Metellus: Payback For 2017 Penn State Loss 'Hasn't Been Finished'
Michigan beat Penn State 42-7 at Michigan Stadium in 2018. That was the third consecutive blowout in the series between the two teams as U-M beat PSU at home 49-10 in 2016 and lost 42-13 at Beaver Stadium in 2017.
Senior safety Josh Metellus says that even though U-M was able to avenge its 2017 loss to the Nittany Lions last year, they are still looking for more payback.
“I’m just ready to get up there,” Metellus said Tuesday night. “I’ve been looking forward to it for the past two years — ever since we went there my sophomore year.
“We [haven’t] finished the payback. Playing there and losing there — it still hurts regardless of if we won last year. The last time we were there, we lost. We have nothing to show for it.”
The 2017 game was also PSU’s “white out” game in a 7:30 start and Metellus says he is excited that it’s a similar scenario this time around.
“I like it,” he said. “The fact that it’s pretty much the same thing.
“It’s going to help me bring back the same emotion I felt leaving that game. We are still going to have the same emotions once we get into the atmosphere. I feel like everybody’s going to come out to play.”
It’s also similar in the way that it’s shaping up to be a defining game for U-M’s season, Metellus notes.
“That loss really stuck to me because that could’ve been a defining point in our season,” he said. “We lost that game and it went downhill from there.”
With U-M having a Big Ten loss from the opening conference game against Wisconsin, it wouldn’t be ideal for its Big Ten title hopes to get a second loss just seven games into the season.
“We already have a loss; we can’t afford another one,” Metellus said.
Similarly to two years ago, it will roughly 110,000 PSU fans at Beaver Stadium compared to a U-M sideline of about 70 players, coaches and staff. Metellus says the challenge is it feels like nobody is on your side.
“The only people you got on your side are the people on your sideline and you can’t bring as many people as you can to a home game,” Metellus said. “You only have 70 people as opposed to 110,000.
“If something goes the other team’s way, now you feel like the whole world is against you. Your back is against the wall.”
Metellus says that the Wolverines can use that situation as a positive, if they channel it correctly.
“We’ve been through those types of situations,” Metellus explained. “We just have to execute and have an ‘us against the world’ mentality.
“We have to be aggressive and execute the game plan.
“When we’re in [Schembechler Hall], there’s nobody else but us anyways. It’s the same thing. We have to trust each other.”
The crowd noise will be a factor for the U-M offense, but Metellus pointed out that it won’t have a bearing for the Wolverines defense and that they will be able to communicate effectively on Saturday.
The defense wants to be the best defense in the country, Metellus said Tuesday night, but he also said they are happy just to win games and they’ll take those where they can get them.
“We always want to be the best in everything we do,” Metellus said. But the main focus is winning, getting that Big Ten Championship, winning week in and week out.
“Although we want to be the best defense, we have to find a way to win games. If we give up 80 points and win by one, we’ll keep holding our chins high and not be mad because we just want to win games.”
Notes
Metellus says former five-star recruit and freshman safety Dax Hill is picking things up quickly on the back end of U-M’s defense.
“He’s learning fast,” Metellus said. “He is listening to coaches, he’s listening to the older guys like me LaVert [Hill], Brad [Hawkins]. He’s trying to come along, he wants to play, he wants to be competitive, he wants to go out there and play and I love that.
“He’s really quiet. He doesn’t speak out as much. But he’s a competitor. You see it in his eyes. Especially when we get in the workouts or on the field. You see he wants to win every rep, wants to be able to play.”
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