Team 136 - Game 11 - Michigan vs Penn State
/The Road to Happy Valley
The world really is a crazy place … and getting scarier by the day, that’s for sure, with uncertainty around every corner. Hard to start any conversation this week without a nod to Paris and the travesty that was last Friday and continues today … impossible to make light of the situation, and too much commentary drowns out the substance as it is … but I liked John Oliver’s take the best and found it an easy perspective from which to transition into lighter fare. Thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.
And the loco state of today’s society expands beyond globalism all the way to college football. The madness continues, with Less Corso and company happier than a TMZ reporter with a Charlie Sheen exclusive – yes, sad ... and yes, still a world-class douchebag (the fact that he’s out of pocket $10 million hush money just exacerbates the douchebaggery).
Saturdays are exciting again, with ever-increasing turbulence in the ranks, unexpected twists and the evolving top tier of the all-important playoff rankings. Michigan once again joined the chaos last weekend, finding a way to pull out a double-overtime victory on the road in Bloomington and keep its hopes alive for the Big Ten East crown. Big Blue got the W, 48-41, taking its all-time record against IU to 55-9 and its count on the season to 8-2 overall (5-1 Big Ten).
Up next for Coach Harbaugh is the last conference road trip of the season … to Happy Valley to face the boys from Penn State. Let’s recap the Great Hoosier Escape and then turn our attention to those pesky Nittany Lions.
Michigan vs. Indiana – The Recap
The long and short of it is that Michigan pulled a come-from-behind victory for the ages in cow country. Big Blue fell behind 34-27 on Jordan Howard’s 24-yard TD run with less than 3 minutes left in regulation, and then Body by Jake led the Wolverines 66 yards in eight plays before hitting Jehu Chesson on a 5-yard TD pass with two seconds left in the game to force overtime.
And then it got fun, and I don’t mean Disney Cruise fun … no, more like NY-takes-on-fantasy-sports fun … a winner would emerge, but it would be a stressful process that certainly would take a toll on all involved.
Then again, as Chris Christie noted in a Republican debate earlier this fall, “are we really talking about fucking fantasy football given all the shit happening in the world around us?” Ok, maybe he was a bit more PC, but the point remains … capitalism is thriving and esports, fantasy sports and other innovative concepts are coming forward through the private sector, creating jobs and sparking consumer spending … if you want to argue it’s come in the form of back-alley dice games with increasing risk of unruliness, go ahead … and then you can go fuck yourself, as this is sports entertainment at its finest – for fuck’s sake, go spend the public’s tax dollars productively rather than poking holes in private-sector commerce and stymying the economic recovery in the process. Jeez. Anyway, back to football.
Jordan Howard made it 41-34 with a fourth-down plunge in the first OT, and then Big Jake needed just two plays to tie the score at 41 with a 21-yard TD strike to I Like Jake Butt. The very next play from scrimmage sees Rudock find Darboh for an easy 25-yard score and it’s on the Michigan D to hold firm and secure victory. DJ Durkin’s boys are asked to stand strong on their own goal line … and tall it stands. IU’s Nate Sudfeld’s pass to Mitchell Paige on 4th and Goal fell incomplete … the Maize and Blue get the win … and the boys get jiggy with it on their way out of Memorial Stadium.
The Michigan Offense
Big Boy Rudock set a Michigan record with 6 passing TDs (breaking the previous record of 4 set by Steve Smith in 1983 against Purdue) and threw for a career-high 440 yards – the third-best yardage performance by a Michigan QB in a single game. Body by Jake kept drives alive with his feet (rushing 7 times for 64 yards), and his 33 completions tie John Navarre (2003) and Chad Henne (2004) for second-most in Michigan history – one shy of how many that kid named Brady posted in the 2000 Orange Bowl against Alabama.
Rudock looked comfortable in the pocket and connected to his wide-outs like we haven’t seen this season, and his mistake-free performance and game-winning-drive leadership instill confidence for the remainder of the campaign.
While Rudock’s feet were a weapon last Saturday, the fact that he led the squad in rushing is no bueno, as my people say here in SoCal. De’Veon Smith posted 58 yards on 12 carries and the next closest guy was Sione Houma (again, who?) with 5 carries for 17 yards, and while I’m all for Running-Back-By-Committee, I have a hard time getting behind that approach when our QB is the most prominent member of the committee. Then again, the fact that Ty Isaac and Derrick Green didn’t travel with the team to Indiana (Isaac due to an “internal matter” – yeah, that doesn’t sound good -- and Green for no articulated reason – um, sounds even worse?) led to the weak ground attack.
As for the air assault, Jehu Chesson’s 4 receiving TDs tie him for a school record with Derrick Alexander, who posted the 4 TDs back in 1992 against Minnesota, and his 208 yards on 10 catches is a single-game high for the native Liberian boy who grew up in Missouri and became a freak athlete at Ladue Horton Watkins High School.
Chesson’s performance was the just the second time a BigTen player posted 200 yards and 4 TDs in a single game in 20 years (Lee Evans did it for Wisconsin against Sparty in 2003). Jehu entered the season with one career receiving TD and he has five in the last three weeks … this kid has found his stride and he’s starting to look ready for Prime Time.
Amara Darboh finished with 8 catches for 109 yards and Jake Butt pulled in 7 balls for 82 yards, as Rudock was hitting targets with accuracy and precision all day long. The Michigan offense played inspired football last weekend, but it did so against a team that gave up 50+ to Rutgers … we applaud the effort and we like the result, but satisfaction and complacency kill momentum in college football – head down … focus ... execute.
