Earlier in the week, Harbaugh stopped at the grave of legendary MI coach Bo Schembechler during his walk through Forrest Hill Cemetery and smashed a buckeye on the ground.
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If Michigan State can get by the Lions, they’ll find themselves the winners of the Big Ten’s Eastern division and a trip to Indianapolis in the Big Ten title game against No. 4 Iowa.
Michigan’s starting quarterback, Connor Cook, is still questionable for Saturday’s game after having suffered a shoulder injury in their game against Maryland. But Meyer could lose consecutive Big Ten games for the first time in his four-year stint in Columbus, and questions may seep in about whether Harbaugh’s not just the new coach on the conference block. Tyler O’Connor and Damion Terry would split the reps under center. While Michigan State would love to have Cook back, the Spartans defense should be able to keep Penn State from piling up many points. It was a game the Ohio State offense would like to forget as it gained just 132 yards total. In his last eight games, Hackenberg has 13 TD passes, two rushing touchdowns and only one interception. “Sunday was a big day for getting it out of our system”. Delton Williams is from Pennsylvania, and he along with Madre London will get carries. Wide out Aaron Burbridge is the Big Ten’s top receiver with 69 receptions for 1,083 yards and six touchdowns this season. Penn State’s offensive success in East Lansing will hinge on the play up front. His preference is to spread the ball around to different receivers, which might be necessary Saturday. DaeSean Hamilton hasn’t had the year some expected, but he has five TD grabs. That added a spark, and now the Hawkeyes are 11-0, while the Huskers are 5-6.
This season, the Buckeyes returned most of the talent from their title-winning team, converted quarterback Braxton Miller into an electric halfback and, if anything, improved their defensive play.
Welcome to the gameday preview for week 12 – Penn State at Michigan State.
Meanwhile, the No. 10-ranked Wolverines (9-2, 6-1) remain in line for a potentially incredible postseason.
The Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate their victory over Michigan by singing “Carmen Ohio” Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. LB Riley Bullough leads team with 83 tackles. Of course there’s a bowl still to be played, but this ultra-talented defending national champion is going out with a whimper and Michigan State and Michigan are going to finish the season as the stars of the East? The Spartans, 5th in the league in run defense, have great depth with Chris Frey, Shane Jones and Andrew Dowell. The Nittany Lions are tied for the Big Ten lead in passing plays of 30 or more yards with 23 on the season.
Each time, Ohio State responded with a win the next week. The key to the defense coming together has been corners Darian Hicks and Arjen Colquhoun settling into their positions. But this game will come down to the Sooners’ defense, which has been inconsistent this year and can’t afford that against an Oklahoma State offense that averages 6.54 yards per play. Despite the bye week, Penn State missed a ton of tackles last week. He will be taking aim at PSU quarterback Christian Hackenberg. A graduate of the university’s medical school, he and a friend – an Ohio State dental school graduate – had a standing bet on the OSU-Michigan game. It just didn’t look quite that way during the beating last Saturday.
“After you get it beat into your head the whole time you’re being recruited that you’re going to beat ‘The Team Up North, ‘ when you finally get here and get to play in the game and get a sense of the tradition and atmosphere, it really sticks with you”, sophomore linebacker Raekwon McMillan said.
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Louisville at Kentucky (Under 54.5): Two rivals prepared to finish seasons that didn’t quite live up to preseason expectations.
