What they're saying about Michigan's blowout win over Penn State

Michigan moved to 7-0 with a 41-17 thrashing of the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor. The win helped the Wolverines re-establish themselves as one of the teams to beat in the Big Ten.

The nation was put on notice, too.

Here is a sampling of what the local and national media are saying about Michigan coming off the big victory. This will be updated as more opinions come in from around the media sphere.

Chris Balas, The Wolverine

Michigan 41, PSU 17: Notes, quotes, and observations

Complete and utter emasculation. 

If there were ever a 41-17 game that wasn’t as close as the final score made it appear, Michigan’s thrashing of Penn State Saturday would be it. If not for a few gifts from the football gods, the Nittany Lions would have been out of this one at halftime. 

Instead, down 16-14 in a half in which they notched only 1 —1 — first down yet managed to be down only 2 on a couple of gift plays, they chose a bold strategy:

They started jawing at the Wolverines on the way up the tunnel to the locker room.

Like the incident last season at halftime when Ohio State players got into with the Wolverines … well, it didn’t end well for them.

“I was late to it. I didn’t see what went on,” sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy (17-for-24, 145 yards passing) said. “But just from how they were acting emotionally out there, going into the half, and how they were emotionally all game, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was them starting it.”

It didn’t faze the Wolverines.

“We just finished it,” the Michigan signal caller said with a grin.

And they did it with a bludgeoning at lopsided as any we’ve seen in this series.

John Borton, The Wolverine

Wolverine Watch: Michigan Runs Away From Penn State

Penn State’s purported No. 10 team in the nation suffered the Daily Double of indignities at Michigan Stadium.

First and foremost, they got crushed by a No. 5 Michigan crew that treated the Nittany Lions like crippled kitties most of the afternoon, winning 41-17. The Wolverines ran roughshod — literally — over James Franklin’s Second-Hand Lions, piling up 418 yards on the ground to Penn State’s 111, and registering a dominating 563-268 margin overall.

But for two big second-quarter plays by the visitors, the Wolverines would have easily hung half a hundred on the soon-to-be-not top-10 team.

As it was, the avalanche sufficed.

“One-hundred percent,” noted sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy (17-for-24, 145 yards passing) when asked if he felt onboard with the ground-Lion approach.

“That’s the beauty of our offense. We’re multi-dimensional. When you’re rushing for 400 yards against the No. 10 team in the country, I’ll sit back and be a part of that ride, every single game.”

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

Jim Harbaugh’s throwback style of bully ball flattened Penn State, but how far can it take Michigan?

Michigan’s offense is something out of the Bo Schembechler era. Then again, so is its record.

It’s 7-0 now for the No. 5 Wolverines after they completely dominated 10th-ranked Penn State on Saturday, 41-17. That marks consecutive 7-0 starts for the first time since they did it four seasons in a row from 1971-75 and Schembechler was at his legendary peak.

Those are the golden glory days around here, sepia-toned memories that the program constantly tries to duplicate. But Bo never won a national title, let alone had to deal with a playoff that stacked SEC powers against him. Michigan went 1-2-1 against Ohio State during that run. The standards now are different.

The Wolverines’ coach, Jim Harbaugh, is an old quarterback but he is running things like an offensive lineman. The rest of the country may be obsessed with athletes in space and style points galore, but blunt-force trauma seems to be the goal in Ann Arbor.

A wide-open passing attack? Try running it 55 times for 411 yards.

Tempo offense? Try 41:56 time of possession.

Bend-but-don’t-break defense? Penn State had just one first down in the first half (to Michigan’s 18) as the Wolverines just manhandled them.

Michigan controlled the clock, controlled the game (even when Penn State stayed flukily in it) and controlled the will of its opponent. It never punted.

This was some kind of Big Ten fantasy come to life, just a pure bludgeoning. And it came against a team that had allowed just 79.6 yards per game on the ground, fifth best in the country.

Bill Bender, Sporting News

Michigan sends message with Jim Harbaugh’s best rushing attack yet in Penn State blowout

What about the Michigan team? The 2016 and 2018 teams were good, but not good enough to win at Ohio Stadium. The 2021 team beat the Buckeyes 42-27 with 394 rushing yards last year. This game felt like that one, and that raises the stakes for the Nov. 26 showdown at The Shoe. 

Now, we can ask some four fun questions. 

Will this be the first 11-0 vs. 11-0 matchup since the legendary No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in 2006? Both teams will be favored by double digits in every game leading up to the finale. 

Will Michigan’s running game or Ohio State’s passing game led by C.J. Stroud prevail? The Buckeyes still have an offense that averages 48.8 points and 543.7 yards per game along with first-round picks all over the skill positions. It is the same challenge. 

Will McCarthy be the first Wolverines quarterback since Drew Henson in 2000 to win at Ohio Stadium? With that running game, this gives McCarthy the best chance to be that quarterback. The last two Michigan quarterbacks who tried at The Shoe – Wilton Speight and Shea Patterson – were not as talented as McCarthy. 

