Penn State falls to No. 14 Michigan 28-16

Jim Harbaugh was losing his mind.

Screaming at the referee in front of him in the third quarter of Penn State’s 28-16 loss, the Michigan coach threw down his clipboard, tore off his headset and jacket and flung them to the ground. He motioned, a “come here, let me at you,” hand signal and then, still apoplectic, he followed the retreating ref down the sideline, black cleats digging into the turf under swishing khakis.

The crowd at Beaver Stadium loved it. They jeered and chattered, 107,418 fans in white bemused by the coach’s tantrum.

A moment later, they fell silent.

Quarterback Christian Hackenberg had been bent and twisted backward at the neck, in the midst of taking a sack from Michigan’s Taco Charlton. It was the third sack of the game, and Hackenberg’s 100th in three years at Penn State.

He lay still as the crowd quieted, got back up, and headed to the sideline to get checked out by medical staff. He missed just one play; and finished the game.

“You’ve got to give Christian Hackenberg all of the credit in the world,” said a weary James Franklin, after the game. “He’s taken a pounding over the last year and a half. The fact that he has not missed a game, or really missed a (full) series, is impressive. Nobody’s going to question (his) mental or physical toughness.”

Certainly none of his teammates questioned that. What they (Franklin included) were more concerned with, after the game, were the mistakes and missed opportunities that could have kept them competitive with No. 14 Michigan, who, behind quarterback Jake Rudock’s 256 passing yards and two touchdowns, put up 343 yards on Penn State.

“I don’t think we did a good enough job with communication on the defensive side of the ball,” said linebacker Jason Cabinda. “We’ve been really, really good on it all year long...I don’t think we were focused on it (today), just the hand signals and the verbal...I think we just took it for granted.”

Penn State converted just three of 14 third-down attempts and had two of those through the first half. The team also had red-zone opportunities three times, but were held to a field goal on each.

“Too many field goals,” said Franklin. “Too many mistakes ... We’ve got to get those things corrected and have some long conversations about that.”

Saquon Barkley broke through a hole in the middle for a 56-yard run early in the first quarter, but after three-straight run calls that resulted in just three net yards, Penn State settled for a 23-yard field goal from Tyler Davis.

Rudock converted on third-and-long to set up a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Butt with 7:43 left in the first quarter.

Rudock was sacked for a loss of three yards by Torrence Brown, who filled for Carl Nassib after the defensive end played the opening snaps and left the game (he had suffered an unspecified injury two weeks ago against Northwestern).

Rudock was picked off by Brandon Bell on the very next snap. The linebacker returned the interception 25 yards to the Michigan 40-yard line, but the Nittany Lions, couldn’t capitalize and were forced to punt.

At the end of the quarter, 55 of Penn State’s 67 yards of offense came from Barkley’s net rushing yards.

Late in the second, momentum looked like it might swing.

Von Walker blocked a punt attempt by Michigan’s Blake O’Neill late in the quarter —Penn State’s first since 2012.

Hackenberg connected with tight end Mike Gesicki for nine yards on the following possession, and hit Saeed Blacknall on a 25-yard floater in the end zone to put Penn State up 10-7 with 2:01 left in the half.

But the next drive belonged to Michigan receiver Amara Darboh.

He caught a toe-dragger for 28 yards to drive the Wolverines down the field and help set up his own 11-yard touchdown catch with 51 seconds left in the half.

Penn State finished the half with 133 yards of offense to Michigan’s 204, and had converted on just two of seven third down attempts.

Rudock methodically marched his offense down the field to open the third quarter, but a pass intended for Jehu Chesson on third down was broken up by Penn State’s John Reid in tight coverage.

Defensive lineman Anthony Zettel was called for targeting in with about 10 minutes left in the third quarter as he hit Rudock high on the quarterback’s release, but the call was reversed and the senior was able to stay in the game.

O’Neill’s punt halfway through the third quarter was muffed by DeAndre Thompkins — his second of the year — and Michigan recovered on the Penn State 9-yard-line.

“We had started to get some momentum, you know, fought to get back into it, and then we have a turnover deep in our own territory,” said Franklin. “That puts our defense in a real bad spot.”

Sione Houma punched in the resulting touchdown on a 1-yard fullback dive to push the Michigan lead to 21-10.

“I think they had a lot of momentum plays,” said Cabinda. “And we just didn’t have enough.”

Bell brought back the crowd as he sack-and-stripped Rudock with about 1:30 left in the third quarter. A bullet from the freshly-returned Hackenberg to Chris Godwin went 28 yards in the air before it was caught by the receiver, who dragged a pile of coverage for 10 more yards to the Michigan 4-yard-line as the quarter ended.

Offensive lineman Derek Dowrey lined up in extra coverage just behind the already-loaded front for a play that was designed to push left, but Barkley, the ball-carrier, ran right instead and suffered a loss.

Hackenberg overthrew to Kyle Carter on third down and goal, and Franklin opted to kick the field goal with the team down 21-13 and 14:02 left to play.

“In that situation, we were going to have to score a touchdown and go for two,” said Franklin. “Or, (we would) have to kick the field goal and score later in the game. That was the discussion in the headset with all the coaches, to get the points now, or go for a touchdown or have to go for two.

“And at that point, we had had a hard time ... we’d had a bunch of big plays that got us down to the low red zone and we had a hard time punching it in. So at that point, we felt like it was in our team’s best interest.

On his next series, Hackenberg powered his offense down the field with two keepers for a first down, the second of which was a 17-yard gash in which he barreled through three Michigan defenders.

But again, Penn State was held to a field goal; a low squirter by Davis that barely made it over the bar, to bring the Nittany Lions within a touchdown.

Michigan scored again on a pile-leaping stretch that broke the plane by De’Veon Smith with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter, and that sealed it for the Nittany Lions — whose unbeaten home streak this season was snapped.

“You know, when you have a loss like this, when you go back and watch film and say, ‘Alright, was it more scheme? Or was it more execution?’ ” said Cabinda. “And I think today was more about execution.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Penn State falls to No. 14 Michigan 28-16."