The Michigan Defense
DJ Durkin’s D had no answer for Indiana’s Jordan Howard, who posted 238 yards on 35 carries and made the Maize and Blue look more vulnerable than Subway’s Jared Fogle walking into the Big House (and I’m not referring to Michigan Stadium) – fucking gross … this guys deserves the flogging he’s about to get in the joint ... maybe we could even get Ronda Rousey to help, as she’s got some pent-up anger inside (easy, Ronda, as even the great ones lose occasionally … no reason to go off the deep end, as you’ve got one hell of a career ahead if you can keep that noggin’ on straight for a few more years) … seriously, isn’t it just easier to put Jared in the ring with Ronda for five minutes – everyone would win, as she’ll feel better after the beating she took from Holly Holm, and we’d get a maimed Jared Fogle out of the whole thing which would make the prison images with him and Tyrone even more entertaining.
The Hoosiers hung 527 total yards on the #3 defense in the nation, and I gotta believe Durkin left Hoosierville feeling like he’d been kicked in the gut and was lucky to get out with minimal long-term damage … by taken out to the shed by Ronda Rouseybit defeated … ok, maybe not as down as Ronda Rousey.
But just as we proclaimed after the Golden Gopher Escape … there are no pictures on the scorecard. When the final bell rang, Michigan came out on top, and it did so because of defensive resilience … the unit bent but didn’t break, and Delano Hill came up big … first, a huge tackle on our own 2 yard line to save an IU touchdown, and then a game-winning pass breakup on the final play to seal the W … Uncle Mo remains on the Big Khaki Bus, and UM’s conference-title hopes remain alive.
Michigan Special Teams and Intangibles
Kenny Allen went 2-3 in the field-goal game, only missing from 42 yards on a bad snap and hold, and the kicking game finally feels reliable and stable, something we haven’t been able to say for … um … at least a decade now? And Jourdan Lewis filled in satisfactorily for Jabrill Peppers in the kick-return game with 3 shots and a long of 38 yards.
But UM’s Special Teams has now allowed kick-return TDs in back-to-back weeks after IU’s Mitchell Paige ran a punt back 51 yards for a score in the third quarter. Harbaugh has to work on this piece of the puzzle, as Big Blue can’t afford those slip-ups if it wants to play for the title in Indianapolis in December. Penalties also cost Michigan dearly (12 flags for 72 yards), particularly pre-snap calls, which are inexcusable for a Michigan team this late in the season.
But mistakes aside, Coach Jimbo’s on-camera optimism remains unfettered, and it’s a thing of beauty. He exudes confidence and drive above all else, striving to get better anywhere possible, but also recognizing successes and praising effort.
Harbaugh’s resilience shows through in his team … let’s just sit back and remember for a minute that this was a 5-win team last season and Coach hasn’t done much to it in terms of talent … he’s just done what his predecessors couldn’t … dominate the line on both sides and instill that looks at every week as carrying playoff consequences. He referenced Clint Eastwood’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in his post-game press conference, talking about how there was some of it all last Saturday, but the guys found a way to win. Coach is focused on winning, that’s for sure, and he’s got the fellas in uniform on the same page.
Michigan vs. Penn State – The Preview
This week the Khaki Bus stops in State College, PA for a match-up with Penn State that is sure to test the Wolverine mettle. The Nittany Lions are coming off a bye week after falling 23-21 to Northwestern on Nov. 7 in Evanston, and enter the contest 7-3 overall (4-2 BigTen), and this is a match-up UM can’t take lightly.
Michigan won last year’s contest 18-13 at home, but the last time these two squads faced off in Happy Valley saw PSU outlast Big Blue 43-40 in four overtimes. Michigan leads the all-time series 11-7, but the Maize and Blue have fallen to the Quaker Crew on its last three trips to Beaver Stadium.
And while last year’s game remains front of mind for Nittany Lion Nation, this week marks the 20th anniversary of The Snow Bowl – the infamous UM / PSU game at a Beaver Stadium covered in 18 inches of snow that saw the home team use a fake field-goal to seal a victory, 27-17 over Lloyd Carr’s #12-ranked Wolverines. The snow-removal crew included 188 prisoners from area correctional institutions … I guess that’s just how they roll in Pennsylvania.
Head Coach James Franklin leads a program that hasn’t recovered from the shit-show surrounding the downfall of the JoPa era that found Jerry Sandusky behind bars and the Paterno name forever blemished. The Nittany Lions have burned through 5 different coaches in 27 months and the team on the field noticeably lacks leadership, stability and unity.
But it’s Senior Day in Happy Valley and you can bet it will be loud. PSU QB Christian Hackenberg leads a team with stand-out true-frosh Saquon Barkley in the backfield and ready to fire after the bye week (he’s rushed for 836 yards on 133 carries so far this year and has gotten faster, stronger and more comfortable with college football since the campaign started); insiders project he gets 25 carries on Saturday given IU’s ground performance against the Michigan Defense. And Coach Harbaugh knows that Chris Godwin makes the PSU passing game ride or die, with 49 catches for 808 yards on the season (3 of which for TDs).
Penn State won back-to-back games over Maryland and Illinois (putting up 70 points combined), but then lost a close one to Northwestern before the bye, 23-21. The Nittany Lions are suspect on offense (unless it’s playing Maryland or Illinois), but bring a defense ranked 13th in the country both overall and in scoring, allowing just 18 points per game.
Michigan opened as a 5-point favorite in Vegas, making it just the third time this season that Penn State plays the underdog role and the first time at home (despite being undefeated at Beaver Stadium during this campaign). But UM has the edge on paper in offense (in the run game) and defense (against the run), and PSU has been outrushed and outgained in three of its last four games, and by big margins.
The early prediction is now in … Michigan 28 -- Penn State 10
Go Blue!