Michigan 41, Penn State 17: Running Away

"They ain't played nobody."

We all know the line. Everyone living in the midwest has heard it ad infinitum. The refrain comes from SEC country of all places, where the standard is to put at least one FCS opponent on the schedule and where the conference's two top teams this past generation have been on each other's schedule a whopping 3 times since 2007.

It's also being echoed in places like the atlantic coast, where FCS mainstay Clemson just moved through #10 N.C. State (their second ranked team in as many weeks) and faces another potential top-10 team next week in current #14 Syracuse. Sure Michigan and Ohio State appear explosive. The Wolverines have a strong offensive line and punishing rushing attack, while the Buckeyes sport a Heisman Trophy frontrunner at QB and NFL-caliber weapons at WR, and have been lighting up the scoreboard each week with the NCAA's highest scoring offense. But none of that matters. Why? Because "they ain't played nobody."

On Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan played somebody. The tenth-ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State to be exact. A team that has moved with nearly the same ease through a season which included a road trip to Auburn (and a 41-12 thrashing of the traditional powerhouse Tigers). The result? More of the same. A 41-17 Wolverine victory on a gorgeous blue skies and "Maize Out" conditions at the Big House.

For those who only look at scores (and the teams on a school's schedule), it would have appeared that Michigan had their hands full in the first half. The Wolverines needed a last-second field goal from Jake "Money" Moody to head into the tunnel with a 16-14 lead.

What the passive topline drive-by observers may not have picked up is that the first half was dominated by the maize and blue. Michigan controlled the ball for all but six minutes of the half, racking up 274 yards off offense to Penn State's 84, and 18 first down to the Nittany Lions' 1.

64 of those 84 yards came on a single play. A single, beautifully crafted play by coach James Franklin and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, where senior QB Sean Clifford faked a handoff, tucked the ball and ran around left end untouched until running out of gas at the Michigan 4. Kaytron Allen finished the work with a one-yard dive to cut a 13-0 Wolverine lead to six.

The Nits took the lead on Michigan's next possession on the flukiest of plays, when Wolverine sophomore phenom QB J.J. McCarthy stumbled while dropping to pass, his effort careening off a helmet and into the arms of Penn State linebacker Curtis Jacobs who took the gift down the eastern sideline and into an end zone.

After nearly a half of dominance by Michigan, a misdirection play and a helmet-deflected pick six later and they're trailing. The downside of a strong rushing offense that shortens the game is the big play or turnover, and Harbaugh just got both. A chip-shot field goal by Jake "Money" Moody ended up giving the maize and blue the slimest of halftime leads at 16-14.

Aided by a mammoth 48-yard Clifford-to-Harrison-Wallace pass play, Penn State drove deep into Michigan territory to start the second half. They settled for a 27-yard field goal to retake the lead, 17-16. From that point on, Michigan ran away with the game. Literally.

On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, Donovan Edwards exploded through a hole and didn't look back, sprinting to the end zone. On the first play of their very next possession, Blake Corum darted, juked and twisted through the defense for an equally amazing 61 yard run for six. Two running plays, 128 yards, two TDs. And one ballgame.

On a sunny afternoon where the stars were out and bright––from Michael Phelps taking part in the coin toss to Wynton Marsalis performing at halftime, from the 1997 Wolverines team who were honored on the golden anniversary of their national title to their coach, Lloyd Carr, whom the Big House honored in the naming of its tunnel––the Michigan rushing attack shone brightest. All told, the ground game piled up a whopping 418 yards on 55 attempts, over 300 more yards than their opponents, in a resounding 41-17 victory over a very good Nittany Lion team. For a team whose coach defines success by how well he runs the ball, victory just doesn't get more Harbaugh than that.

So congrats Michigan. You've now officially played somebody. More importantly, that somebody's officially played you.

Brightside at the Big House

It's become a tradition in and of itself.

The Big House DJ spins the Killers' classic "Mr. Brightside" and the Michigan students take it from there, screaming each and every lyric. Ultimately, the music cuts out. But that doesn't stop the tens of thousands of off-key and inebriated voices from completing the verse/chorus. Often while a big play is happening on the field.

I can trace the roots of this newfound pasttime to the Notre Dame game of 2019. It was during a complete downpour, and the Wolverines were in the late stages of a 45-14 trouncing of the #9 Irish, so the fans still in the stands were eager for some self-created entertainment.

Enter Mr. Brightside. Hardly an arena-rock staple, but a song so familiar to the student body you'd think a recitation of the lyrics were a requirement of admission. The song's melody is a not-so-shameful ripoff of David Bowie's Queen Bitch, as Ziggy's 1971 release Hunky Dory which contains the track was an object of singer Brandon Flowers' obsession. So, not a theft as much as an homage. The content is relatively sad and dark (no "Sweet Caroline" here... bum-bum-bump), the scattered account of a guy smitten with a woman who was already taken, and not so interested in the guy.

