Penn State 42, Michigan 13
A matchup problem. [Patrick Barron]
Michigan has weaknesses that playoff teams lack. Tonight, those weaknesses were brutally exposed by a Penn State squad that sure looked like a playoff team themselves.
This game looked all but over in the opening five minutes. On the second play from scrimmage, future Heisman winner Saquon Barkley shifted over to quarterback, ran a read option with quarterback Trace McSorley acting as the running back, and gutted Michigan for a 69-yard touchdown. The Wolverines, on the other hand, went backwards on their opening possession, then watched as Barkley finished off a four-play, 78-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown off a speed option pitch. Michigan, again, had negative yardage on the following drive.
A miscommunication between McSorley and tight end Mike Gesicki resulted in a David Long interception that briefly gave the Wolverines new life. After marching down to the PSU three, it took four cracks for Karan Higdon to finally break the plane. Quinn Nordin, getting booed by a crowd that never forgets a slight, missed the extra point. Michigan's counterpunch brought the defense to life; Khaleke Hudson nearly picked off a screen pass in the end zone.
Also a matchup problem. [Eric Upchurch]
The teams traded punts until a flurry of action at the end of the half. First, an unlikely connection from John O'Korn to Kekoa Crawford set up a six-yard Ty Isaac touchdown to bring Michigan within a point. Then McSorley threw Penn State down the field in the blink of an eye before finishing the drive on a three-yard keeper.
While the Wolverines went into the half down only 21-13, the numbers were foreboding. PSU amassed 302 total yards in the first half, more than Michigan had allowed in a full game this season. The safeties, steady to this point, were exploited in space by Barkley and McSorley. The offense mustered only 141 yards on five fewer plays, still hampered by poor blocking and a lack of trust in the passing game.
Given all that, it probably shouldn't have surprised too many people when Penn State blew the game wide open in the second half. Issues new and old appeared on PSU's first possession of the half. Tyree Kinnel got dusted one-on-one by DaeSean Hamilton on a slant for 26 yards; Barkley dropped a big gain after easily beating Mike McCray on a wheel route; McSorley seemingly juked half the defense to find the end zone on a beautifully designed inverted veer that had Barkley motion before the snap, drawing much of the defense's attention. Just like that, PSU took a commanding 28-13 lead.
Once again, John O'Korn couldn't generate much in the passing game. [Upchurch]
From then on, it was a merciless beating. On offense, O'Korn was improved from last week's woeful outing but still only managed 5.9 yards per attempt. Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when cornerback Christian Campbell beat Karan Higdon around the edge and ripped the ball away from O'Korn. They were really dashed when Barkley toasted McCray in man coverage for a juggling 48-yard touchdown two plays later; McCray had no hope of keeping pace, yet the normally unassailable Don Brown kept allowing that matchup to play out.
It was academic from there. McSorley added another rushing touchdown with 7:53 to play. Michigan's final possession ended in appropriately inept fashion. Facing fourth-and-nine, the coaches pulled right tackle Juwann Bushell-Beattly, who allowed consistent pressure, to insert Nolan Ulizio as an apparent pass-protection specialist. Before they could snap the ball, O'Korn took a delay of game. After the penalty, redshirt freshman backup Shaka Toney ran right around Mason Cole to sack O'Korn for the coup de gras.
Michigan can only fix so much this season. With the schedule letting up considerably over the next few week, they're likely to try some new patches, potentially including one fans have wanted for weeks. Quarterback Brandon Peters was warming up on the sideline before O'Korn ultimately took the field for M's last drive. Given how that drive played out, that was probably for the best. Now that the conference title is essentially out of reach and a top-ten defense isn't facing M's O-line, it's time to see what Peters has got. While that won't solve everything, it could be the spark this offense desperately needs.
Many of tonight's other issues will be taken care of for this year, at least, by not having to face Joe Moorhead and this Nittany Lions offense again.
They want Bama. They can have them.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:15 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 9:09 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:15 PM ^
Look at Penn State with Hackenberg, they sucked, including with Barkley (who was a good frosh at the time); and then McSorley gets a chance in their third tier bowl game, and he immediately gets the team driving the field and scoring points. They lost that game, but the future was set with McSorley; and then the next year he leads them to the B1G title and the Rose Bowl.
I see the same possibilty for us. We need to get Peters or McCaffrey on the field to find out who can make plays, and who has the intangibles and infectuous leadership to take us to the next level.
October 22nd, 2017 at 6:00 PM ^
October 23rd, 2017 at 6:46 AM ^
Keep in mind, Harbaugh’s system worked like a dream at Stanford (which has maintained his style since he left) and it worked well at Michigan in 2015 and 2016. We have some broken pieces, like Ace put in the above article. Once the pieces are fixed, the offense will begin to look more dominant that we did at the 2nd half of the 2015 season
October 22nd, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^
That was a horrible game plan by Don Brown, you can't play press coverage against Penn State, guess what their offensive guys are better than yours. We should have played a bend not break defense, instead, we just played a broke defense.
Poor McCray, having to match up with the best player in football 1 on 1 with no help, piss poor job, Don Brown.
October 22nd, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 2:18 PM ^
Not Coup de Gras. That would be "Strike of the fat," rather than "Strike of mercy". Though maybe there is no mercy or grace left in this season...
October 22nd, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
Now we can ignore future possibilities / prospects, and settle into rooting for our team.
October 22nd, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^
I've always been interested in how the players take games such as the PSU loss and put it behind them. Learn what you can, apply the "48-hour rule," and get ready for next week's contest.
The players always seem to deal with these situations better than do the fans.
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