Injuries plague Penn State on road to Michigan

Combine injury with youth, and what is the result?

A Penn State (2-1) team that’s expected to lose on the road to No. 4 Michigan (3-0) by almost 20 points.

Yes, Las Vegas oddsmakers had the betting line set in favor of the Wolverines at 18 1/2 as of Thursday night, in anticipation of Saturday’s matchup in Ann Arbor.

It’s not a secret that while the Nittany Lions have lost starting linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White for the season and could still be missing their other two starting linebackers in Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell, Michigan may have star corner Jourdan Lewis at full health alongside defensive end Taco Charlton for the first time this season.

That, plus a dynamic Michigan offense and Penn State plugging those holes in the second tier with two sophomores and a former walk-on, could spell trouble for the visitors as Big Ten play begins.

“Yeah, I think their speed is a factor, but the biggest thing is how big and strong they are,” head coach James Franklin said in his weekly press conference Tuesday. “We have 12 seniors on our team. They have 13 seniors on the two deep on defense, and 13 seniors on the two deep on offense. They’re just a big, strong, physical, mature team, and then they do have some speed aspects.”

Offense

Penn State’s offense, under new coordinator Joe Moorhead, is averaging 387.7 total yards per game behind quarterback Trace McSorley, who leads the Big Ten with 828 passing yards through three games, and running back Saquon Barkley, who has scored seven touchdowns (six rushing, one receiving).

Where Michigan could capitalize against the Nittany Lions’ new uptempo spread is on third down and in the red zone. While Penn State converts on just 27 percent of its third downs (No. 117 nationally) and 81 percent in the red zone (with an 8-to-5 touchdown to field goal ratio), Michigan leads the nation in third down and red zone defense.

The Wolverines will also play athlete Jabrill Peppers at linebacker. Peppers has 25 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks this season.

“You’ve pretty much got a good idea where he’s going to play,” said Franklin, adding that the team had to be hyper-aware of Peppers’ presence on the field. “The way we look at it, they really play with three safeties and they list him as an outside linebacker and nickel. But the way we look at it, they play with three safeties in a lot of ways and he’s one of those guys.”

Like every team Penn State has faced this season, Michigan will likely stack the box with extra defenders to attempt to stop Barkley from chunk gains. However, McSorley has a deep receiving corps in starters DaeSean Hamilton (in the slot), Chris Godwin and DeAndre Thompkins (out wide) to attempt to hurt the Wolverines on the perimeter.

Michigan presents a challenge there as well. The team’s passing defense is ranked 16th in the country and allows just 156 yards per game (Penn State has passed for 276 yards per game).

Defense

Michigan is also able to use Peppers on offense, as either a receiver or running back. All week, Penn State’s defense has been preparing to recognize the athlete in the hybrid role using safety Ayron Monroe on scout team.

The Nittany Lions’ defensive line has also made a vast improvement in defending the run, after giving up 491 rushing yards in the team’s first two games. Gap accountability has been the main factor in doing so, and will be equally important against Michigan, which more than likely will run many of the same sweep fakes and shifts Pitt did in week 2 to beat Penn State.

But the main concern for Penn State on defense is injury. By the end of the first half last week, the team had lost six defensive starters to injuries (although safeties Malik Golden and Marcus Allen returned before the end of the game).

At linebacker especially, Penn State is thin if it repeats its lineup from last week and middle linebacker Cabinda and strong side linebacker Bell don’t play.

Sophomores Manny Bowen and Jake Cooper are expected to start on the outside with former walk-on Brandon Smith in the middle — the latter recorded eight tackles in last week’s win against Temple. Safety Koa Farmer has also moved back to linebacker and freshman Cam Brown will likely see time in the rotation, Franklin said on his weekly radio show on Thursday night.

Special Teams

Peppers can also be used by Michigan on special teams and has returned a punt for a touchdown already this season. Franklin said the team won’t change its approach much — and while giving up at least one 50-plus-yard return in each of its past two games, Penn State’s special teams are improving — but instead try to pin Peppers in the corner to avoid giving him much of the field with which to work.

“We’re not going to change what we do,” Franklin said after Wednesday’s practice. “That’s one of the mistakes you can make is you get into one of these games and you try to change what you’ve been doing all year long for this specific opponent. The best thing you can do is keep working on the schemes and fundamentals and techniques that you’ve been doing, do them really well and make sure that your punts and kicks are in the right spot. The last thing you want to do is kick the ball down the middle of the field and give this guy 53 1/3 (yards) to work with. You want to corner him in so he doesn’t have a whole lot of room to work with.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Injuries plague Penn State on road to Michigan."