At Mike’s Garage, Artificially Sweetened’s prayers to St. Joe, patron saint of State College, were answered and a season was redeemed, as was a successor head coach who had just the previous week caused many to doubt his sanity. Well, he’s still crazy, but this week, balls won over brains. This win was just what the doctor ordered on so many levels.
The Penn State Nittany Lions (4-2, 1-1 B1G) outlasted the #18 Michigan Wolverines (5-1, 1-1 B1G) to hand them their first loss of the year in a four-overtime thriller. The final score was 43-40, on an upset Saturday that saw three ranked teams fall to underdogs.
For a while, it looked as if both teams were trying to give away the game — literally. Michigan committed three turnovers and Penn State, four. Both quarterbacks did their best to solidify their reputations for tossing the ball away. But in the end, the Lions seemed to want the win just a little bit more, and for them, ballsy coaching coupled with some clutch plays saved the season. Back-to-back conference losses would have been devastating.
Clearly, some leadership qualities have emerged on this team. Heads were hanging and bodies were exhausted after PSU blew a 21-10 halftime lead to a 24-point scoring binge by the Wolverines, able to answer with a puny 3-pointer. They seemed to wake up at 34-24. Courage and confidence conspired to commence the tying effort. A spectacular catch by Allen Robinson, who in Keyshawn Johnson fashion had been complaining that he wasn’t getting the damn ball, got the Lions to the two yard-line with 27 seconds on the clock in regulation time. Hackenberg “snuck” it in for the TD and Sam Ficken’s extra point tied it. Michigan still had life, but a 52-yard try by hapless Brendan Gibbons fell short of the mark to send the game into overtime, re-energizing the listless Lions.
It was almost a replay of the 2006 Orange Bowl in overtime, only more so. That one was three extra periods of who could screw up worse, but this one took four to resolve. All seemed lost when Ficken missed his 40 yard field goal attempt in the first OT. However, the aforementioned Gibbons had his own 40 yard try blocked. (Low kicking trajectories’ll kill ya.) Geno Lewis must have a 64″ vertical leap—did you see how high that sumbitch got? So then, in the second OT, conservatively coached Michigan managed to make a 25-yarder, and fortunately, Sam Ficken answered with his own 36-yarder. In the third OT, all seemed lost when “Gimme da damn ball” Allen Robinson fumbled on an end-around. Handing the ball to the enemy in OT usually spells disaster, but do da name Brendan Gibbons ring a bell? Yeah, another miss, this one from 33. It was then Michigan’s turn on offense for the fourth OT period.
Brady Hoke seemed to be playing strictly for field goals, an anal retentive game of attrition. He got what he played for, as his boy Brendan Gibbons came through with a 40-yard field goal. Penn State got the ball and looked like it was headed for disaster or a fifth overtime — anything but a win — when their drive stalled on the Michigan 16. Fourth and one. A Beaver Stadium crowd of 107,884 whited out fans all knew that Ficken was going to come out for better or worse, but one man in the stadium, standing on the Penn State sideline, had a different idea. His was the only one that mattered. He would risk losing the game going for it on fourth down. His players were out of gas; Hoke’s attrition strategy was in danger of working. Bill O’Brien put the game — and the season — on the line right there. Bill Belton made the conversion with a yard to spare.
The gods, assembled by St. Joe, were surely guiding the Nittany Lions at that point. After an incomplete pass and a short run, the officials actually called pass interference on Michigan in the end zone, paving the way for the final scoring play from the two yard-line, in which Bill Belton got a decent block from much maligned fullback Pat Zerbe, getting the edge and a clear shot at the end zone. At Mike’s Garage, we had to replay it for Artificially Sweetened, who could not watch it the first time.
