Defense
Defensive line: D
Defensive end Kwity Paye made his return after missing time due to an injury. Paye created some pressure on Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford, but it wasn’t enough to generate a sack, finishing with four total tackles. The lone sack for the Wolverines came from the other defensive end Taylor Upshaw who had three total tackles, one tackle for loss, and the sack.
Defensive tackle Carlo Kemp had five total tackles, while Donovan Jeter had three total tackles. Mazi Smith was the lone defensive tackle to get a tackle for loss.
Linebackers: D
While the defensive line struggled to create pressure on the quarterback, the linebackers had issues stopping the Penn State ground game. Penn State’s running back Keyvone Lee had 22 carries for 134 yards and a touchdown. Michigan linebacker Josh Ross led the team once again in tackles with 12, and he did create pressure on Clifford once.
Michigan didn’t have Cam McGrone back, and his replacement was Adam Shibley, who struggled somewhat in the game, finishing with six total tackles. VIPER Michael Barrett came close to a sack as well, but still finished with 11 total tackles.
Cornerback: B
Michigan held Penn State out of the end zone through the air, but unlike last week the secondary wasn’t able to force a turnover. Going into this game, Clifford threw eight interceptions, and the defense looked the cornerbacks at to make a play with a turnover, but Penn State held them without one. Cornerback Vincent Gray finished with one total tackle, but he struggled with tackling as multiple tackle attempts from him were broken by the Nittany Lions.
The other starting cornerback, Gemon Green easily had his best performance of the season, finishing with seven total tackles and a pass deflection. He made up for a lot of his teammates’ mistakes and had the best showing of any player on the defensive side of the ball in the game.
However, the zone defense wasn’t working for the secondary as the Nittany Lions picked it apart and racked up 163 yards through the air.
Safety: C
The safety unit saw another average performance on the field. Daxton Hill had a better game from last week’s poor performance, finishing with nine total tackles and a pass deflection. At first, the other safety was Brad Hawkins, who left last week’s game early with an injury. Again, he was injured early and was replaced with Hunter Reynolds, who did well with 11 total tackles.
Punting/Kicking: B+
Jake Moody saw the start at kicker with Quinn Nordin out with an injury, and Moody made his only field goal attempt, making the 40-yard attempt. Punter Brad Robbins had four punts for 149 yards with one poor punt, but he did have that bad punt land inside the 20-yard line.
Punt/Kick Return: F
Michigan wasn’t able to capture the magic it had on special teams last week as wide receiver Giles Jackson was out with an injury, and his replacements weren’t able to do anything close to it. No kick returns happened for the Wolverines, and on the two punt returns they had, they muffed both. Sainristil muffed the first one and it was recovered by Penn State, while Corum muffed the next one but luckily recovered it.