The Wolverines defense was on display early in the game as they almost came up with a safety on Penn State’s first possession. He completed 62 percent of his 34 passes for 189 yards and a three-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Devin Asiasi. Surprisingly, Penn State isn’t limiting opponents on defense, giving up 27.3 points per game right now.
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Imagine if Penn State fires James Franklin & somehow lands Les Miles.
Meanwhile, the Golden Gophers believe they’re making strides under coach Tracy Claeys.
10 – Tackles for true freshman linebacker Cam Brown, who didn’t start the season on Penn State’s depth chart at linebacker. Not quite championship level, but improving. I’m still willing to give him at least one more year to see if he can become a better game day coach, which is probably his single biggest deficiency, particularly when he’s going up against masters in his own division. I believe as a team the things that we embrace, we should embrace.
“I wouldn’t necessarily it’s a significant advantage, but it does help when you’ve got Matt”, Franklin said.
Starters Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell likely are out again, though Franklin said he expects both back “sooner rather than later”. Still, the message lingers.
“Michigan did a really good job”.
The biggest problem for Penn State going forward is that it has turned from its traditional “Linebacker U” to “Linebacker MASH Unit”.
MI is ranked number four in the nation, good enough to qualify for a national championship playoff spot, thanks to a flawless 3-0 record for the season. It got run over, around and through on defense.
But Barbour said this summer that, like fans, she expects progress.
“We were looking for a way to be more careful out there so I wasn’t getting hit as much as I did last week”, Speight said. “Is it going to be this year?” But talent is far from enough when you’re staring down the best in the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions enter the game with a 2-1 record that includes wins over Temple and Kent State and a loss to in-state rival Pittsburgh.
Minnesota (3-0) has a comeback win over Oregon State but also the nation’s 95th-ranked strength of schedule. PSU is ranked 127th out of 128 FBS teams. He ran for 194 yards on Ohio State, 195 against Rutgers and also posted 100-yard games against Michigan State (103), Northwestern (120) and Buffalo (115). But Minnesota, in particular, is susceptible defensively, giving the Lions a chance to regain their offensive footing.
Franklin noted after the game what everyone else watching at home realized in the first half, that there was a big gap in ability between these two teams.
“That’s kind of where we’re starting right now”, Franklin said at his weekly press conference. More than that joined in at the Big Ten game being played in Ann Arbor between MI and Penn State. The obstructions will linger as long as they remain. That’s where Penn State will show the progress to which Barbour alluded. We’ve gotten people that have stayed square shouldered with the quarterback’s read and haven’t gotten the quarterback on the edge a whole lot, so that has been something that we’ve discussed about how people are playing us. “The only thing I can do is take my 22 years’ experience and say what is different now compared to other places I’ve been, and there’s really only a few criteria that are different here than other places”.
“It’s about maintaining academic performance, about having our football student-athletes be great student-athletes in the community”.
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After one quarter, they had three sacks and had allowed on 16 total yards.
