State College, PA – We anticipated this meeting would be the biggest and our best regular season match-up before the season even began – Michigan at Penn State. However, on top of the Big Ten standings implications, the intensity ratcheted up with all the added tension regarding Michigan’s sign-stealing allegations. We know throngs of Blue and White Penn State Faithful in striped-out sections of Beaver Stadium will be amped up for this one. No problem with a noon time kick-off instead of a long day of tailgating in Happy Valley to a game after dark. Nittany Lion fans remember last year’s 41-17 decimation against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
Many eyes on this one
The Lions gave the home team a rousing boost to start on Joey Porter’s unnecessary roughness call right on the first play. From there, things went downhill for the visitors. Lion fans will only insinuate there was some sign-stealing that gave Michigan an edge last year. Now it’s payback time for one of only two losses in 2023. Already, the Lions have a bad taste reeling from their 20-12 loss to Ohio State earlier this season. Eyes will be peeled on the U of M sideline to see where their defensive coaches stand to possibly intercept and transfer any signals. Does James Franklin have any plans to jam Michigan communications? This will be one interesting and intense football game before 110,000 pairs of eyes in State College.
Is Michigan over-rated?
Michigan has allowed only 7.3 points per game in 2023. Only twice did foes score into the teens thus far. On the other hand, their offense averages 40.6 points per game comparable to the Lions’ 40.2. Michigan relies on the running of Blake Corum with 649 yards and 16 touchdowns. Penn State counters with the one-two punch provided by Kayton Allen and Nick Singleton combining for 1,053 yards and 11 TDs. The Lion offense has been tested by the likes of Ohio State and Iowa. The Wolverines have yet to run into a stalwart defense like those or PSU’s.
Michigan has not yet faced a Big Ten opponent yet among the top six offenses in the conference. Rutgers, who they defeated, carries the highest scoring average among all teams they vanquished with 26.8 per game. The Lions will be their first among the top six averaging 394 total yards per game and stands second only to Michigan in the Big Ten scoring department.
Difference-maker?
The key to a win for either team here this weekend comes down to the performance of Penn State Soph QB Drew Allar. That will depend on two observations that we came away with after seeing the Lions defeat Illinois earlier in the season, 30-13. Some pundits have criticized the Penn State coaching staff about the lack of development they’ve provided to Allar thus far. The first issue noted against Illinois was Allar’s tendency to eyeball only his intended receiver on every pass attempt. His arm is strong, but he’s got to look off his key receiver to help his intended target to get open.
Secondly, the PSU coaching staff needs to provide him with more play action opportunities than when we watched the game against the Illini. With Penn State’s running tandem, Michigan has to be wary and the Lions have to freeze the front pressure and keep the secondary guessing to allow his receivers like KeAndre Smith-Lambert and Dante Cephas, like last week against Maryland, to get open.
Got to get ahead on the Learning Curve
Allar has a strong arm no doubt, but Penn State needs to use more deception to help their young QB. In a few instances when they went play action against a tough Illinois front that day, it paid off. If Penn State does that, they can win this game by a touchdown or even two. If they don’t, it will be a slugfest and anybody’s game down to the wire. The striped-out crowd is going to be a wave the Lions can ride on to their advantage one way or the other. We really look forward to being at Beaver Stadium for this one.
Fifty Years of Experience tells me…
Extra point – Sign stealing by Michigan came to light only in recent weeks. Before the season started, I addressed other issues with Jim Harbaugh’s strategies to find his way into the upper echelon of college football in my recently released book Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. He learned from his earlier experiences at Stanford and adapted his new strategy at Michigan. He learned. I noted similarities with Nick Saban after his hiatus to coach at the pro level. In the book, I also pointed out the soft under-belly of Lincoln Riley coached teams at Oklahoma, and now similar results are well exposed now at USC. I also made some analysis of Deion Sanders transition from the FCS to the FBS. Things are shaping up as anticipated.
I also provided insight regarding other coaches in new positions like Lance Leipold at Kansas, Mike Elko at Duke, and Matt Rhule at Nebraska. My one essay, “Vision of the Future,” regarding changes involving Super conferences, the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy, and the transfer portals are well underway impacting the future of college football. My solutions suggested in the second essay, “For the Love of the Game,” are ideas that many fans can consider to improve the game for all FBS teams by leveling the playing field. The ideas introduced will make more teams competitive adding to the excitement of the collage football season for more fans among the many teams.
…About the Future
Go to Amazon.com, and buy your copy of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly, enjoy the stories, analyze the essays and submit your impressions to share on line. After bowl season, a flurry of sudden changes for the college game will come to light. The first essay, in particular, will prepare you for this. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” On the other hand, it seems forces are already breaking down what we’re used to. Will the final result be what fans want for the college game? Each can decide for himself or herself.
