Penn State 42, Michigan 13 Comment Count

Ace



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.

Comments

crg

October 22nd, 2017 at 7:38 AM ^

With saban and dabo building up years worth of solid recruits. Clemson was bad for the first several years if dabo's tenure. Saban improved faster, but with (rumored) much more of those SEC recruiting tactics that we choose not to employ (and rightfully so).

1817

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:42 AM ^

PSU getting it done the last 2 years after program sanctions and MSU getting it done now with 3 stars across the board. Our higher rated coaches (except Hoke) and athletes just keep falling short but that's our legacy.  Just hope the rest of the year shows some improvement.

4910mocksSnowflakes

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:43 AM ^

You know I'm right. 

Stop blaming Hoke or Drevno. 

Stop talking "rebuilding" year. 

You don't believe Michigan will be better than Penn State or Ohio State next year, probably not better than WIsconsin. Hell, maybe lose to Michigan State again. 

Harbaugh figured he'd come to the Big Ten and take everything in sight. 

Instead, he's been embarrassed. And gotten Michigan football embarrassed. 

You know it. 

And that's why when he leaves -- Harbaugh always leaves -- you won't shed a tear. 

GeorgetownTom

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:44 AM ^

I think PSU could beat Alabama. Michigan's defense entered the PSU game on par with Alabama's D if not better by various advanced stats. PSU just shredded that defense. Alabama has looked dominant but the SEC is probably the weakest it's been in a decade. Plus people were saying the same thing about OSU in 2014 and they went in and beat Alabama.

Mgoczar

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^

Possible

I'm dumbfounded that Moorehead isn't garnering head coaching interest. His ofeneeive system is better than peak urban Meyer offense. That being said, how are recruits interested. This offe is beyond me - nfl doesn't run it and it would blow there but I guess just win games and not care about future ?

In reply to by SpilledMilk

SHub'68

October 22nd, 2017 at 1:54 PM ^

How does that keep working? Surely there were other things, but to my still recovering senses those seemed to be what hurt us the worst. Several times we had them backed up and they'd hit some ludicrous punt type throw down field.

Ramblin

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:49 AM ^

Just finished ranting on another post.  Time to try to be positive and hope things will improve next year. 



Fire the coaches, hire someone new, fire him, repeat...  Time to just let go and hope.  We are "all in" at this point, whether we want to believe it or not.  The days of a two team big ten are gone and we need to accept it.  It will take patience to get back to a championship winning team.



Strange though...  Brian mentioned this but it deserves more attention.  Why was McCray left in the game?  Do we not have anybody more capable of covering a fast running back that's a good reciever than our biggest slowest linebacker?  That and a few other things like running up the middle over and over into an obvious center jam and not spying McCsorley are just total head scratchers to me?

 

 







  

Sopwith

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^

I was far less upset at the beatdown than I would have been if it had come down to Nordin's missed extra point being the difference.

Sometimes the bar eats you.

Njia

October 22nd, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^

I expected more from a veteran coaching staff. I know, I know; youth, rebuilding, new coaching staff, etc.

But every team deals with those issues. I note that Field Goal Franklin swapped out his OC last year - basically kicking a long time assistant to the curb when the team wasn’t playing up to its talent. After a shaky start last year, they went on to beat OSU, win the B1G, and go to the CFP.

This season is what it is - yet it’s also Year 3 for Harbaugh. Next year, results have to be there, in the form of victories over rivals, with his recruits. If he and his staff can’t get that done, I’m not sure there will be any success with this staff.

MonkeyMan

October 22nd, 2017 at 1:02 AM ^

"Next year, results have to be there, in the form of victories over rivals, with his recruits."

 

Nah, the excuse makers have next year covered too- they are always ready with new material

Ramblin

October 22nd, 2017 at 1:34 AM ^

Lloyd Carr: 

Offense with Debord is old fasioned.  Need an overhaul.  Pushed out.

Rich Rod:   

Come install a modern system and overhaul our program.  It's stale.  Just don't suck your first year using pro style players and win the big 10 in 3 years.  Fired.

Hoke:

I'm an egomaniac fanboy/AD that thought Rich Rod was too Hillbilly and I didn't like his new fangled offense.  He also didn't compete for a title by year three.  Not acceptable.  Come back.  It's manball time...  Fired.

Harbaugh:

?

I dunno guys.  New coach again?  We gotta stay the course this time a la Notre Dame and Charlie Weiss.  If for no other reason than assuring a new coach will want to come join the fun if/when Harbaugh is out. 

                         

Njia

October 22nd, 2017 at 8:11 AM ^

The MSU game was insightful in terms of the offensive game plan. Forty-three different offensive plays in the first half? With a young team whose most recent starts were in high school ball? That strikes me as a staff trying to get a “schematic advantage.”

This isn’t the NFL.

crg

October 22nd, 2017 at 7:46 AM ^

I would have given RR another year since there was improvement and 3 years is too short to fire any coach without some other cause than performance, but I don't believe he would have been truly successful in the big ten - even if he had 10+ years to do it. He peaked at WVU before defenses could fully adapt to spread (and against big east competition mostly) and I have yet to see him field a dominant defense.

bighouse22

October 22nd, 2017 at 9:32 AM ^

RR's time was limited no matter what.  The trap was that he ignored the defense and tried to out score everyone on offense.

The trap for Harbaugh is that he fixed the defense by hiring the best Def. Coordinator in the country, but will he do the same on offense.

As much as I don't care for Franklin, he is similar in his approach to Meyer.  They hire top notch innovative minds for offense and defense.  If Harbaugh goes down the same path and fixes the offense he will be a legend.  If not, he will be just like Carr, close but no cigar!  Teams that compete occasionally but come up short against more innovative minds.

