The Penn State Nittany Lions got routed by the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines, 49-10, Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, MI. Here are the game’s “Cheers and Jeers.”
Cheers
Gillikin’s Island— Freshman punter Blake Gillikin was the standout player of the game for the Nittany Lions, especially in the first half. As a result of the Nittany Lions having a severe problem moving the football, Gillikin was called upon early and often. Gillikin finished the game with six punts and 270 yards for an average of 45 yards per punt.
Avoiding injuries on offense— Penn State, already suffering from a multitude of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, managed to escape the game against Michigan without a major injury to an offensive player. With eight conference games left, the Nittany Lions will need all of their offensive weapons to be healthy the rest of the way.
Jeers
Linebacking corpse can’t catch a break— Already a crippled unit, the linebacker corpse suffered two more big blows to the position during Saturday’s game. One was the injury to former walk-on Jan Johnson that further crippled a group riddled by injuries. The injury to Johnson makes four injuries to the linebackers — Penn State already had three starters out entering the game versus Michigan. And the second huge blow to the Nittany Lions’ linebackers came when Brandon Smith was ejected from the game on a questionable targeting call early in the second quarter.
McSorley and the offense— In the first true test for Penn State’s newly installed offense, Trace McSorley and the offense struggled mightily against the Wolverines’ high-powered defense. The Michigan defense, led by Jabrill Peppers, made McSorley uncomfortable in the pocket all afternoon and never allowed the Penn State offense to get anything going.
Turning the ball over— It took Penn State’s offense four quarters before it turned the ball (McSorley threw an interception and freshman Miles Sanders coughed up the football on a rushing attempt). And while the game was out-of-hand at the time of the turnovers, the Nittany Lions will need to start limiting the turnovers when the games are still up for grabs if the team wants to salvage its conference record.
Highlight of the Game
Today, we focus on kicker Joey Julius.
— Dan Woken (@PancakeCatapult) September 24, 2016
For a team that has struggled in the tackling department, kicker Joey Julius has been a bright spot. For the second time this season, the sophomore kicker found his way onto the highlight reel with the vicious hit seen in the tweet above. Julius only found his way onto the field three times due to the Nittany Lions’ offensive struggles, but he made his presence known.
Up Next
Penn State welcomes Minnesota to Happy Valley next Saturday in the first of five conference home games for the Nittany Lions. The Golden Gophers enter next Saturday’s conference matchup with a 3-0 record after beating Colorado State 31-24 Saturday afternoon. The game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. EDT, will be Minnesota’s first road contest of the year.
Image credit: Joe Hermitt/Penn Live
