Manningham game winning touchdown as time expired, Michigan won 27-25 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofg5EiHxaX8). Michigan extended its winning streak to 7 straight against Joe Paterno-led Penn State teams and ruined the Nittany Lions' otherwise perfect season (they would finish 11-1, win the Big Ten, and end up ranked #3 at the end of the season).

(Honorable Mention: In 1998 #22 Michigan stomped #9 Penn State 27-0, marking the second slaughter of a top ten PSU team in a row and the first Michigan win against the Nittany Lions in front of our home crowd). 

 

Most Noteworthy Penn State Wins/Michigan Losses:

·      1994: The second game in the series, and first in Ann Arbor, was a top five mid-October matchup (#3 PSU, #5 UM) that lived up to the hype. Penn State stormed out to a 16-0 lead, but a furious Michigan rally led by current RB Coach Tyrone Wheatley gave Michigan a 17-16 lead in the third quarter. PSU and Michigan would trade touchdowns (and a 2 point PSU conversion), making the game tied at 24 well into the 4th quarter. However, it was not meant to be for the good guys, as the Nittany Lions scored a touchdown with just under 3 minutes remaining to take a 31-24 lead that would end up being the final score after Michigan’s final chance drive stalled. Penn State would finish the season undefeated, but be passed up by Nebraska for a national championship. A road victory over #5 Michigan was the best win (only top 10) on the Lions’ resume in one of the best PSU seasons of all time.

 

·      2013: I think we all remember the nightmare that was this game, so I’ll just touch briefly on it. Signs of trouble were exposed in the Akron and UConn games, but this was the true start of the unraveling of the Brady Hoke era. Michigan came into this game 5-0 and ranked #18, then choked so many easy opportunities to put the game away, and wound up losing in 4 overtimes. We would go on to lose 5 of our next 7 games. On the Penn State side, this remains their best home win of the post-Joe Paterno era (possibly not in terms of actual opponent quality, but Michigan was ranked higher than any one else they’ve beaten at home since JoePa left and it was in thrilling fashion). Three years later, this remains Penn State’s most recent home win against a ranked opponent. 

 

 

Please feel free to share any memories of games in this series or feelings about the game this weekend!

 

 

GO BLUE, BEAT PENN STATE!

 

 

Comments

SpikeFan2016

September 19th, 2016 at 2:23 AM ^

Thank you!

 

I may end up doing these for most of the Big Ten games, sans Rutgers and Maryland, if people like them. Although, Penn State is definitely a little bit easier because the series is much shorter and more contemporary. 

I think Wisconsin would definitely be interesting to look into, especially given the long hiatus in our series. Iowa also would be intriguing. 

 

 

SpikeFan2016

September 19th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^

I might have to do it then! Not sure about MSU/OSU, as I feel everyone knows a lot about those series and there are just so many noteworthy games on both sides, but we'll see. Definitely going to do so for Wisconsin next week, which is also one of our less played Big Ten series.

Other Andrew

September 19th, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^

Great post!

 

1994 was the best football game I've ever seen in person. Amazing back and forth from two heavyweights. Wheatley coming back from injury to reclaim the game right after the half. Just amazing, despite the depressing outcome.

NittanyFan

September 19th, 2016 at 5:30 PM ^

Penn State finished 1996 ranked #7 and with a Bowl Alliance victory over Big XII Champion Texas in the Fiesta Bowl --- the victory at Michigan Stadium is the one that launched us to that Fiesta Bowl bid and win.

Admittedly, that was not an aesthetically great game.  If I recall, Michigan had 5 (!!!) turnovers in the 2nd half.  PSU did have a pretty good defense and no doubt caused a decent deal of that, but U-M was playing some ugly football at that time too (this was a week after the infamous 9-3 loss to Purdue).

2013 is a fair game to have at #3.  

2009 was a nice win for an under-appreciated PSU team --- finished ranked #9 --- although at the time there will still questions about the team.  

2008 was a very good PSU team and a historically awful U-M team, but it still broke the "psychological barrier of losing 9 straight vs. U-M."  Michigan actually led that game at the half, of course, before the dam broke big time in the 3rd quarter.

Overall, very nice post and re-cap of the series!!!

EGD

September 19th, 2016 at 9:00 PM ^

I remember the 1995 game pretty well. There had been a huge snowstorm at Penn State and they brought in inmates to shovel the stands. During the game the Penn State student section was throwing snowballs at the Michigan players, with one of them hitting Mercury Hayes in the face just as he was trying to catch a TD pass. This prompted Paterno to go out onto the field with a microphone and implore the students to stop throwing snowballs.

