UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — No Jim Harbaugh, no problem.
Michigan football came into Happy Valley and ran, ran again and ran some more over Penn State. After falling into a 3-0 deficit, the Wolverines beat the Nittany Lions in their home, 24-15.
The win keeps the maize and blue undefeated with a showdown against a newly bowl-eligible Maryland team in a week.
If you were at Beaver Stadium or you were watching the game at home, there’s a lot that happened that you may not have noticed. That’s where the folks at MGoBlue.com have us covered!
Here are some facts, tidbits and trivia from the game you might not have known.
Facts/tidbits:
- U-M improved to 17-10 all-time in 27 meetings with Penn State, including an 8-6 mark at Beaver Stadium. The Wolverines have won seven of the last 10 matchups (all under Harbaugh) including three straight.
- (Saturday’s) game was the fourth time that these teams met as top-10 ranked opponents. U-M improved to 3-1 in those matchups.
- The Wolverines have won 22 straight games against Big Ten opponents, the longest streak in program history.
- The Big Ten does not recognize the 2021 or 2022 league championship games as conference matchups, so according to the conference, U-M is at 20 straight wins, a program record (previous: 19 by 1990-92 teams coached by Gary Moeller).
- Michigan has been victorious in 25 consecutive regular season games, tied for the fourth-longest stretch in Big Ten history.
- U-M has won 10 straight Big Ten road games (beginning with Penn State, 2021) for the first time since a streak that lasted from 1945-48. There are only six longer streaks in league history.
- After winning in Columbus last season and in State College (Saturday), U-M has a top-10 road win in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1963 (at No. 2 Illinois) and 1964 (at No. 9 Michigan State) seasons.
- No team has surpassed 15 points scored on the Wolverines; only one (Purdue) scored more than 10 points (13).
- In quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s 23 career starts, U-M is 22-1.
- No opponent has scored more than one touchdown against U-M’s defense; Penn State was the first team to run a play inside Michigan’s 10-yard line and the first team to score a touchdown of fewer than 20 yards – previously, all Michigan’s touchdowns allowed had been on explosive plays.
- U-M is dominant out of the locker room. Opponents have accumulated 17 total first downs in 10 third quarters played. No team has reached 75 yards of offense in the quarter — and four teams have been held to under 15 yards of total offense.
- The fumble by Drew Allar in the third quarter was recovered by Makari Paige (his first) and forced by Rayshaun Benny (his first).
- Michigan’s third-quarter field goal represented the first points allowed by the Nittany Lions in the third quarter all season.
- The Michigan defense sealed the game in the fourth quarter, allowing zero Penn State first downs on three consecutive drives.
- U-M was the first team in the last nine to eclipse 100 yards rushing against Penn State. Penn State entered the game with the No. 1 rushing defense in the country.
- The Nittany Lions averaged 60.3 team rushing yards against, a figure individually surpassed by Blake Corum’s 145 yards during today’s game. U-M’s rushing total was the most allowed by PSU this year (227 yards).
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