Michigan’s Revenge Tour rolls on, in Ghengis Khan fashion.
Penn State became the latest victim to be checked off the list in overwhelming domination, 42-7. The animal cruelty inflicted on the Nittany Lions made the Wolverines 3 for 3 in atoned-for losses from 2017.
Wisconsin? Check. Michigan State? Check. Penn State? Double-check.
The only aspect of this check that bounced involved vanilla helmets hitting the crusty Michigan Stadium turf — with emphasis. James Franklin’s crew never had a chance, playing 58:01 without putting a point on the board.
Michigan built up a 42-0 lead before the Nittany Lions managed a meaningless touchdown with 1:59 to play. Penn State (6-3 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) mustered only 186 yards of total offense, 75 on its final drive, while the Wolverines (8-1, 6-0) rolled with 403.
U-M junior quarterback Shea Patterson thoroughly outshone his much-heralded counterpart, Penn State’s Trace McSorley. While Patterson went 11-of-17 passing for 144 yards and two touchdowns, McSorley struggled to a 5-of-13 effort for 83 yards and an interception.
Senior tailback Karan Higdon bolted for 132 yards and a touchdown to pace a 259-yard rushing effort, while Penn State netted 68 yards as a team. In short, it was ugly, angry, and in the word of the night, personal.
Penn State pounded the Wolverines a year ago in Happy Valley, 42-13, including scrambling to score a final touchdown with seconds remaining. Michigan remembered … and did something about it.
“It was intense, guys really into the game,” Higdon said. “This one was definitely personal, knowing that they tried to score at the end of the game last year.”
Michigan struck first, without Patterson so much as letting the football fly. The Wolverines went 76 yards on eight straight runs, including Higdon’s 50-yard bolt up the middle. When traffic jammed up near the goal line, Patterson faked to Higdon, kept on the read-option left and scampered in untouched, a pile of Nittany Lions laying helplessly where no ball carrier trod.
“We were running on all cylinders tonight,” Patterson said. “The defense played lights out, Karan was running the heck out of the ball, and we were making plays on offense and special teams. It was a lot of fun.”
Higdon accounted for 64 of those opening-drive yards, and U-M was just getting started. But Patterson’s 53-yard bomb to sophomore wideout Nico Collins early in the second quarter went for naught, when Nick Scott blocked redshirt sophomore kicker Quinn Nordin’s 50-yard field goal attempt.
A blocking penalty wiped out Eric Taylor’s apparent 60-yard TD return with the block, and two plays later, McSorley fumbled an attempted handoff. Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich dove on the ball at the Penn State 48, setting up a perfect chance to put more distance between the teams.
Patterson made it happen, after sophomore fullback Ben Mason picked up a crucial fourth-and-two with a three-yard run. Three plays later, the U-M quarterback started to scramble out on third-and-seven, but saw sophomore wide out Donovan Peoples-Jones running free.
Patterson gunned it on the run, hitting Peoples-Jones on a 23-yard touchdown strike with 6:52 left in the half.
“It’s amazing,” Patterson said of Peoples-Jones. “I don’t think I’ve ever played with a more athletic player than him. Just put it in his vicinity, and he’s going to go up and get it.”
Penn State had managed 38 total yards to that point, and — down 14-0 — faced a crucial series. They responded by losing five more yards, including a seven-yard sack by junior linebacker Josh Uche.
The Nittany Lions trailed at the half by those two touchdowns, with only 77 yards on the board, including a negative six on the ground. The question became whether or not the Wolverines could maintain an anaconda-like grip on McSorley & Co., while snaking their way to some insurance scores.
Harbaugh’s crew proceed to squeeze the life out of the Nittany Lions as the third-quarter clock ticked away.
The Wolverines reeled off a crushing, 90-yard, 13-play scoring drive, Patterson finding redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry over the middle for seven yards and the score. A 19-yard run by Higdon and a 24-yard toss to junior tailback Chris Evans set it up, and Patterson-to-Gentry cashed it in.
"The 90-yard drive — that was a big one,” Harbaugh said. “That was big coming off our 10-yard line. We talked about it before the drive, and really felt like if we could make that drive there it would go a long way toward us winning the ball game.”
Penn State pulled McSorley for backup quarterback Tommy Stevens — but not for long. Two plays in, Stevens hit fifth-year senior cornerback Brandon Watson on the numbers down the eastern sideline.
Watson bolted back 62 yards, tip-toeing along the sideline on the defensive score. The instant points electrified the crowd of 111,747 and electrocuted Penn State, making it 28-0 with nine seconds left in the quarter.
“It was awesome,” Winovich said. “The pick-six … I think the crowd was awesome all night. It was the second loudest I’ve ever felt in The Big House. Devin Bush and I reached out through the University of Michigan [in a video], and asked the fans if they could step up their game and bring it.
“They did just that. We’re feeling them; they’re feeling us. We’ve got a great relationship rolling.”
The Wolverines then poured it on. When a hold wiped out a would-be 41 TD bomb to returning sophomore wideout Tarik Black, Evans reeled off a 32-yard run, setting up Higdon’s four-yard touchdown smash to make it 35-0.
The Michigan defense’s revenge wasn’t over, either. Junior cornerback David Long immediately picked off McSorley on the first play of Penn State’s next possession. He took the tipped pass back to the PSU 12, where redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan McCaffrey — who provided the worst news of the night, with a broken collarbone — directed a four-play scoring drive.
Evans crashed in from the 1, making it 42-0 with 7:44 remaining. A third straight blowout in the series arrived in avalanche fashion, the Wolverines kings of the hill in two of those.
Penn State scored at the end to save whatever scintilla of pride remained. Michigan knew one thing — it wasn’t losing to the Nittany Lions two years in a row, and that was never in doubt.
“Just look at the scoreboard,” Winovich said. “We did our thing. Actions speak louder than words.”
Five Best Players Of The Game
1. Senior tailback Karan Higdon — Higdon oozes intensity, and it’s infectious. His 132-yard night appeared infused with attitude, and afterward, he talked about how personal the win shaped up to be. He’s running with a purpose in his final season, and taking would-be tacklers with him.
2. Junior linebacker Devin Bush — Bush remains everywhere for the Wolverines, leading the team with seven tackles. While others will grab headlines with special stats, he is at the heart of a defense that absolutely smothered yet another Big Ten opponent.
3. Junior linebacker Josh Uche — If Penn State's quarterback pronounces Uche [Ooo-chay] as Ouch-Eh, you can hardly blame him. Uche delivered two more sacks onto his team-leading total, the heat-seeking missile in Michigan’s ferocious pass rush.
4. Fifth-year senior cornerback Brandon Watson — Watson’s 62-yard pick-six salted away a game that remained relatively close well into the third quarter. It opened the rout floodgates, and demonstrated again the sort of depth the Wolverines feature defensively.
5. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson — It’s tough to ignore Patterson’s efficiency, savvy, calmness and execution in keeping Michigan out of trouble and running smoothly. He put forward another turnover-free effort in a Michigan rout, passing for two touchdowns and running for another.
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