News & Views: Jim Harbaugh On PSU, More
Michigan football heads to Happy Valley Saturday night as a decided underdog and will need an outstanding effort to beat Penn State. Head coach Jim Harbaugh senses his team is ready.
We tackle his Monday comments in News & Views format:
NEWS: Michigan is now a nine-point underdog at Penn State after opening at plus-7. Penn State is coming off a 17-12 win at Iowa.
HARBAUGH: “We certainly have an opportunity this week. We want to prepare for it. There’s an excitement to it. There’s a bounce in the step of everybody on our team. I thought we accomplished what we wanted to this past week, which was to win the game and improve as a football team. Now onward. Have at it.”
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VIEWS: Use whatever analogy you want, Harbaugh said … playoff mentality, whatever. He said they are “locked in” with a “laser focus” on this game, as they should be, because let’s face it — this one’s the season in a lot of ways.
The seniors on this squad came back intent on competing for a championship, and the margin for error was eliminated when they got thrashed at Wisconsin. Lose another Big Ten game and there’s essentially no shot at a title only seven games into the season.
Penn State is solid, not spectacular. This isn’t the same team that thrashed U-M in Happy Valley two years ago with star quarterback Trace McSorley and stud running back Saquon Barkley. But these Nittany Lions play hard, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. U-M needs to play a clean game to even have a shot, and that’s something the Wolverines haven’t done all year.
“This week we're going to have to play our best, the best we’re capable of,” Harbaugh said. “Penn State is a heck of a good football team.”
Michigan can match the talent, but right now, PSU is a better team. And their front seven is going to be a tough matchup for the U-M offensive line.
“They’re fast, very athletic, very strong in all phases,” Harbaugh noted. “We’ll have to go in there and play our best football. My experience is the better team usually wins. That’s a challenge we’re very excited about.”
NEWS: Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford has thrown for 1,560 yards with 13 touchdowns against only two interceptions in six games.
HARBAUGH: “His play is really good. I’ve been really impressed with his focus, too, just getting a chance to watch him on the TV copy. He has the really intense focus all the good ones have. He’s highly competitive, and you can see it in his runs, just in his nature, how he plays the game.”
VIEWS: The praise isn’t coachspeak, either. Clifford only threw for 117 yards but he ran for 52 more at Iowa, protected the ball and took what was there despite being under duress and sacked three times. Most importantly, he didn’t put the ball on the ground or turn it over, understanding that a mistake would probably determine the winner last Saturday at Iowa … the Hawkeyes made the big one, fumbling in their own territory.
That’s one area in which U-M senior quarterback Shea Patterson needs to be better. He simply has to protect the ball better, make good decisions and outplay Clifford (and keep on the read option when the play is there) if Michigan is going to win this game.
The Michigan defense, meanwhile, needs to keep an eye on Clifford in man coverage, too, or he will kill them scrambling if they leave their rush lanes.
We don’t expect U-M to have much success running the ball. This game is going to come down to Patterson making some plays — it’s time to see the former five-star will his team to a win.
NEWS: Michigan got out to a 28-0 lead at Illinois before the Illini ripped off 25 straight to make a game of it early in the fourth quarter.
HARBAUGH: “I don’t know how many times in a game true momentum swings, but to come out playing hard and fast with great energy the way our football team did, how hard [they played] from the first snap to the very last, keep fighting …
“There were definitely plays in that game that got the momentum back to our team. We got it back and then got it back again with another one [a forced fumble inside the 5-yard line], a big exclamation point, then another one. It was really good to see your team do that.”
VIEWS: Give them credit for responding after the Illini punched back.
However …
We’re talking Illinois here, the second worst team in the Big Ten. The Wolverines never should have been in that position, and if they go through a similar stretch in any of the next six ball games, they’ll be in trouble. Every game remaining on the schedule is losable (even at Maryland) if they have a lull similar to the third quarter letdown in Champaign.
The problem is, we’ve seen something like it in just about every game this season barring Rutgers.
Between turnovers and lack of execution on offense, this team has fallen far short of its potential. It has a great opportunity to change the narrative with a huge win at Penn State in primetime on ABC.
We’d pick a decisive Penn State win if we were predicting today, though Michigan certainly has the talent to win over a solid but unspectacular Nittany Lions squad.
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