Review of 2021 Penn State Game
Key points from last year's game:
Offensive stats pretty similar- Cade much more efficient than Clifford but total yards were Michigan 361, Penn State 332
1st Quarter PSU runs a successful fake punt (20 yd gain) from Michigan's 40- this is after Michigan called timeout and the announcers note before the play that Michigan may have seen something that indicated a fake- they convert and make a field goal
Penn State's kicker had a career long field goal
Successful pass plays were typically 15 yard passes where PSU receiver was cutting inside and the defender didn't stay with the receiver- Parker and Dotson were 2/3s of passing yards- Parker 92 (23 yd average), Dotson 63
U of M defense had a lot of QB hurries, hits, sacks- but gave up a lot of critical scrambles to Clifford (his stats show 16 yards rushing so sacks offset a lot of his scrambles)- can we get pressure without giving up a lane?
PSU tried a fake field goal that led to a fumble so this gamble cost them 3 points-
Michigan scored 3 TDs, Penn State had 1 TD with 2 PT conversion + 3 field goals
Game was tied with 6:45 left in 4th when a strip sack gives Penn State the ball at Michigan's 17. Defense holds Penn State to a Field Goal. Fumble totally our left guard's fault- I'm curious if he yelled to Cade and it couldn't be heard because the stadium was loud.
Michigan has 6 minutes to score and after good Haskins runs All scores from the Penn State 47 to make it 21-17.
The game looked more dominant from Michigan IMHO but the stats show that the team's were pretty close in performance.
October 10th, 2022 at 2:27 PM ^
This was the game that frustrated me most last year. I thought we were so vanilla and it almost cost us. I hated Gattis after the game for the play calling. I bitched a lot and was negged appropriately. Then, it seemed we opened it up and went bonkers after that. The game is at home so I expect we play to win. They have good talent. The young RB's scare me. I would take Harbaugh over Franklin any day of the week.
October 10th, 2022 at 4:33 PM ^
This should be the best team we have played/will play until OSU. It is arguably the best defense on the schedule and they have some talented backs. We have not really played a team who can run like they do.
Some were upset in another thread because I said it is the first run game we will face with a pulse. I am not disparaging Maryland but they are just decent at running (66th according to NCAA).
They really have only ran on cupcakes like Buffalo, Chattanooga, SMU, and MSU.