In a matchup between two undefeated top-10 teams, there was no question which team was superior in Ann Arbor on Saturday afternoon. Michigan moved the ball all day long on the Penn State defense and the Nittany Lions offense managed just 10 points in a 41-17 loss to the Wolverines.
Michigan’s first couple of drives stalled in the red zone and netted just two field goals before Michigan finally punched in a touchdown in the second quarter to go up 13-0. Penn State had a quick rally highlighted by a long run by [autotag]Sean Clifford[/autotag] to setup a short touchdown. The Penn State defense gave the Nittany Lions a short-lived lead at 14-13 when [autotag]Curtis Jacobs[/autotag] returned a tipped pass for a touchdown.
But the Wolverines answered right back and took advantage of a kickoff out of bounds and took a 16-14 lead into halftime. Penn State opened the second half with a go-ahead field goal inside the red zone, but it was all Michigan from there.
Michigan scored on touchdown runs of 67 yards by Donovan Edwards and 61 yards by Blake Corum on consecutive possessions to put the Nittany Lions in the rearview mirror for good. Edwards and Corum each rushed for over 160 yards against the Nittany Lions. If Penn State’s mission on defense was to make quarterback J.J. McCarthy have to beat them with his arm, they failed in massive fashion.
Penn State was thoroughly dominated on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football all game long with Michigan using their strength on the offensive line to rack up over 400 yards of rushing offense. And the Michigan defensive line never allowed the Penn State running game to get going outside of the long run by Clifford. It was the kind of game that reminds those watching Penn State has plenty of room for improvement on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football if it is going to be a legitimate Big Ten contender once again, let alone a College Football Playoff contender.
Clifford was pulled from the game early in the fourth quarter as [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] took over at quarterback. Clifford completed seven of 19 pass attempts for 120 yards with no touchdowns.
Penn State will return home next weekend to host Minnesota. It will be the annual whiteout game for the Nittany Lions and it will be played under the lights in primetime on ABC.
Michigan will have next week off. The next game for the Wolverines will be in two weeks at home against in-state rival Michigan State.
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