So what do I have to say about the inept defense now? Great performance by Olaniyan, a Michigan lad. The secondary — not so great, but a decent pass rush takes some of the pressure off those dudes. Mike Hull, still not fixed up, played a good game. The predicted mismatches were there, but Gardner was rushed enough that they didn’t do the damage they could have. Funchess was pretty unstoppable, although he screwed up a couple of times, winding up with “only” two touchdowns and 112 yards on four receptions, while Gallon had seven catches for 95 yards and one TD. It could have been lots worse, had the pass rush not been there. Michigan had 389 total yards, one fewer than Penn State. Devin Gardner was 15-28 passing with three TDs and two INTs passing, and 24-121 yards rushing. So, no, not exactly great defense. Just good enough to outlast the Wolverines.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s performance included scoring the first rushing touchdown on Michigan thus far this year. Belton and Hackenberg each had a rushing touchdown. Belton wound up with 27 carries for 85 yards. Zach Zwinak was pulled after just eight carries for 24 yards, fumbling the ball away on his last try. Hackenberg’s passing performance was about on par with Gardner’s, 23-44 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. It was Felder minus Moseby who was getting the ball instead of GMTDB Robinson. Felder had six catches for 97 yards and two TDs, although Robinson was there when it counted, adding five receptions for 84 yards. Jesse James added six for 67 yards.
Both teams sucked at third down conversions. Michigan was 4-18 and PSU 3-16. Michigan never tried to convert a fourth down. Penn State tried three (including one early WTF??? moment that evoked deja vu memories of the Indiana game) and made two, one with the entire game on the line right then and there. Balls of brass.
Fewer people will be second-guessing O’Brien now, I bet. Funny what a big win can do to silence critics and turn the fan base around from negative to sanguiarialistic.
As for this Turkey, I am heartened by this victory, but not to the extent that I’m going to change my 6-6 prediction, which included winning one game that PSU wasn’t supposed to win and losing one that PSU wasn’t supposed to lose. Those are both now behind us, so I’m looking for it to go as predicted from this point. If they had lost this game, they might well have given up on the season. Sloppy game, but a most excellent win!
The large aggregation of potential recruits attending the game certainly witnessed an impressive display. Who wouldn’t want to play for a brass-balled coach who puts his faith in his players to pull off a magical fourth down conversion with everything on the line? Who wouldn’t?
Meanwhile, in downtown State College, the beer and whiskey flowed well into the night and the mobile puke vacuums were deployed in the wee hours so that the little Happy Valley town would look pristine for its Homecoming visitors once again.
Good show, boys!
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K. John says
A few observations from the stands.
1. John Butler has realized that flip flopping Barnes from the right side to the left wasn’t working. Insert Zettel who is better suited to playing on that side of the line and the unit looks rejuvenated.
2. The secondary addressed some of mistakes from a week ago but still shot itself in the foot enough times to literally hand Michigan 21 points.
3. Hull played a good game, not great but it obviously in better condition than he has been.
4. O’Brien still hasn’t figured out that Zwinak can’t run effectively out of the formations and plays he is asking him to.
5. The better team won but this game should not have been competitive. Between the blown coverages and the fumble return, Penn State gifted Michigan 28 points. At this point in the season, this is inexcusable. It is a product of coaching.
6. Penn State is still committing too many mistakes to get to ten wins. But, they are correctable so anything is possible. A 7-5 record is probably worse case for this team and a final record of 9-3 is still possible despite losing two games they shouldn’t. In two weeks they play Ohio State, the only team on the schedule they shouldn’t beat.
The Nittany Turkey says
Excellent analysis.
Some of the handing of points was due to the mismatch between Funchess and Carson, so I wouldn’t put it all on the secondary. We knew in advance that it would be tough to cover the Funchmeister, and it was.
I think O’Brien figured out #4 and took appropriate action. Although the question of how Zwinak fits into O’Brien’s offense is a great subject for Sunday morning quarterbacks, I’ll avoid it at the moment. I want to wait to hear from O’Brien on Tuesday, if he’ll indeed be talking.
I’m not sure how fumbles and blown coverages make Penn State the better team. What I saw was two teams that for the most part seemed to want to give the game away. Michigan finally succeeded, with help (amazingly) from the B1G officiating crew, who earlier tried to throw it the other way. Michigan has been trying hard to give one away at the end all year (cf., Akron, UConn). Hail to the Victors! But each had pluses and minuses and last night, they were pretty close to equal, as indicated by the final score and the stats.