Will new Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ defense have an answer for that Wolverines running attack? We cannot wait to find out the answer to that one because that will determine who goes to Indianapolis. 

Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic

U-M ranks 4th in Auerbach’s latest power rankings

The second-most impressive win of the day belonged to the Wolverines, who put on a clinic in a 41-17 win over a Penn State team that was maybe, probably, definitely overrated as the AP poll’s No. 10 team entering this weekend. Michigan gashed the Nittany Lions’ previously stout rushing defense for 418 yards on the ground, including a pair of 60-plus-yard touchdown runs, in what Jim Harbaugh described as a “butt-kicking in every which way a butt could be kicked,” per quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

As mentioned above, Blake Corum should be in the Heisman conversation. Quarterbacks almost always steal the spotlight from running backs when it comes to this race, but Corum’s fourth consecutive 100-yard performance and FBS-best 13 rushing touchdowns on the season demand more attention. He is one of the best players in the country, and it’s not up for debate.

Stewart Mandel, The Athletic

‘Bloodbaths’ coming for Michigan in next few weeks

If, like me, you’d been waiting seven weeks to see what No. 4 Michigan looks like against a quality opponent, then Saturday’s 41-17 annihilation of No. 10 Penn State was three hours of wow! The Wolverines ran for 418 yards against a Nittany Lions defense that allowed 399 in its first five games. Fox’s Joel Klatt suggested early in the game that this year’s Michigan offensive line may be even better than last year’s Joe Moore Award winners, and he may be right. Right guard Zak Zinter in particular overpowered his man to help huge holes on Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum’s back-to-back 60-plus yard third-quarter touchdowns.

If you like watching bloodbaths, 7-0 Michigan’s next three opponents are Michigan State (3-4), Rutgers (3-3) and Nebraska (3-4).

ESPN reporters have Michigan in the College Football Playoff

ESPN’s playoff picks after Week 7

Andrea Adelson: 1. Georgia 2. Tennessee 3. Ohio State 4. Michigan
Blake Baumgartner: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Tennessee 4. Clemson
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Ohio State 4. Tennessee
Bill Connelly: 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Michigan 4. Tennessee
Heather Dinich: 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Tennessee 4. Michigan
Chris Low: 1. Tennessee, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia, 4. Clemson
Harry Lyles Jr.: 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Tennessee 4. Michigan
Ryan McGee: 1. Georgia, 2. Ohio State, 3. Tennessee, 4. Oregon
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. Tennessee 3. Georgia 4. Michigan
Alex Scarborough: 1. Ohio State 2. Tennessee 3. Georgia 4. Clemson
Mark Schlabach: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Tennessee 4. Clemson
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Tennessee 4. Michigan
Dave Wilson: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Michigan 4. Tennessee

David M. Hale, ESPN.com

College football Week 7 highlights: Top plays, games and takeaways

Ohio State is dynamic and flashy. Michigan feels a bit like its coach’s preferred pants — not quite formal, not quite casual, completely functional and so bland it’s oddly interesting.

Last year, that was enough. Ohio State’s flash was impressive when it worked and a train wreck when it didn’t. Good or bad, it was interesting.

Michigan could be dull and predictable, but it rarely disappeared in big moments, and that was enough to punch a playoff ticket. And even after that, it was still clear that improvement was needed, and so Jim Harbaugh went through the motions of a QB battle perfectly designed to achieve the desired result. And now with JJ McCarthy, Michigan is again good and reliable and… mostly using the same formula it did a year ago.

To look down the Big Ten standings at teams like Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Purdue is to sift through a freezer full of vanilla ice cream. To look at Ohio State is to see a bottomless tub of 31 flavors with sprinkles and hot fudge. And what is Michigan? Not vanilla, clearly. But perhaps French vanilla?

Saturday’s dominance of Penn State was a statement. In the country’s second-richest (and, therefore, second-best) conference, Michigan stands out from the crowd. It is a team that made the College Football Playoff just a year ago, then seemed almost an afterthought all offseason, returned to the field with a plethora of wins against cupcakes that all added up to… what? Even after Saturday, are we ready to include Michigan on the same tier as the Buckeyes?

Perhaps the problem is us. Perhaps we’re fools, constantly dazzled by the shiniest object, and Ohio State polishes its chrome with the best of them. Perhaps we simply cannot appreciate the physical, run-it-down-your-throat-then-keep-running approach of the Wolverines.

Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

Should Tennessee jump Georgia, Ohio State to No. 1 in new college football rankings?

4. Michigan (5): We’re projecting a return to the No. 4 spot after the Wolverines dominated in one three spotlight games between undefeated teams. The 41-17 win against Penn State rejuvenated voter confidence that had been slipping in recent weeks, cementing Michigan’s spot as the top challenger to Ohio State in the Big Ten.