Michigan football did everything in its ferocious comeback at Penn State, before an increasingly fearful whiteout crowd — everything but come all the way back.
The Wolverines stood a mere three yards away from wiping it all away — a 21-0 first-half deficit, a 28-14 hole in the fourth quarter. But when senior quarterback Shea Patterson’s toss over the middle tumbled off the hands of sophomore wide receiver Ronnie Bell — a fourth-down near-connection that would have tied the game — that comeback remained an almost.
Instead, Penn State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) escaped with a 28-21 win over a crestfallen Michigan crew (5-2, 3-2).
The numbers read like a decisive Michigan win. The Wolverines out-gained the Nittany Lions, 417-283. They piled up a dozen more first downs (26-14), with 141 yards rushing to Penn State’s 101.
Patterson (24-of-41 passing for 276 yards, one interception) held his own against Penn State’s Sean Clifford (14 of 25, 182 yards, three touchdowns). Those numbers could have looked much different if not for a barrage of friendly home flags, U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh strongly hinted.
But in the end, the Wolverines just couldn’t overcome the road and the three-touchdown hole they dug on it.
“It was tough as hell, that last drive, and not coming up with it," Patterson said.
It was likely toughest of all on Bell (five catches, 82 yards), who clearly ached on the sidelines afterward.
“Ronnie is a fierce competitor,” Patterson said. “He’s being pretty hard on himself right now. But that doesn’t take away the fact that he made a ton of great plays tonight to put us into that situation.
“We’re just going to love on him. Maybe I could have run it in.”
That the Wolverines even found themselves in position to tie the game in the final two minutes proved astounding, after their stumbling start.
“I thought our team played with great character and great effort the entire night, both sides of the ball,” Harbaugh said. “Special teams … fought really hard.”
The fight just took effect too late for the Wolverines to completely recover.
Penn State struck first and with lightning-bolt destructiveness. On the Nittany Lions’ second possession, Clifford fired a 37-yard bomb to Jahan Dotson, down to Michigan’s 17. On the very next play, tight end Pat Freiermuth got behind viper Khaleke Hudson, hauling in the high floater that made it 7-0 Penn State.
Harbaugh thought the big tight end committed offensive pass interference on the play, setting the tone for calls and non-calls that left the Wolverines frustrated.
“There were a few OPI called on us versus the OPI that I thought should have been called on them on the first touchdown,” Harbaugh said. “As far as the calls, the officiating goes, it will be interesting to compare some of those.”
The five-play, 66-yard TD drive ended with 5:59 left in the first quarter, putting the Wolverines in an early bind. The whiteout crowd, already thunderous, went into full plug-your-ears mode.
The Wolverines tried to answer, but dropped passes kept them off the scoreboard in the opening quarter. They drove from their own 14 to the Penn State 36, but redshirt sophomore wideout Tarik Black — under tight coverage and maybe more than that — couldn’t handle a fourth-and-three throw from Patterson.
Black felt he was interfered with, and many watching on replay agreed. But the whiteout crowd roared its approval, making it easy for flags to stay put.
That gave the ball back to Penn State, which constituted a really bad idea early on.
The Nittany Lions took only six plays to cover 64 yards, taking a 14-0 lead just four seconds into the second quarter. A 44-yard Ricky Slade run up the middle got things going, and Clifford’s one-yard keeper put the touchdown on the board.
“It’s big plays,” redshirt freshman linebacker Cam McGrone said. “We gave up some key, explosive plays in the beginning. It came back to hurt us. A game like this, with a team as good as this, we can’t allow any explosive plays, and we did that.”
U-M probably didn’t draw up contingency plans for a two-touchdown deficit. If it did, it didn’t include a three-and-out, but that precisely what Penn State’s swarming defense produced.
Penn State cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields then sliced through to pick off a Patterson screen pass attempt, and five plays later, the rout appeared on.
The Nittany Lions covered 49 yards in five plays, Clifford looping a 27-yard rainbow that speedy wideout KJ Hamler (six catches for 108 yards, two TDs) ran under for the touchdown. That widened the lead to 21-0 with 7:22 left in the half, and Michigan’s mountain appeared too high to climb, even with more than a half to play.
The Wolverines dug a pick in the tundra, though, driving 75 yards in eight plays to get a touchdown back. Patterson’s 30-yard toss to junior wideout Nico Collins got the ball rolling. Officials wiped out a touchdown pass to Bell with an ineligible receiver penalty, but on the very next play, Penn State interfered with Black, giving U-M the ball on the Penn State 12.
Freshman tailback Zach Charbonnet (15 carries for 81 yards, two touchdowns) swept untouched around right end for the touchdown, U-M pulling to within 21-7 at the 2:55 mark.
The Wolverines saw one last first-half shot, but sophomore placekicker Jake Moody’s 58-yard field goal attempt fell well short.
The teams battled through what appeared to be headed for a scoreless third quarter, until the Wolverines caught fire late. Charbonnet began an eight-play, 65-yard touchdown march with a 14-yard run. He finished it with bursts of 10, six and 12 yards, bolting up the middle for the score.
Suddenly, the Wolverines were within seven, 21-14, and the 110,669 in Beaver Stadium experienced a nervous noise-out with 1:05 left in the third quarter.
They came fully alive moments later, when Clifford found Hamler behind the Michigan defense on a 53-yard touchdown bomb. The explosion capped a six-play, 75-yard drive that Michigan appeared to have stopped in three plays.
But flags were never far away in Beaver Stadium on this night. Clifford threw a third-and-11 pass 40 yards downfield to no one. But senior cornerback Lavert Hill got whistled for defensive holding, giving Clifford another shot. He cashed it in for a 28-14 lead with 13:14 left.
Noting Michigan’s defense never got the alignment signal for the game-winning touchdown pass, Harbaugh indicated things never should have gotten that far.
“Lavert’s holding penalty that led to a touchdown on third-and-11 versus a couple of those there at the end,” Harbaugh marveled. “I thought a couple of our receivers were getting tackled there the last couple plays of that drive.”
Again, the Wolverines fought back, driving 75 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. A short throw to Bell went for 35 yards when he burst out on a strong run after the catch, but U-M nearly came away empty.
An apparent two-yard run for a touchdown by redshirt freshman back Hassan Haskins got wiped from the board by an official review, setting up fourth-and-goal at the Penn State 1. Patterson snuck it home, getting pushed into the end zone for the score to make it 28-21 with 8:48 left.
The Wolverines held, forcing a punt to the Penn State 47. They quickly moved into scoring position, a crucial third-down throw to freshman tight end Erick All going for 10 yards, down to the Nittany Lions’ 7.
But they couldn’t punch it in, Bell dropping the fourth-down throw in the end zone while getting yanked from behind by the jersey by a Penn State safety Lamont Wade.
The Wolverines still had a shot, with two minutes remaining and the Nittany Lions backed up on their own 3. But the home team punched out a game-winning first down on the ground, Hamler going in motion, stopping, then taking a handoff up the middle for the four yards that ended Michigan hopes.
Harbaugh’s message afterward: keep going.
“I just complimented them on the effort they gave, the character they showed,” he said. “[Team team will] hold their heads high and come back at it again on Monday, because we love football. That will be our mission.”
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