The trick is finding a coach that has both sides of the ball operating at the top of the profession, not one side at the expense of the other.  Hopefully JH is that guy. 

I would think that they guy who watched a traffic cop to observe what made him so good at what he did is doing the same with his peers in the profession and learning from their success.

I believe JH is that person and he will adapt.  He is too competitive to stand pat and accept the status quo. 

 

crg

October 22nd, 2017 at 11:40 AM ^

Offense is more complicated than defense. Do you hire the best scoring OC, the best possession OC, or the winningest OC? Also, do you factor in style and conference (scoring 40pts/game in Big 12 and SEC are very different accomplishments)? Also, we had a natural opening for DC last time (without needing to fire anyone) and it was easy to pull Brown from BC. The better OCs out there are probably at good teams already and might not want to leave.

4910mocksSnowflakes

October 22nd, 2017 at 1:16 AM ^

All the tweets and mugging for the camera was an embarrassment but Harbaugh got away with it cause everyone just assumed he'd win a game that mattered. 

He hasn't. 

That shit wears thin real fast when you constantly get outcoached. 

And don't kid yourself, that's what this is. 

You think Dantonio has better players? You think Franklin magically outrecruited Harbaugh with all the sanctions hanging over his head. 

Harbaugh's better players lose to teams with worse players but better coaches. 

Wisconsin's 3 stars are gonna crush Michigan. 

Harbaugh's done. 

---

 

PS: Memorize this. Snowflake mods are gonna ban me within the next 24 hours. They always do. Gotta keep up the cheerleading, facts are bad for business. 

M-Dog

October 22nd, 2017 at 1:14 AM ^

Everybody keeps wondering how Penn State, a team coming off a near-death panalty, can be so far ahead of us offensively.

But it's not that complicated.

Just 2 years ago, Penn State looked just like we do now on offense . . . a tepid pro-style offnese run by a shellshocked Hakenberg behind an anemic OL. 

But then James Franklin - on the hot seat - had enough sense to make a change. 

He brought in Joe Moorhead to run a modern college-oriented offense that can put pressure on a defense from multiple angles.  That offense takes advantage of athletic skill players, but at no time does it over-complicate what they need to know and do under pressure.    

Like Urban Meyer's offense, it caters to the skillsets you can reasonably expect from college players at QB.  The QB typically makes a single read and then takes off running, hands off, or throws to a pre-planned receiver that was schemed open.

The QB does not try to sit in a pocket and make multiple reads under pressure.  That's a skiiset that is hard to find consistently in college.

It's worked miracles for Penn State.  But it's nothing that Michigan couldn't have done.

TrueBlue2003

October 22nd, 2017 at 2:19 AM ^

thank you.  EXACTLY this.

We all thought he could recruit an endless stream of Andrew Luck's or at least turn scrubs into NFL draft picks but since that's clearly not the case, we should consider running something that's easier to run without an offense full of experienced, future NFL stars.

ghostofhoke

October 22nd, 2017 at 3:08 AM ^

Incorrect. We didn’t “all” think that. There are still a few rational people around who would never expect an endless string of top draft pick qbs since only a handful of guys get drafted to the next level every year and maybe 1 or 2 of them end up working out. That premise is fucking ridiculous. Oh yeah, Harbaugh has an Andrew Luck, we should expect that he cranks one of those out every other year. This place has a lot of morons around it, don’t let that bullshit jade you into thinking their expectations are the norm or reasonable.

TrueBlue2003

October 22nd, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^

but if you read correctly, I said that he'd get highly talented Andrew Luck types OR turn Jake Rudock types into draft picks.  And for the vast majority of this blog, including ALL the writers, that was the expectation after the Rudock that year. 

Harbaugh was assumed to have the QB midas touch after reinvigorating Alex Smith and Jake Rudock.  That premise wasn't even that ridiculous given his track record.  He was and maybe still is regarded as the QB whisperer. 

He's obviously no miracle worker, especially with a bad OL, and reality is smacking a lot of people in the face.  People probably are gave Harbaugh too much credit for Alex Smith, who was great in college, bad for bad 49er teams that few QBs could have won with, and is now still very good for Kansas City.

TrueBlue2003

October 22nd, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^

but if you read correctly, I said that the expectation was that he'd get highly talented Andrew Luck types OR turn Jake Rudock types into draft picks or very good college QBs.  And for the vast majority of this blog, including ALL the writers, that was the expectation after the Rudock that year. 

Harbaugh was assumed to have the QB midas touch after reinvigorating Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick and Jake Rudock.  That premise wasn't even that ridiculous given his track record.  He was and maybe still is regarded as the QB whisperer. 

But he's obviously no miracle worker with a midas touch, especially with a bad OL, and reality is smacking a lot of people in the face.

bighouse22

October 22nd, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

The problem is most HS now run the spread.  Pro style players can win like Bama, but you need top recruiting classes with 5* players at every position or a consistent staff that develops those players for years in college (like MSU). 

We are getting 5* on defense, but need the same on offense on the lines and at RB.  Otherwise it will take more time like it did for MSU.

I personally would prefer that similar to the defensive staff, that Harbaugh would make a similar move to a power spread approach.  Or better yet, I wish we would have gotten a Kevin Wilson to run the offense.  That coupled with Don Brown would be lights out. 

I have never understood why it is so hard to have a top offense and top defense at the same time.

Harbaugh makes staff changes every year to attempt to make the team better.  Let's see what next year looks like, but I think Drevno has a 5 year deal so I think continuity is the name of the game.