‘THEY KICKED OUR BUTTS’
After humbling loss, no bravado from Franklin and plenty of worries for rest of the season
This time, James Franklin sounded humbled. The Penn State coach didn’t discern between “great” and “elite,” nor did he promise “unconditional love.”
This time, Franklin humbled himself beneath Saturday’s 42-7 loss to Michigan, kept his answers short, said the Wolverines have the “No. 1 defense in the country” and left the stadium quietly. Really, what else was he to do?
“Defensively, they kicked our butts,” Franklin said plainly, soberly. “Give Michigan credit. They’re a good football team, and we did not play well today.”
Penn State (6-3) had a miserable day at Michigan Stadium, one that peeked through the team’s preparation all week. If quarterback Trace McSorley wasn’t healthy (he wasn’t), and his fellow playmakers couldn’t help (they really didn’t), how could Penn State keep this game from snowballing?
Further, how would Penn State be able to halt a Michigan freight train that rumbled downfield, reverberated through the crowd of 111,747 and was fueled by a sideline bent on “revenge” for last season’s 42-13 loss at Penn State?
“It was personal from the start, from the jump,” said Michigan running back Karan Higdon, who rushed for 132 yards and echoed a team-wide motto afterward.
Certainly, this wasn’t a good look for Penn State, and outlier bad nights happen. But, aside from being unable to counter Michigan’s defensive pressure and quarterback zone-read runs, the Lions once again felled themselves with a withering sequence of mistakes and erratic decisions.
Basically, the Lions have been inconsistent for four weeks. They’re 2-2 because of that. Michigan just made it look worse.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we missed on that, against a team as good as they are, you just flat out can’t do that,” McSorley said. “That’s going to get you beat 42-7.”
For instance: Penn State made a game-changing play when Nick Scott blocked a field goal, which fellow safety Garrett Taylor returned 74 yards for an apparent touchdown. Barely halfway into the run, though, Michigan Stadium knew it was coming back by the flag in the backfield. An illegal block negated the play.
Elsewhere, McSorley and running back Miles Sanders botched an exchange for the second consecutive week (McSorley blamed his own indecision), a fumble Michigan turned into a touchdown. McSorley later threw his third tipped-pass interception of the year, and backup quarterback Tommy Stevens sandwiched in a hand-delivered pick-six to Michigan for good measure.
All the magic wands Penn State had been able to wave the past two seasons, and even earlier this year, have dissolved. In the first half, Franklin declined a penalty on a kickoff that would have given Penn State possession at the 35-yard line to give returner KJ Hamler a shot at a big play. Michigan stuffed Hamler at the 23-yard line, marking a net loss of 12 yards on the play.
The sequence of inconsistencies has followed Penn State for a month and is a remarkable departure from the mostly veteran poise of 2017 and the impetuous big-play bravado of 2016. This seems to be a team playing anxious about its next mistake.
“Obviously there’s a lot of things we want to have back,” Scott said.
In addition, there was the matter of Franklin’s (questionable at best, unsafe at worst) use of his quarterbacks in the second half. McSorley clearly struggled with his mobility, because of either the knee brace he wore or the lingering effects of last week’s injury vs. Iowa.
Franklin said he might have held on too long to play Stevens, and when he did, Stevens threw the interception. Then Franklin went back to McSorley. Then McSorley went to the sideline injury tent after a run to end the third quarter (he didn’t want to talk about it).
Then Stevens entered. Then McSorley returned, for one play, an interception. Then Stevens finished the game, scoring a touchdown to prevent Penn State’s first shutout loss since 2001.
It was chaotic and problematic and a sign that Franklin couldn’t bring himself to say no to McSorley, who’s probably beat up and hurt more than we know. And that affects the future.
Yes, Penn State was humbled Saturday, in many ways, but it also was obtuse. The team will be fortunate if it didn’t make things worse, particularly at quarterback, for the remainder of the season.
mwogenrich@mcall.com Twitter @MarkWogenrich 610-820-6588