Defense / ST notes: Minus two mistakes, Michigan puts together dominant performance in Penn State win

Michigan Wolverines football looked up at the scoreboard late in the second quarter and saw that it was down one point, 14-13. The stat sheet told a completely different story, but the Nittany Lions took the lead thanks to two big plays — a 62-yard run from quarterback Sean Clifford to set up a touchdown and a pick-six on a twice-tipped ball.

Michigan had a narrow, 16-14 edge at the break, after having 18 first downs to Penn State’s 1. In the first half, Penn State totaled just 17 pass yards and 66 yards on the ground (only 4 other than Clifford’s long run on a read-option keeper).

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The Michigan players weren’t concerned when they reconvened in the locker room.

“You know you just gotta step up,” senior EDGE Mike Morris said of the mentality. “Nothing was really going through our head, because we know we shot ourselves in the foot on those plays. If you look back at it — take away those plays, which I feel were lucky plays … missed tackle, somebody didn’t fill in their gap, touchdown, and then a tipped ball returned for a touchdown … that doesn’t happen often.

“You’re going to probably see it on SportsCenter because that doesn’t happen often. Again, take away those three plays, we were good. The [Penn State] offense, they had 8 rushing yards before that play. So I wasn’t really tripping about it.”

Save for a few plays, it was a dominant performance in Michigan’s 41-17 win over the No. 10 team in the country.

Penn State averaged 5.4 yards per play, totaled 268 yards — 157 passing, 111 rushing — and had 4 negative plays, including 2 sacks. Outside of Clifford’s big run, Penn State accumulated just 49 rushing yards on 21 carries.

“Give all credit to those guys in those rooms,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said of his team dominating up front on both sides of the ball. “Players like [senior defensive tackle] Mazi Smith and [junior defensive tackle] Kris Jenkins and Mike Morris and [graduate EDGE] Taylor Upshaw. They had a real pride about things that they wanted to be better and [defensive line coach] Mike Elston’s done a great job coaching them. [Coordinator] Jesse Minter’s done a great job. Credit to the coaches and the players.”

Setting the tone

Michigan’s defense came out hungry and didn’t allow the Nittany Lions to get in a groove. Penn State went three-and-out on its first two possessions. On its first drive, Morris made a tackle for loss on third-and-1 to get off the field.

“I think that was a big one, just to get them off the field and three-and-out them,” Morris said. “It felt great. It looked great. The defense, how we coordinated it, it was a big play, big stop. The energy was brought after that, and we set the tone.”

They fed off an electric ‘maize out’ crowd, too.

Morris has become a force on the Michigan defense. Already a leader, he’s now one of the Wolverines’ most productive players on his side of the ball. He leads the team with 8 tackles for loss, and added a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry on the afternoon.

“I wasn’t always the guy that the team looked at as a big player,” Morris said. “I was always a big guy, always tall, had the figure, but I couldn’t put the pieces together. I just would pray to God like, ‘Why? Why not now? Why not now?’ He’s just been telling me to wait. ‘Wait, your time is coming.’ And my time is now. Everything you guys have been seeing now is just God preparing me for this moment.”  

Another momentum sequence came after a 48-yard pass from Clifford to wideout Harrison Wallace III put the Nittany Lions into field goal range, and they converted with three points on a 27-yard chip shot. Michigan sophomore running back Donovan Edwards ripped off a 67-yard touchdown run to take a 24-17 lead (with a 2-point conversion) early in the third quarter, the defense got a turnover on downs, then junior running back Blake Corum dashed for a 61-yard score on U-M’s first play of the ensuing drive.

Just like that, Michigan was up 31-17 and didn’t look back.

Penn State’s final four drives ended in three turnovers on downs and one punt. The Nittany Lions weren’t able to muster up any life late after a few big plays kept them in the game.

Michigan’s offense stayed on the field with long drives filled with runs, and the defense got off the field quickly. Michigan won the time of possession battle, 41:56 to 18:04, with the 23:52 time of possession differential standing as the largest of any game this season for the Wolverines.

Miscellaneous defense / special teams notes

• Penn State’s 268 total yards marked its lowest total of the season and fewest since racking up just 227 in a loss to Illinois last year.

• The Nittany Lions’ 111 rushing yards are the third-most Michigan has allowed in a game this season. No U-M opponent has gone over 140 rushing yards. Big Ten opponents are averaging 73.3 rushing yards per game against U-M.

• Penn State’s 157 passing yards are the least Michigan has allowed to a Big Ten opponent this season and fewest since Indiana had only 88 last year.

• Michigan limited Penn State to 83 yards of total offense in the first half. U-M has held five of seven opponents this year under 100 yards in the first half.

• Penn State did not convert a first down until 8:05 remaining in the second quarter, which is the longest an opponent has been held without a first down in a game this season.

• Michigan junior safety R.J. Moten‘s third-quarter sack was U-M’s first of the game and Moten’s first full sack of his career. He has 1.5 career sacks, with the other half coming against Colorado State.

• Sophomore safety Rod Moore and sophomore linebacker Junior Colson led U-M with 5 tackles a piece.

• Graduate kicker Jake Moody made field goals from 29, 24, 24 and 37 yards out. His four makes tie a season high. This was his 53rd career game. He’s just four contests shy of passing former U-M safety Brad Hawkins for most games in program history (56).

• Moody also made a tackle on Penn State kick returner Nicholas Singleton that saved a big return at the beginning of the third quarter. Instead, the Nittany Lions started the second half at their own 20-yard line.

• Michigan graduate punter Brad Robbins serves as the holder on field goals and extra points, so he did get in the game, but the Wolverines did not punt once.