A look around the web at what they're saying about the Michigan Wolverines' 28-21 loss on the road at Penn State:
Chris Balas, TheWolverine.com: Notes, Quotes & Observations From Michigan's 28-21 loss
The Wolverines seemed overwhelmed by both an unbelievable crowd and a fired up Penn State team, making many of the same mistakes that plagued them all year.
There were a handful of dead ball penalties on both sides, another handful of dropped passes that simply can’t happen if you’re going to beat a top-10 team on the road. They occurred with regularity in the first quarter and ended Michigan drives while keeping Penn State’s alive.
Junior Donovan Peoples-Jones dropped a second-down throw on U-M’s second drive that would have given Michigan field position. Instead, PSU got the ball back on a punt and scored.
Dropped passes helped stall another drive, and two offsides penalties on the Wolverines inside the 5 gift wrapped a second score, and “here we go again” was back in full force after a phantom offensive pass interference penalty on junior Nico Collins negated a huge gain deep in PSU territory.
That one was followed by one of senior quarterback Shea Patterson’s few bad plays, an intercepted screen pass that quickly turned a potential 14-7 game just seconds earlier into a three-touchdown deficit when PSU quarterback Sean Clifford went up top over a safety to receiver KJ Hamler, the one guy U-M couldn’t afford to let beat them.
Frankly, it was how many predicted the game would go. When the same mistakes are made through six games, why should anyone have expected anything different against one of the top defensive teams they’d faced all year?
In a world where coaches are judged by their records, it would seem Jim Harbaugh would be viewed favorably by the masses. At Michigan, he is now 43-16, a winning percentage of .728.
But it’s not that simple when it comes to evaluating Harbaugh.
His Wolverines teams have developed a reputation of shrinking on the biggest stages. Under Harbaugh, U-M is now 1-10 against top 10 opponents and 0-8 when it has been the underdog. For that reason, the Wolverines seemed doomed before they even arrived in Happy Valley.
On Saturday, the Wolverines fell behind, 21-0, and then stormed back with a chance to tie the score late in the fourth quarter. But a dropped pass by Ronnie Bell sealed Michigan’s fate and kept Harbaugh from achieving one of his greatest victories as the Wolverines coach. The narrative about Harbaugh’s struggles in consequential games will persist. But U-M showed resilience and the kind of mettle that could help Harbaugh achieve a breakthrough against an elite team in the very near future.
Michigan's season is on the brink. With two conference losses, the Wolverines might be too far behind in the Big Ten race to catch up. Their playoff hopes have effectively been extinguished. And they've missed another opportunity to win a big game on the road, falling to 1-8 under Harbaugh against ranked teams away from home.
Yet Michigan still showed something that it hadn't previously this season.
It has enough fight and resolve to test an unbeaten top-10 team on the road. The offense offered a glimmer of hope moving forward against a fast and talented defense. The Wolverines outgained Penn State, 417 to 283. They converted 12 more first downs (26-14). They held the ball for 15:30 minutes more than the Nittany Lions. On multiple occasions after the game, Harbaugh praised his team's character.
Yet Michigan didn't come ahead in the most important category: the win-loss column. And it'll have to try and grapple with that in the coming days.
"I’m not gonna sit down and feel sorry for ourselves," said defensive end Kwity Paye. "We still have a lot of big teams to play — we have Notre Dame, a ranked team, Ohio State, a ranked team. There’s still plenty of opportunity to be able to go out and finish the season great."
For the first time this season, Michigan’s offense looked like it had found consistency and a rhythm that had been lacking the first six games.
The Wolverines dominated statistically at Penn State, however, they could not pull off the upset and fell, 28-21, Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. Michigan had a chance to tie the score with just less than two minutes left but a dropped pass in the end zone on fourth down left them empty-handed.
It was the best overall performance this season by the Michigan offensive line and quarterback Shea Patterson. Freshman Zach Charbonnet ran hard and scored two touchdowns, and despite five drops in the first half, the receivers came through with big plays.
“I thought the offense did a lot of really good things tonight,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Offensive line pass protection was really good. I thought Shea had a really good night throwing the football and receivers making catches. Chipped away at the running game and got that going, as well. I thought the defense played really well in the second half. A lot of good things to learn from and grow from.”
Tom Fornelli, CBSSports.com: Penn State vs. Michigan takeaways
The Wolverines aren't looking for moral victories here. This loss is a killer when it comes to the Big Ten East title race, as well as dreams of a Big Ten title. That doesn't mean there's nothing good to come from it, however. Michigan's offense seemed to find a consistency in the final 35 minutes of this game that it hadn't shown much of this season. It's well-known that Michigan is transitioning to a new offense this season, but it's also easy to forget that those transitions aren't always simple. Just because LSU dove in headfirst and started ripping the galaxy apart at the seams doesn't mean every offense will. A few years ago, the Penn State team that Michigan played tonight made a similar change on offense and sputtered in the first half of the season before finding a rhythm in the second half. It's possible we saw the start of that for Michigan tonight.
To be blunt, Shea Patterson looked rattled to start this game. It might have been the Penn State crowd, or it could have been the Penn State pass rush. It was likely a mixture of both. But whatever it was, he looked like someone who would prefer to be anywhere else in the world other than the pocket. Then Michigan put a touchdown drive together before halftime, and Patterson relaxed. He kept his composure in the second half as well, and instead of panicking, he found Michigan's skill players in space, and they did the work. Patterson's final stat line doesn't look very good (24/41, 276 yards, 1 INT), but the numbers don't say it all. When Michigan needed its starting QB to put together a drive late in the game to tie it, Patterson did so. On fourth-and-goal, with the game on the line, Patterson bought time and found an open receiver in the end zone. The ball was dropped. That happens. But if Patterson continues to play like he did in the second half for the rest of the season, and Zach Charbonnet can continue to find room to maneuver in the run game, this Michigan offense is going to look a lot different over the second half.
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