UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State Nittany Lions will have another chance to jump into the running for the Big Ten East Championship and beyond when the University of Michigan Wolverines come to visit on Nov. 11.
That first opportunity ended with a close loss at Ohio State, but this game possibly looms even larger for the Lions.
A win would open up all the potentials of getting to Indianapolis for the conference championship game and moving on from there.
A loss, however, would almost certainly end Penn State’s chances of making the NCAA playoff and possibly even imperil another double-digit win season.
Everything depends on this face-off against the very imposing, undefeated Wolverines.
Michigan stormed into the national picture under head coach Jim Harbaugh beginning two seasons ago, but especially in 2022.
The team had a 13-1 record that included a perfect Big Ten record, wins over both Penn State and Ohio State and a trip to the national semifinals.
The semifinal ended in an incredible 51-45 loss to TCU that saw Michigan storm back to within 6 points with just over three minutes to play.
TCU took the kickoff, however, ran the clock down to 52 seconds and then stopped Michigan on a 4th-and-10 to win the game and advance to the final.
Earlier that season, the Wolverines used long touchdown runs by Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum to pull away from Penn State in a 41-17 win in Ann Arbor.
Penn State had actually taken a 17-16 lead in the beginning of the third quarter, but Edwards and Corum took care of that.
This year, Michigan comes into Beaver Stadium undefeated and coming off a 41-13 victory over Purdue on Nov. 4.
The Wolverines returned both Corum and Edwards from last year along with junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who is widely considered to be among the best in the Big Ten.
McCarthy has 156 completions in 206 attempts (76%) for 2,134 yards and 18 touchdowns, with three interceptions. He averages just over 237 yards per game.
Corum ran 126 times for 649 yards and 16 touchdowns so far, while Edwards has 74 carries for 232 yards and two touchdowns.
Michigan has seven receivers who have over 100 yards receiving, led by Roman Wilson (589 yards, 10 TDs), Cornelius Johnson (422 yards, one TD) and Colston Loveland (419 yards, four TDs).
Michigan has been scoring over 40 points per game and averages 424 yards each game. It has outscored its opponents 366 to 60.
Defensively, the team is among the best in the country.
Michigan gives up just 6.67 points per game, 90 yards rushing and 141 passing. That is an average of just 231 yards allowed with just two rushing touchdowns and four passing.
The Wolverines have intercepted 12 passes, recovered four fumbles and recorded 22 sacks for 143 yards in losses. They have a total of 58 tackles-for-loss.
The team has had only 24 points scored against it in the second half all season and none in the third quarter.
Linebacker Junior Colson is the leading tackler on the team, while edge rushers Josaiah Stewart and Jayen Harrell are the sack leaders. DB Mike Sainristil leads with three interceptions.
In all, Michigan has been playing at an elite level on both sides of the ball and has not really been challenged at all so far this season.
“So far” are the key words there since Penn State intends to change all that on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 11.
After their 20-12 loss at OSU, the Nittany Lions gutted out a 33-24 win over a very game Indiana team on Oct. 28 and then showed off some big strides forward in a 51-15 win at Maryland on Nov. 4.
Penn State used three fourth-quarter takeaways to sprint away from the Terps and amass its largest conference scoring total of the season.
Penn State ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 246 and four touchdowns for a total of 404 yards on 76 plays.
Quarterback Drew Allar had one of his best days, going 25-for-34, 240 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
He also ran four times for 39 yards, while Kaytron Allen led the runners with 14 carries, 91 yards and a touchdown.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the win was the play of the receivers and tight ends. KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the team again with eight catches for 95 yards, but Dante Cephas added six catches, 53 yards and two touchdowns to the mix.
Add in tight ends Tyler Warren’s and Theo Johnson’s combined eight catches for 70 yards and two more scores.
There were also six passes completed for over 12 yards, with a long of 38 and two runs over 20 yards, one each by Allen and Allar.
And Nicholas Singleton had an over-50-yard kickoff return at just the right time in the second half.
All of that was done while the defense intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble, had 12 tackles-for-loss and recorded six sacks.
Maryland, although passing for 283 yards and two touchdowns, could not run the ball. The Terps tried 16 times and gained only 9 yards, which combined with 58 yards in losses to give them a total of -49 yards on the ground.
That was Maryland, though, and this week’s opponent will present a few more problems.
Much will depend on how well the Lion defense can match the physical play of Michigan for four quarters and contain Corum and Edwards.
And the flip side of that is Penn State’s ability to run the ball and keep the Michigan defense honest. Singleton and Allen are both dangerous and it would be nice to have either of them break a long one.
The emergence of more receiving options for Allar is a good sign, and if he continues to gain confidence, anything can happen here.
Michigan comes in on a two-game winning streak against Penn State, but the Lions won the two games previous to that.
This will also be the final year for the Big Ten East as the addition of the new teams from the PAC-12 will create a whole new scheduling format for the conference.
Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan will no longer be playing their round robin every season, so this game will go a long way in determining the BTE’s last champion.
Kickoff is set for noon.