—TNT
K. John says
Overservations from the replay.
1. One Funchess score was on Amos for making the wrong decision. Amos can run with Funchess far better than Carson. If Amos was there, I doubt that score would have happened.
2. The other one, Carson got beat deep and hesitating. Blown coverage yes, but Funchess may get the pass over Carson anyway.
3. The game wouldn’t have been as lopsided as I thought watching it live from the stands but Penn State should have been comfortably in control regardless.
4. I think Penn State is clearly the better of the two teams. I don’t think they are that much better right but definitely better.
5. I think Michigan is going to be in trouble down the stretch. I thought they were seriously over-rated coming into the season but now I know it. They are going to have a serious issue with Indiana next week. I doubt it would happen but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Michigan were no to win another game this year. They host Indiana next week. Travel to Sparty the following and the turnover factory should be open for business in East Lansing. They follow that up with Nebraska, at Northwestern, at Iowa who is suddenly solid to good and Ohio State.
BigAl says
You’re right, State saved this season (and probably next season too) with this game. And Hack finally convinced me that he isn’t the just next Tony Morelli with that last minute touchdown drive. He still has trouble making the short touch passes, but it least he didn’t disappear in clutch time. And, for the first time this year, he successfully found receivers not named Allen Robinson.
The defense played better, but Gardner is just an athlete playing quarterback who can’t pass accurately. They’ll still get shredded next time they play an up tempo team with an effective short passing game. Fortunately, they don’t play anybody like that the rest of this year.
The running game pretty much sucked against Michigan and I think that trend will continue for the rest of the year. The only change will be that Zwiniak probably fumbled away his starting spot.
My bottom line prediction: State finishes 7-5 and loses one game they should win (Minnesota??) and wins one game they should lose (Nebraska??). But that assumes both Hackenberg and Robinson stay healthy the rest of the year.
The Nittany Turkey says
Yeah, Hacky looked like Peyton Manning on “the drive”. From what I’ve read, it might have required some byplay with Allen Robinson on the sideline to get the kid jacked up. Whatever the hell it was, it seemed to work. Can it be sustained for the rest of the year? Who knows.
In two weeks they’ll face another athlete playing quarterback who can pass a little more accurately. So, how will the defense look then?
So, I’m the only 6-6er left, eh?
—TNT
Joe says
6-6, 7-5, who cares! All I know is last night I was glued to the TV watching one of the best college games I’ve seen in a long time. Sure I think it’s safely been revealed now that Meeechigan isn’t one of the top teams in the B1G this season, their pre-game undefeated record and #18 ranking aside, but it was as good as college football gets.
Seems like the writer over on the Maize n Brew SB Nation blog is having the same problem with the Wolverines that we’ve heard expressed about the Lions.
“The offensive line is going to struggle for the remainder of the year. Devin Gardner will continue to make simple misreads that have cost him countless times already this year. The defense might have the pressure issues fixed, but it remains a step behind expectations.
Every team left on Michigan’s schedule is capable of beating the Wolverines. Don’t ask me how many this team will win between now and December.”
Sound familiar?
But as I see it from my perspective, this was two iconic football programs playing a night game in front of 107,000+ people of which 99.999% were dressed in white screaming their heads off and obviously in love with their football team and it’s coach.
From everything I’ve read today, the impression made on recruits in attendance by the white out, the student section, the coaches and the team chemistry was unbelievably positive and the quotes from the current players after the game was all about what the experience meant to them now and what it will mean to them in the future.
No, I would rather watch our coach not be afraid to go for it on 4th down from our own 33 or in the 4th OT when the game is on the line, than watch “St Joe” punt or send in the field goal team. Hell Hackenburg wouldn’t even be on the team if Joe were the coach, we’d still be relying Rob Bolden to lead us to victory.
So again, maybe I’m guilty of looking at this from a big picture perspective and can see that there is something being created here that is going to produce bushels of fruit a couple of years from now and continue to do so into the future. I might be as wrong as rain, but I’m going to cut these guys (players and coaches) some slack and see what they can do. If two-three years down the road we’re still fumbling around in the dark looking for the light switch then I’ll start calling for heads to roll, but for now, I’m going to sit back and watch the foundation get built and enjoy the reaction from these kids when they win a game like this.
