Fired-up Nittany Lions run all over Wolverines
Barkley, McSorley each score three times as Penn State avenges last year’s loss
Penn State turned its whiteout into a knockout of Michigan.
Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley cut through one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, each scoring three touchdowns, and the No. 2 Nittany Lions emphatically avenged their last regular-season loss with a 4213 victory against the 19thranked Wolverines on Saturday night.
Barkley set the tone the first time he touched the ball. He took a direct snap on the second play of the game and blazed 69 yards for a touchdown on his way to 161 yards from scrimmage that are a nice addition to his Heisman Trophy bid.
“Obviously we knew they were very aggressive. They’re a great defense, got a great defensive coordinator,” Barkley said. “Sometimes it seems like a heavyweight fight. They’re going to get some and we’re going to get ours. When you got your opportunity, you got to score.”
McSorley ran for three touchdowns for Penn State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten), including a darting 13-yarder in the third quarter that made it 28-13 and led the record-breaking, white-out crowd of 110,823 at Beaver Stadium to sing along to “Sweet Caroline.” McSorley and Barkley combined for the shot that pretty much put Michigan away, a 42yard TD pass with Barkley burning linebacker Mike McCray and then making a juggling catch to make it 35-13 early in the fourth quarter.
Michigan came in allowing 223 yards per game and 3.68 yards per play. Nittany Lions went for 506 yards and 8.3 per play, adding a few new looks to its offense, like the wildcat formation Barkley broke for the game’s first touchdown.
“Instead of lining up and sending the quarterback out wide we shifted to it at the last minute so they couldn’t go to a wildcat check,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “We had some wrinkles in there.”
Penn State has not lost a regular-season game since getting trounced 49-10 by Michigan (5-2, 2-2) last season. That seems like a lifetime ago in Happy Valley, where the defending Big Ten champions look even better than last year.
The Wolverines just don’t have the offensive playmakers to keep up with a team like Penn State, which gets chunks of yardage from Barkley, DaeSean Hamilton and Mike Gesicki. John O’Korn was 16 for 28 for 166 yards. He was sacked seven times and had a second-half fumble. If the Wolverines can’t win with a grinding running game and defense, they can’t win.
The matchup between Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown — two of the best in the country — went to Moorhead. Penn State was successful attacking the edges of Michigan’s D and consistently got the one-on-matchups in the passing game that worked in its favor. The last time Michigan allowed as many points in a game was in 2015 against Ohio State.
POLL IMPLICATIONS >> The Wolverines are in danger of falling all the way out of the rankings.
There was some question about whether Penn State or Georgia should be No. 2. The Nittany Lions likely won over some doubters with that performance.
LOOKING AHEAD >> The Wolverines have Rutgers coming to the Big House and the Scarlet Knights have won two straight.
The second game of a three-week stretch against ranked teams figures to be the toughest for the Nittany Lions, who travel to No. 6 Ohio State next weekend.