Takeaways from Michigan's win over Penn State: Wolverines lean on ground game, Nittany Lions still unserious, a Heisman candidacy that died
Michigan and Penn State dialed back the clock to 1985 and played a classic Big Ten football game with two teams banging their helmets against one another for 60 minutes without so much as any considering the idea of a forward pass.
Yet once again, the Wolverines — despite all the adversity, scandal and off-the-field distractions — proved to be the bigger, tougher, meaner bully, boa constricting their way to a 24-15 win over the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten on Friday and missed the game, and the decision only seemed to further galvanize the program, with players and coaches wearing “Michigan against Everybody” garb in pregame warmups.
Then behind a never-ending slew of jumbo package runs, Michigan ran for 227 yards on 46 carries, slowly grinding its way past Penn State. Blake Corum went for 145 yards and two scores, while Donovan Edwards had his best game of the season with 52 yards on 10 caries.
Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who was the head coach Saturday in place of the suspended Harbaugh, called 32 straight runs outside of a pass play that was negated by an interference penalty.
Michigan’s usage of extra linemen and tight ends allowed the Wolverines to lean on Penn State’s fast and athletic front seven, and the strategy worked — with Corum busting off a 30-yard touchdown to salt the game away late in the fourth quarter. Penn State had allowed just two runs over 20 yards all season, and Michigan had four such carries on the day (22, 44, 22, 30).
With both offenses refusing to pass, one of the differences in the game was Michigan’s ability to convert third downs (6 of 13) — including key conversions of 3rd-and-10, 3rd-and-8 and 3rd-and-11 on its first two touchdown drives.
After the victory, Moore was so overcome with emotion, he unleashed an epic NSFW interview, saying, “I want to thank coach Harbaugh. I f****** love you man. I love the s*** out of you, man. I did this for you. For this university, for our President, for our AD, the best players, the best alumni, the best university. These players. These f****** players!”
Penn State makes a statement all right. The Nittany Lions still aren’t ready for primetime.
Earlier this week, several Penn State players talked about how Saturday was another “statement game” for the program.
It sure was.
It was the “same old story” statement. It was the “still can’t get over the hump” statement.
Despite an elite defense, James Franklin & Co., continue to struggle in marquee matchups thanks to a punchless offense. He moved to just 4-16 against Michigan and Ohio State, and 3-16 versus Top 10 teams.
Just as they did in the loss earlier this season at Ohio State, the Nittany Lions played well enough defensively to win Saturday.
But Iowa-lite isn’t going to cut it against the two best teams in the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions were undone by poor in-game coaching (chasing points on 2-point conversions, wasting timeouts on 4th-down only to punt) and a complete lack of creativity or aggressiveness in play-calling.
OC Mike Yurcich was trending on Twitter during the game because Penn State’s offense was straight out of a SAW movie. It was a chainsaw in a bathtub horror show.
Michigan didn’t need to steal Penn State’s signs to know that the Nittany Lions were going run the ball on nearly every 1st down Saturday. Until garbage time, Yurcich called runs on 13 of 15 1st downs.
He showed zero faith in sophomore quarterback Drew Allar, who struggled all afternoon and attempted just a single pass over 20 yards before midway through the fourth quarter.
In a hilarious sideline report, Fox’s Jenny Taft passed along how James Franklin believes Allar can be “the guy” for PSU’s offense. At the time of the report, Allar was 4 of 8 for 37 yards and the coaching staff trusted “the guy” to catch a ball on a key 4th-down rather than pass or run for one.
Allar was skittish and uncomfortable all day. He finished 11 of 22 for 70 yards and a touchdown, averaging just 3.2 yards per attempt. He rushed for a score, but his fumble — the game’s lone turnover — set up a Michigan scoring drive.
Ultimately, Penn State is what it is at this point: A good, but not great team that can’t topple the best teams. While many online were talking about how the Nittany Lions can’t wait for the expanded 12-team playoff in 2024, who’s to say they can beat any of those teams, either?
J.J. McCarthy’s Heisman Trophy candidacy is dead
For as much as Penn State didn’t seem to trust its sophomore quarterback, Michigan didn’t operate all that differently despite having one of the Heisman Trophy frontrunners this season.
That candidacy died Saturday though, as J.J. McCarthy was asked to do next to nothing against Penn State’s ferocious front seven.
McCarthy entered the game No. 2 nationally in yards per attempt, QB rating and completion percentage, yet Moore consistently took the football out of his quarterback’s hands — especially on 3rd downs.
With a negated pass interference penalty, Michigan (officially) ran the ball on all 27 plays in the second half. The fact that the game was never in doubt speaks to the rest of the team’s complete effort, but it was notable that the Wolverines only chose to have McCarthy hand the ball off. He finished the day 7-of-8 for 60 yards with 37 yards rushing.
It worked going opposite a Penn State offense that was Iowa just in different colors uniforms, but time will tell if that strategy works against Ohio State or in the College Football Playoff.
At some point, McCarthy is going to have to shoulder the load to beat a quality team. He struggled at times in that very spot against TCU last season, and we still don’t know if he’s up for the challenge in 2023.