Michigan opens up as a 2.5pt favorite vs PSU

Submitted by mgokev on November 23rd, 2020 at 8:24 AM

PSU has had their share of season troubles as well, but looked more competitive against Indiana.  However, the Cade McNamera offense looked much better this past week, albeit against Rutgers. 

What do the gambling degenerates make of this line? 

Mblueforlife

November 23rd, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^

Players for Michigan that are out for this game.

Hayes
Mayfield
Paye
Hutchinson
McGrone
Hawkins
Vastardis

If Michigan wants to win, then they will need to be ready for a shootout. Our defense is bad, but with injuries piling up they are atrocious.

MGoArchive

November 23rd, 2020 at 8:39 AM ^

Can you link a source for the players other than Hayes/Mayfield (if memory serves me correctly, they are the only ones that have been publicly confirmed that are done for the season) that they confirmed will be out vs. Penn State? I know Harbaugh said McGrone needs an MRI in the Rutgers post game presser.

But for the others, I doubt Michigan discloses this info on a Monday during game week.

DetroitBlue

November 23rd, 2020 at 9:24 AM ^

People keep saying this, but iirc he was in a position to break up a td (or 2), but rather than break on the ball he just kind of stood there and let the receiver catch it. I’m not going to ever rewatch that shit show so i could be wrong, and i know hawkins has been somewhere between disappointing and outright bad, but Reynolds isn’t the answer either

ldevon1

November 23rd, 2020 at 9:53 AM ^

You are correct, but it was somewhat of a busted play, and he left the man he was covering to make a play on the ball. Other than that he was great in coverage and run support. No one said he was the answer, just that he was better than Hawkins. Hawkins looks slow, and not really sure he knows what he is doing. Year 3 playing safety with NFL aspirations is not a good look. 

DetroitBlue

November 23rd, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^

Good points, he was solid in run support - i thought i saw a couple issues in coverage but I can’t be sure and refuse to watch *that* again. I have serious doubts about his ability to cover especially against better athletes like he’ll see against psu, but then again I’d have those doubts with Hawkins too, so . . . at least we have hockey and will have basketball shortly. 

Chaco

November 23rd, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^

not sure why we are a favorite in any game anymore.  We haven't covered the spread since the Minnesota game.  Not sure why we'd expect Saturday to be any different.

Absorbine Sr.

November 23rd, 2020 at 8:52 AM ^

As a gambling expert what I make of the line is that if Michigan wins by 3 or more points then they will cover the spread. 

On the other hand, if they only win by 2 or fewer points, then Michigan will not cover the spread.  

Take this tip to the bank folks. 

Perkis-Size Me

November 23rd, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^

I think Penn State is the better team despite their record, but Vegas must just be thinking they’ve mailed it in for the season and don’t really care anymore. Thing is, you could say the same for Michigan. 

This game feels like it’ll be a 2014 repeat all over again. Two bad teams seeing which one can “out-derp” the other, with a bit of 2013 mixed in where you get to towards the end and wonder to yourself “do either of these teams want to win?”

1VaBlue1

November 23rd, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^

I'll agree, as does the scoreboard after Rutger ran up a 17-0 lead.  From that point, when McNamara entered, Michigan outscored Rutger 48-25.  Ohh, the difference a functional offense can make for the way a defense looks...

Too bad we didn't have a functional offense against MSU and Indiana.  

bronxblue

November 23rd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^

Michigan came back from a 17-0 deficit with their backup QB and scored 35 points in basically a half of football.  I know it's fashionable to assume Michigan is awful forever this year but they absolutely played like a team that still gave a shit.

PSU has been ravaged by injuries and inconsistencies from their stars.  They'll be competitive but they are worse than Michigan even if I agree their record makes them look worse than they are.

lhglrkwg

November 23rd, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^

I guess I don't understand Vegas' thoughts over the last week. They gave us I think -9.5 @Rutgers, but are only giving -2.5 at 0-5 PSU? I'd still be willing to bet on PSU, I just don't know why they apparently thought Rutgers sucked so much more than Penn State

Teeba

November 23rd, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^

I've watched all of three PSU games and parts of the other 2. I guess I just really missed Big 10 football in September and decided to watch whatever I can while the games are still being played. That said, after 4 games, I thought PSU would beat us. But they really showed no life at all against Iowa. It was like us against Wisconsin. If that PSU team shows up, we win easily. Answers to a few questions will go a long way in deciding this game:

1. Which PSU team shows up? The team that had Indiana beat if the RB just takes a knee and played OSU tough, or the team that got throttled by Maryland, Nebraska and Iowa?

2. Does Michigan start getting back some of our injured players?

3. Can we get a fucking turnover or two? In four games, the only turnover we got was the one that ended the Rutgers game.

UMProud

November 23rd, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^

-The (insert other team QB) will have a Heisman day throwing against us

-Michigan will give up 7-14 points in the first quarter against (insert any team here)

-Michigan will have to play from behind and overcome lots of penalties against (insert any team here)

-Michigan will set one or more records  (insert any team here) of the kind we don't want

-The (insert any team here) will look like world beaters against us

-Michigan will take 5 minutes to run a 2 minute offense against (insert any team here)