Wolverine Watch: Nittany Lions Find A Way, Against A Crew That Can't
Nobody wants to say Michigan had one legitimate shot to beat a winless football team on Saturday. But that’s the deal, in a football season befitting 2020.
If quarterback Cade McNamara stepped up in his first start, delivered the football like he did at Rutgers, and Michigan simply outscored Penn State, the Nittany Lions go away 0-6. But as they say out east, fuggedaboutit.
The Wolverines remained defenseless, as expected. They forced no turnovers from a crew having racked up a baker’s dozen through five games. They ran the ball a little bit, thanks to hard-charging redshirt sophomore tailback Hassan Haskins.
But when McNamara, the redshirt freshman, got dumped on his shoulder and pulled from the game, it was over. Even when he came back, with a tightening sensation in his money wing, the Wolverines were done.
“It was a gritty performance by him,” head coach Jim Harbaugh offered. “That’s a tough kid … the shoulder did tighten up as the game went on.”
Grit appears in short supply these days. Michigan didn’t have enough of it to get McNamara’s replacement — redshirt sophomore QB Joe Milton, all 6-5, 243 pounds of him — a yard on fourth-and-one with the game hanging in the balance.
That felt familiar. When the Nittany Lions needed a yard, they dug down and got it. When the Wolverines came up short, they stayed there.
Harbaugh himself said it. When the crucial plays came along, James Franklin’s crew made them. Harbaugh’s didn’t.
The latter refused to concede anything, as expected.
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“I’m very competitive … want to win,” Harbaugh insisted. “I hate losing. Respond by pressing on and attacking it. That’s the response from me and a bunch of our players. That’s our only choice.”
The other one, the unspoken one, involves just playing out the string. Not doing so might be the toughest mental challenge these players have faced in football.
Any chance at a Big Ten title game left The Big House long ago. A respectable season followed closely behind, when four losses in five games — starting with a home rivalry collapse against a truly horrible Michigan State squad — ensued.
Michigan won’t finish above .500 this year, unless it beats undefeated Ohio State as part of a season-ending three-game sweep. We’re not encouraging wagering in any way. But suffice it to say if you bet on that and won, odds are that you could retire, regardless of your age.
It’s a helpless feeling, no doubt, for defensive veterans who have known significant pride under coordinator Don Brown. It’s a tough pill to swallow for younger players who are the next man up, but wind up being the next man down.
“Of course,” noted redshirt sophomore defensive end Taylor Upshaw, when asked about the inevitable frustration. “No one wants to lose a game. It’s frustrating, of course.”
Over on the other side of the ball, it’s back to explaining why the key plays aren’t getting made, the crucial yardage remains inches away.
“Obviously, it’s not the outcome we wanted,” redshirt junior offensive lineman Andrew Stueber offered. “It’s tough to be in this position … after the game, Coach Harbaugh said just keep pressing forward.”
The question remains, pressing forward for what? For pride, for positional advantage in 2021, for a chance to maybe eke out another victory this year?
That’s about it.
The numbers continue to tell a sobering tale about Harbaugh’s six-year run, even one that has included three 10-win seasons.
Other records are inescapable. Like 0-5 against Ohio State, on the way toward a resounding 0-6. Like 3-3 against Michigan State teams, including one saturated in awfulness this season. Like 11-16 against ranked squads, 2-12 versus top-10 teams, and zero Big Ten championships, or for that matter, championship game appearances.
The Wolverines added a new one on Saturday. They’re now officially 0-1 against Penn State teams that began the season 0-5. Of course, that was already unprecedented territory for the Nittany Lions.
They entered Michigan Stadium a turnover-plagued, injury- and opt-out diminished squad, much like Michigan. But they’d failed to do what the Wolverines somehow found a way to accomplish twice — win a game.
That’s the case no longer. Michigan could wind up as the worst team in the Big Ten East. Penn State and Michigan State could help out there, since one will lose against the other in the final game before championship week. Of course, in 2020, that game could always get nixed by a virus.
Don’t rule it out, in a season that began with false hope and quickly dove into misery-laden reality.
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