Penn State’s O-line takes apart nation’s top defense

One side of the ball had the nation’s No. 1 defense, including a fearsome front in the trenches. The other side was getting beaten up, not meeting expectations or getting consistent blocking.

That is, until the Penn State offensive line flipped the script on the Michigan defense Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

Starting with a huge hole for a 69-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown on the second play of the game, the Wolverines’ defense was befuddled nearly all night in a 42-13 Lions triumph.

“I thought our O-line, obviously, played really good,” coach James Franklin said. “That’s a defense that hasn’t given up any yards and any points, really, to anybody.”

Michigan’s defense strolled into Beaver Stadium with an impressive reputation. The unit had not allowed a team to score more than 20 points or reach 300 yards of offense in any of their first six games.

Penn State broke both of those barriers by halftime.

By the time the 110,823 on hand had emptied from the stadium, the Nittany Lions had gashed that previously immovable object for 506 total yards, including 224 on the ground.

“It starts up front,” said Barkley, who accounted for 108 of those ground yards. “Those guys owned it today.”

Michigan was allowing just 223.8 yards per game before Saturday, the best in the nation. It also had top-10 rankings by allowing just 85.8 rushing yards per contest and 14.7 points each game.

Quarterback Trace McSorley almost gave Penn State two runners to beat the Wolverines’ yardage average, picking up 76 on the ground.

“I thought their offense played extremely well — understatement,” said Jim Harbaugh, with the outcome matching the worst loss during his Michigan coaching tenure. “They were hitting on all cylinders.”

Frequently, the Nittany Lions caught the Wolverines guessing and overpursuing. The success came from a combination of good reads by McSorley on option runs, baiting the Wolverine linebackers into chasing Barkley to open up running room, while the Penn State linemen held their blocks and set up walls for running lanes.

“They hit us on quite a few plays that we defensed well this year,” Harbaugh said. “Their execution was really good tonight.”

A major key was beating up a defense that thrived on playing physical.

Fifth-year senior guard Brendan Mahon said the line was eager to put that physical play to the test.

“Those guys up front on Michigan are unbelievable,” he said. “They do great things. It’s a great front. ... We out-physicaled them.”

Despite higher expectations for the Nittany Lion offensive line, the unit has been taking a bit of a beating this fall. While not struggling at the levels of three seasons ago, Barkley wasn’t getting the openings he had last season on carries, and McSorley wasn’t always getting the time he needed. The Lions had been tackled for a loss 50 times this season.

Saturday night, McSorley was sacked just twice.

Having a bye week helped to clean up their work and study the Michigan line.

They will not have the same luxury before heading to Ohio State next weekend, and the offensive line still is not playing like it did last season, but there is little doubt they should feel better.

“We took these two weeks, and we ran with it,” Mahon said. “We knew what they were going to do, and it obviously showed tonight against a top defense. This offensive line is a Big Ten powerhouse offensive line. We’re going to keep continuing that and come out, work harder and learn from this and take it into next week and the week after that because we’re never satisfied.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 12:47 AM with the headline "Penn State’s O-line takes apart nation’s top defense."