So why is it such a popular part of every college football Saturday in Ann Arbor? Good question. The band heard about the ritual last year on twitter and were honored. I think it has something more to do with the uniqueness of adopting a song like this as a rallying cry. Just as they were the first to successfully pull off the stadium-wide "wave" against Iowa back in 1983 (and drawing a delay of game penalty against the Wolverines, to the dismay of Bo Schembechler), they take pride in owning this.

In honor of Mr. Brightside and of the Wolverines' B1G football championship, I created a compilation video of the song being sung by the Michigan faithful during key games of the season, from the 9/11 "White Out" against Washington, all the way to the B1G championship game in Indianapolis. Hope you enjoy it!

UGH.

For a program that hadn't made it out of its division much less to its conference championship game, the Michigan Wolverines seemingly held as likely a chance to land a Super Bowl invite than a berth in the College Football Playoff.

The CFP was a playground for the Alabamas and Clemsons and Ohio States and Oklahomas of the world. The four schools had occupied 20 of the 28 available spots since the four-team playoff began in 2014. Even perennial nemesis Ohio State had made four appearances, winning it all in the first-ever CFP. Coach Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines hadn't even made it to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten title, for to do so meant beating the Buckeyes, an event that had occurred only twice this millenium. Not. Bloody. Likely.

Then came 2021.

Then came a group of kids who didn't know they weren't supposed to end up as one of the nation's very best teams. A group of kids that started the season unknown and unranked, then proceeded to exceed everyone's expectations on the way to a 12-1 record, ending the season by steamrolling Ohio State and blowing the doors off of B1G West champion Iowa at Lucas Oil Stadium for the conference crown. The school's first national football semifinal berth was theirs.

So while the ease of Georgia's 34-11 smacking of Michigan in the CFP Orange Bowl may have stunned most college football fans, the certainty of the Bulldogs' victory shouldn't have surprised anyone. They were far and away by just about every expert's opinion the best team in the nation all season long. Right up to a humbling defeat by their nemesis Alabama in the SEC championship game. A defeat they had a chance to atone for in the national final should they make it past the upstart Wolverines.

The semifinal was billed as a battle of strength on strength, two relentless defenses and massive offensive lines going at it. Yet it quickly became apparent that while the two teams may have been in the same stadium, they weren't in the same ball park. The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and cut through the Wolverine defense impressively, moving 80 yards in seven snaps over four minutes. A drive so effortless, it was hard to believe Michigan's defense had not surrendered a touchdown in the first quarter much less an opening drive since the opening game of the season. In fact, the Wolverines hadn't trailed by seven points all year.

Michigan appeared on the verge of responding as Cade McNamera drove the offense past midfield. Facing fourth down and four a the Bulldog 41, Harbaugh—who hadn't fully understood the mismatch he was entering—decided to go for it. McNamera's pass to tight end Eric All fell incomplete, leaving UGA a scant 59 yards from another touchdown. Six plays later, tailback Kenny McIntosh took a handoff at the Michigan 18, ran toward the line of scrimmage and stood up to lob a pass to wide-open wideout Adonai Mitchell in the end zone. 14-0, Ugh. Before the first quarter was over, the game already was.

Executing an offensive strategy of simply running plays to the opposite side of the field as Wolverine all-everything defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett operated with surprising precision in both drives. Surprising in that the situation with the Bulldogs' signal callers had similarities to Michigan's. As many felt the Wolverines needed McNamera and freshman phenom JJ McCarthy if they hoped to advance in the CFP, many also felt UGA needed Bennett and JT Daniels (in whole or in part) for a run to the national title.

Daniels entered the season as the starter and led UGA to an upset of then-#6 Clemson before suffering an oblique injury the following week. He returned and appeared to solidify the starting position until he reaggrivated his injury, whereupon Bennett—third on the UGA depth chart when the season began—took over from there.

As it turned out, Bennett was everything the Dawgs needed and more, while Cade unfortunately wasn't. The junior QB felt the heat of an NFL-caliber defensive front every snap. Outside of his opening-play scramble for 18 yards, he was pummeled and punished, throwing two interceptions and never really threatening with any drive. All-American kicker Jake "Money" Moody's field goal was all the Wolverines could hang on the scoreboard until Harbaugh pulled McNamera in the fourth quarter for McCarthy, whose 35-yard touchdown strike to freshman Andrel Anthony showed promise albeit too little and far too late.

34-11. Ugh. Not the ending the Wolverines would have hoped for. But not the stage they ever could have imagined.