Here are the 3 questions that will decide Penn State football’s matchup with Michigan
Penn State football finally snapped a three-game losing skid with a 31-14 victory over Maryland last week, but will now have to play a top opponent to keep its winning ways going. The Nittany Lions are set to take on the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines at noon Saturday in Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions remain unranked despite two wins over top-20 teams and a 6-3 record overall. The team’s three losses all came in a row to Iowa, Illinois and Ohio State. The loss to the Fighting Illini is the team’s lone home loss this season. The two top-20 wins came over Auburn and Wisconsin in the first four weeks of the season, before redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford was injured and left the game against the Hawkeyes to start the losing streak.
The No. 6 Wolverines are 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten, with their only loss coming to in-state rival Michigan State. Despite that win, the Spartans are one spot behind Michigan at No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
Let’s take a look at the three questions that will decide the outcome of Saturday’s Big Ten matchup between the Wolverines and Nittany Lions.
Can Penn State protect Sean Clifford?
The Nittany Lions have generally held up well in the passing game with the team’s offensive line blocking well enough to give redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford ample time to find his receivers. A few different opponents have put that to the test, but none have the talent off the edge that Michigan does. David Ojabo and Aidan Hutchinson are the team’s best pass rushers, accounting for eight sacks and six sacks respectively. Their combined total of 14 is only three fewer than Penn State’s entire defense.
Hutchinson and Ojabo will likely see plenty of offensive tackles Rasheed Walker and Caedan Wallace in the game, although Michigan will surely try to bring one, or both, of them up the middle on occasion to give the Nittany Lions different looks.
Holding Hutchinson and Ojabo to one sack or fewer would have to be considered a major win for Penn State in the game. Anything more than that and other errors can arise for Clifford, like poor footwork under pressure that leads to bad passes. It’s imperative for the quarterback’s jersey to stay clean Saturday and that starts with stopping Michigan’s two best pass rushers.
Will the Nittany Lions force Michigan to throw the ball?
Michigan has taken on more of the offensive identity that head coach Jim Harbaugh’s offenses had when he was the head coach at Stanford. The team uses a power running game and multiple running backs to wear down a defense and gash it with big runs and play action passes. The best way to get that type of offense off schedule is to force it to throw the ball more often, and the only way to do that is to stop the run.
That task could be made easier for Penn State if Michigan’s No. 2 and No. 3 running backs — Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards — don’t play in the game. Both are dealing with injury issues with their statuses uncertain for the game.
That leaves Hassan Haskins as the team’s only back with real experience. Haskins is a powerful back who can wear down a defense, but that’s much less meaningful if the home run hitters behind him aren’t available to break open big gains. That could lead to more carries for Haskins, potentially tiring him out if Penn State can get some stops. If that scenario arises, Michigan will likely have to do what it tries to avoid — throw the ball more frequently.
Will weapons other than Jahan Dotson step up?
Senior wide receiver Jahan Dotson is coming off a 242-yard, three-touchdown performance against Maryland that will surely make him the focal point of Michigan’s defensive game plan — if he wasn’t already. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the defense play man against Dotson with a safety over the top to help and prevent him from breaking big plays.
That puts more of the onus on sophomore wide receivers Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith to step up and make plays in his stead.
They’ve both been prone to taking those steps forward this season, but they’ve also vanished on occasion, putting more weight on Dotson’s shoulders. The two sophomores excel as route runners and can find openings in the middle of the field, or down the field on the outside. They’re threats with the ball in their hands and have the sure-handedness to haul in most passes. Lambert-Smith and Washington have both given Clifford plenty of reason to trust them more often than not this season, but that will be especially necessary against a strong Michigan defense that should have 22 eyes on No. 5 in Blue.
