Michigan: Not Terrible and Not Elite
#13 Penn State 35, Michigan 10
So what did we learn on a cold, drizzly October afternoon? Not a whole lot that we didn't already suspect. Michigan had already proven that they aren't nearly as bad as they were last year, and they still aren't ready to rejoin the top tier of Big Ten teams.
For a few minutes, it looked like Michigan might have a chance to pull off the upset. They took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for an easy touchdown - the first scored before halftime against Penn State this season. That made it 7-0 Wolverines. The score over the last 57 minutes? 35-3 Nittany Lions.
So how did things get so far out of hand? Let us count the ways:
1) Offense: The thing that people need to keep in mind about Tate Forcier is that he's a true freshman playing through a shoulder injury. No, he hasn't looked nearly as comfortable as he did early in the year, but if you watch him closely, you can see that he's still in pain. He's also trying to master the reads in Rich-Rod's spread offense, which takes a season or two.
He also didn't get much help yesterday. His wide receivers weren't getting open, and his tight ends kept dropping the ball. Add an anemic running game and a bad day by the offensive line, and Forcier's poor performance looks a lot worse.
He could probably use some rest for his shoulder, but Michigan certainly can't count on Denard Robinson. When he's in, the offense looks a lot like the Miami Dolphins' Wildcat - a lot of running plays and one or two inaccurate passes that fail to keep the defense honest. Robinson turned the ball over twice Saturday - a interception and a fumble - and didn't show any sign of moving the team.
2) Defense: Brandon Graham was very, very good. The rest of the team? Not so much. Darryll Clark shouldn't look like Colt McCoy against a defense that wants to be competitive with the Big Ten's best. Every time he needed a big play, he had a receiver breaking open in the end zone. Usually, it was Graham Zug two steps ahead of the defender on a crossing pattern, but on one ugly play, it was a tight end going 60 yards because he was being covered by Obi Ezeh with no downfield help. That came seconds after Penn State got a safety on a botched snap, turning a 10-7 game into a 19-7 game, and Michigan never got within one score again.
So a bad day against a very good team. Are most Big Ten teams going to manhandle the Wolverines like that? No. But there's still a long way to go if they want to win a conference title any time soon.