This past Saturday, Penn State and Michigan clashed for another White Out Weekend in Happy Valley. For the third year in a row College GameDay was in attendance for the biggest home game at Beaver Stadium in the 2019 season, here's what we learned.
The White Out crowd was the fourth largest in Penn State history as 110,669 fans packed the stands. The noise was a factor early as Michigan called a timeout before their first play of the game. The Penn State offense was able to adjust to the Michigan defense and score the first touchdown of the game as Sean Clifford connected with tight end Pat Freiermuth for a 17 yard strike in one on one coverage with 5:59 left in the first quarter. The Nittany Lions exploited Don Brown's defensive philosophy which was to leave his corners out on islands and hope that they could beat the Lions receivers.
KJ Hamler had a field day with this coverage as he and Clifford connected on two deep balls, one for 25 yards and one for 53 yards, as both went for big touchdowns. Hamler had 6 catches for 108 yards, a game ending 4 yard run, and not to mention he had a kickoff return for a touchdown that was called back for holding.
Even with the early success on offense, the Nittany Lions slowed down as Michigan made adjustments late in the second quarter and gained momentum into the second half as they came back from being down 21-0 to making it a one score game in the fourth quarter as the Lions led 28-21. Michigan had 417 total yards on offense as Shea Patterson played his most complete game of the season going 24/41 for 276 yards, one interception, and 34 yards rushing as he used his feet to escape multiple sacks.
The Penn State defense was in bend but don't break mode but made the necessary stops when it counted. Micah Parsons led the Lions with 14 tackles. The notable stop by the Nittany Lion defense was on fourth and goal when Patterson escaped another sack from Yetur Gross-Matos and threw it to Ronnie Bell who could not haul it in as he was tightly covered by Lamont Wade, but regardless the catch should have been made.
Penn State escaped after having lulls on offense as they only mustered 283 total yards but did not turn over the ball which was key. Sean Clifford had four total touchdowns, three passing and one rushing, and was 14/25 for 182 yards along with 17 yards rushing. An absence of Noah Cain was evident as the Lions running game was inconsistent. Cain totaled 5 carries for 19 yards but was in on the final drive to close the game.
Overall, the takeaways from this game is that the Whiteout crowd caused problems early for Michigan as they totaled 8 penalties for 48 yards, but once the offense found its footing it seemed to get into a rhythm that Michigan fans have been waiting for all season. Penn State did enough to win. This is a young team with confidence and talent, and they fed off the crowd's energy all night. A trip to the house of horrors in East Lansing is up next as the Nittany Lions are looking to avenge two straight losses to Sparty, but if there's anything we've learned this year so far, it's that this Nittany Lions team is motivated to prove people wrong.
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