Late in the game M was trailing but had stopped Penn State at the goal line, forcing a FG attempt that would have kept M within a score and given them a chance to win. But Penn State executed a great fake FG and scored a touchdown to seal the game.

NittanyFan

September 20th, 2016 at 12:10 AM ^

State College got 22 inches (!!!) of snow on the Tuesday before the game.  This was a snow heavy-packed with moisture too, not one of those fluffy light snows.  There were widespread power outages across the PA mountains and there was serious talk of postponing/moving the game because of the logistics of hosting such an event given what happened.

They did a good job clearing the field and most of the stands.  Problem was that another 2-3 inches of snow fell on Friday night.  That became the snowball projectiles for the Saturday game.

The snowball throwing really did get a bit out of hand.  It really was iceball throwing, given the nature of the snow described above.  U-M DB Steve King also took a snowball to the face, as I recall, and more than a few PSU students had to be treated because they were caught in the student-section crossfire.  My then girlfriend wasn't very comfortable, so her and I left the stadium and watched the 2nd half from some place on campus.

The infamous San Diego/NY Giants snowball game occurred one month later.  Somewhere out there are probably a few NJ-bred PSU alums who were at both games.

The FG fake was a great call but I do recall the game itself being kind of sloppy.  PSU had 2 turnovers inside the Michigan 5, neither QB was very accurate (less accurate than some of the student iceball throwers), and overall neither team was that great for 1995 as a whole.  Probably why I would rate 1995 lower vs. some of the other games.

LBSS

September 19th, 2016 at 9:09 AM ^

Eleven years later, Henne-to-Manningham remains the greatest sporting moment I've ever seen in person. Getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

Thanks for the post.

StellaBlue

September 19th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^

That 97 game was indeed total domination.  As I recall, PSU did not even get across midfield until late first half or perhaps even early second half (someone with more intact memory or better googling ability can set that straight).

WolverineHistorian

September 19th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^

It's a shame we didn't play them in 2003 and 2004, when PSU went 3-9 and 4-7.  Lloyd would have had 11 straight wins over JoePa. 

Some more random trivia.  The first meeting in 1993, often overlooked because it wasn't part of the long winning streak over them, was Penn State's 1,000th game in school history.  Derrick Alexander returned a punt to the house but the main thing people remember is the goal line stand...

 

k.o.k.Law

September 19th, 2016 at 5:10 PM ^

ESPN Blowhard Beano Cook ranted about how Paterno would make the Big Ten his bitch.

A couple of great Keith Jackson quotes during the contest:  as the scores scrawled, Auburn, on probation that year, was winning, and Keith said, under his breath, they would probably go undefeated.

Which they did.

Penn State seeming to him to not be extending maximum effort:

"Still, this is Michigan, and you'd better tend to your knitting."

A friend from Wenley House freshman year saw these shirts in the crowd.  In those pre-web days, to get two, (one for me - thanks again) he called the Penn State bookstore the Monday after the game and had them mailed to him.

Mark McBoneski

September 19th, 2016 at 9:49 PM ^

There was a thread that explained the game far better than I could: http://mgoblog.com/diaries/michigans-lost-classics-michigan-penn-state-…

 

However, there is one bit that makes it memorable to the Michigan Trombones. After the game, the Michigan Marching Band paraded through Penn State's quad. Naturally, the PSU students weren't happy about the game, and even less so when the MMB was chanting "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!" right by the PSU dorms. Some student threw a rock at the band and hit one of the MMBones in the face.

 

We like to think that's why the band no longer travels to Penn State.

GoBlueGladstone

September 20th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^

I went to the '93 game which was my senior year at Michigan. I'll never forget that game because I had spent the summer interning for a Member of Congress whose press secretary and scheduler went to Penn State and they were giving me all sorts of grief about our season and the putative Penn State dominance of the Big 11.

I returned to work for that congressman the following year and for 10 years after with the same people never living down that lost and despite some bumper crop years, their relegation to being a middle-of-the-pack conference team. I used to like PSU until they came in as such arrogant pricks; experienced the most savage roadtrip treatment in '99 and '06 by the brahs and coeds and, you know, Sandusky.

IMB87

September 20th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^

was great at the time since I think things were still uncertain about how good Michigan was that year (I don't think they go to the Orange Bowl without beating Penn State, which was still in the top ten).  Brady really cemented himself in that game.  I remember LeVar Arrington had a huge hit on Anthony Thomas. Arrington was slow to get up while Thomas got up right away.  Later, I think Arrington said that Thomas was the toughest running back he'd ever faced in college.

MGoBlue24

September 20th, 2016 at 2:29 PM ^

this remains Penn State's most recent home win against a ranked opponent." 

I was there for that abomination.  Even my non-football caring wife commented on our playcalling that night.   

So happy to see us where we are right now.