And again if a 6-6 or 7-5 season is considered a regression or disappointment by some while we’re still in the middle of this shit swamp, oh well.
And no, I’m still thinking 6-6 is a real possibility this season NT, but I’m okay with that.
The Nittany Turkey says
They’ve become fun to watch again. I think this young team lacked cohesiveness (i.e., leadership), but a big game where you have to go balls to the wall to catch up and overtake the opponent (no matter how hard he tries to give away the game) builds combat buddies. I think we’ll see a more confident, more determined team from here on.
Yeah, I, too, would rather watch a guy who doesn’t mind taking some risks while managing a game. Remember the 1967 Gator Bowl? I think that was the moment that St. Joe decided to tighten up his sphincter for all time. Rich Scarcella wrote about it in the Reading Eagle back in 1994:
I attended that game and I recall that the fans were in the same mood as they were about O’Brien last week. Paterno hadn’t yet established himself as anything but the Ripper’s assistant and successor. He didn’t get any latitude. Penn State fans blamed him for winding up with a needless tie in a winnable game.
This coaching faux pas shows us that Paterno was once a young coach with the same kind of balls exhibited by O’Brien on Saturday night. Problem is, young coaches get older, and eventually, if you put a lump of coal in their ass, the sphincter will tighten up enough to make a diamond.
Yea, verily, flatlining sphincterball is borrrrrrrrring. I, as you, would rather see some risk-taking. I never coached a game in my life. I second guess these guys all the time without having the qualifications to do so. But I know what I like, and it ain’t taking a knee on the two yard-line because you want the other guy to like you.
—TNT
K. John says
Speaking of that type of football, after years of being loyal to Joe as a coach, what did it in for me was the 2007 Michigan game. If you remember, Michigan was coming off the loss to Appy State and the complete and total destruction at the hands of Oregon, Michigan was reeling. I managed to get some details regarding practice that week and knew they had planned to unleash the future with Darryl Clark at QB. On the morning of the game, Joe had a change of heart and thought the game plan was too risky and scrapped the game plan then and there putting the team into a position where the only think they could do was fail. At that point, Joe lost me. I thought he should have been forced out at season’s end. Heck, I thought he should have retired after the Orange Bowl giving the Board (which has wanted him gone since at least 2002) the middle finger while walking about the door but I digress.
Then 2008 came, the Spread HD showed up and the victories mounted. However, when they traveled to Ohio State, the Spread HD went away never to be seen again costing them a national title with the loss to Iowa. Had they not lost that game, they would have played Florida in the title game and I have no doubt they would have ran them off the field.
The first incident left me thinking Joe needed to go, the second one left me thinking we needed someone from outside. We have it now, mostly. I am OK with the two people they kept as I think they are the top two positions coaches in the country. I think Butler is in over his head. A couple of defensive mistakes turned a game that should have been a comfortable win into a nail biter and I think Bill O’Brien needs an offensive coordinator or someone on the offensive staff to have the strength to stand up to him when certain tendencies get the better of him.
With that said, I like the talent on hand, I think they can improve quite a bit by seasons end. I am getting word that they expect to be as close to full health as they will be this year for Ohio State. A healthy Hull, Wartman, Kline, and Keiser will fix half the problems on defense. Amos, Williams and Lucas showed signs of correcting some of the mental mistakes that have been the other half of the defensive equation despite make enough bad plays to give Michigan’s offense 14 unearned points. I am cautiously optimistic for the remainder of the schedule.
I expect them to give Ohio State the strongest game they will receive this year until they play Sparty for the Big Ten title. If they remain healthy, I fully expect victories over Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, and the new most over-rated team in the Big Ten (Nebraska). Should they be healthy at seasons end, I really like the match-up with Wisconsin. Everything Ohio State did to their offense, Penn State can do better. Then next year is game on. Here is a bold prediction, if Ohio State doesn’t win a national championship this year, Penn State will be the next Big Ten team to do so.