Translating the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Last Year’s Michigan Game: Offense Edition

Last season, then-ranked No. 10 Penn State took to the hostile environment of “The Big House” for a matchup against then-ranked No. 5 Michigan. Despite holding leads on two separate occasions, one in each half, the Nittany Lions fell apart as the Wolverines came away with a convincing 41-17 victory.

Just four days short of 13 months to the day, the two programs battle at Beaver Stadium in a battle of two AP and College Football Playoff Top-10 Teams. For the blue and white, its season rests on a victory as a loss all but guarantees elimination from playoff consideration.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from last year’s contest and what it might mean for this year’s matchup.

The Good: Turnover Free Football

There wasn’t much good for the Nittany Lion offense during this matchup a season ago, as the Sean Clifford-led unit totaled 268 yards and one touchdown, both of which were season lows for a team that averaged 35.77 points and 433.6 yards per game.

The game against Michigan was one of six games, including the Rose Bowl victory over Utah, in which the Nittany Lions did not turn over the football, whether that be through interception or fumble. In the other five games, Ohio, Auburn, Central Michigan, Michigan State and Utah, the blue and white went 5-0 and outscored opponents by an average of 23.4 points per contest.

What it Means for This Year

No team has fewer turnovers than Penn State and Oregon this season. The Nittany Lions and Ducks each have four, with the former of the two teams leading the pack with a +16 turnover margin this season due to the 20 takeaways the defense has.

The Nittany Lions offense is responsible for just two of the four turnovers this season, with the other two coming on special teams.

Harrison Wallace III was the first on the blue and white offense to cough up the ball with a fumble against UMass. Drew Allar followed in the footsteps of Wallace III when he committed Penn State’s only other offensive turnover with an interception against Indiana two weeks ago.

That turnover had the opposite effect, as compared to what one may think, as Allar has only looked better since his first collegiate turnover. The sophomore quarterback, who had an FBS record of 311 pass attempts without an interception to start his career, is 27-of-36 passing for 308 yards and five touchdowns since the 5:02 mark of the fourth quarter on October 28.

Although Allar looks more confident since the interception, which led to a game-tying field goal, the Medina, Ohio native will have his hands full against one of the best defenses in the nation. The Wolverine defense is tied for fourth in the country with 12 interceptions.

Three of Michigan’s defensive starters, Mike Sainristil, Keon Sabb and Will Johnson, account for seven of the 12 takeaways through the air while also helping hold opponents to 6.67 points per game, the fewest this season.

The Bad: Rushing Offense

Last year, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton became the first freshman duo in Big Ten history to each rush for over 700 yards in their first collegiate campaigns.

Against Michigan, however, Allen, who finished the season with 867 rushing yards, and Singleton, who ended with 1061, combined for a season-low 12 carries and 35 yards. The next closest rushing total to the game against the Wolverines came against Purdue in the season-opener when the two received a near-even split of a combined 18 carries and a perfect split of the 62 total rushing yards.

Singleton tied his second-lowest yards per carry with 3.2, while Allen posted his season-low of 2.7 yards per carry. Despite those low totals, the then-freshman running backs managed to only go backward once, which came when Singleton was tackled for a one-yard loss on a third-and-1 in the first quarter.

Clifford managed to give the running offense a boost with his 74 yards on the ground, 62 of which came on a second-quarter option play that eventually set up the Nittany Lions’ lone offensive touchdown by Allen.

What it Means for This Year

Allen and Singleton have yet to display the same explosiveness as they did a season ago. Still, Allen is up to 119 carries, 573 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, while Singleton has 121 carries and 480 yards to go along with 19 receptions 148 receiving yards and a team-high eight touchdowns.

Last season, the big chunk play was something that the two would break off often, with Singleton averaging 6.2 yards per carry with a long of 88 yards and Allen averaging 5.2 yards per carry with his longest being 59 yards.

The running game had Penn State ahead of the sticks, and while it hasn’t felt like that at times this year, it still does. Allen goes for 4.8 yards per carry, while Singleton sits exactly at 4.0 yards per attempt.

Despite allowing Penn State to play ahead of the sticks, Ja’Juan Seider’s sophomore halfbacks haven’t found the same holes they did a season ago for large, yard-eating play.

Senior tailback Tank Smith owns the longest run of the season for the Nittany Lions, 39 yards, while the two quarterbacks, Allar and Beau Pribula, own the second and third longest, before Singleton’s 20-yard long appears alongside Trey Potts, with Allen’s 19-yard long being right behind them.

Michigan hasn’t allowed those big plays this season as Jesse Minter’s defensive unit is ninth in the nation in rushing defense, allowing 90.1 yards per game and has allowed the third-fewest rushing touchdowns, two. It doesn’t stop there either, as the Wolverine defense ranks 11th in the nation, yielding just 3.0 yards per carry to opponents.

While both Penn State running backs will have their hands full, Allen is the one who has taken the biggest step forward lately, taking more reps than Singleton to post back-to-back games of 80 or more yards. The Virginia native rushed for 81 yards on 18 carries against Indiana before following it up with 91 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries against Maryland.

Over that same stretch of games, Singleton rushed 23 times for 70 yards and a touchdown.

The Ugly: Top Threats Neutralized

In 2022, Penn State’s offense relied upon a balanced attack, whether with the split carries of the running back room or the split receptions by the receiver room and tight end room, there wasn’t just one player doing it all on offense.

Although that was the case, Mitchell Tinsley, Parker Washington, Brenton Strange and KeAndre Lambert-Smith became the four favorite targets of Clifford. Tinsley led the group with 51 receptions, with Washington closely behind him at 46 and Strange and Lambert-Smith having 32 and 24, respectively.

Against the Wolverines, the leader, Tinsley, out-received the next three, five receptions to four. The now-Washington Commander caught five passes for 57 yards while the now-Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington and Strange, combined for four receptions and 42 yards.

While the lone returner of the four, Lambert-Smith was held receptionless, another returner in Wallace III stepped up with two receptions for 57 yards, including a 48-yard catch for the blue and white’s second-longest play of the game.

What it Means for This Year

Simply put, the balance has not been there for Penn State this season.

Lambert-Smith leads the receiving room with 51 receptions, 645 yards and four touchdowns, while the rest of the room has combined for 56 receptions, 588 yards and five touchdowns.

In the tight end room, Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren, who were both held without receptions in last year’s meeting, have 47 catches, 462 yards and 10 touchdowns with a near-even split, while Khalil Dinkins has three receptions for two touchdowns and 34 yards.

Although the season spread of the wealth hasn’t looked too balanced, Allar spread the ball well against Maryland last week without Wallace III, who left the Indiana game with an undisclosed injury.

Lambert-Smith led the way with eight receptions and 95 yards, but Dante Cephas had his best game of the season with five receptions, 53 yards and two touchdowns. Warren and Johnson evenly split eight catches and two touchdowns, although Warren outgained Johsnon 51-to-19.

Dinkins, Allen and Omari Evans all had receptions as well as the sophomore quarterback found seven-plus different targets for the third consecutive game after finding just five in a 63-0 win over UMass.

Michigan hasn’t created as much pressure on quarterbacks this year as it had in years past, with just 22 sacks for an average of 2.44 sacks per game. That being said, the secondary has stepped up with the aforementioned 12 interceptions and the fewest passing yards allowed per game at 141.3. The maize and blue are tied with Florida State for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed this season at four.

Michigan has yet to face an offense along the lines of Penn State, and despite a tough game against Ohio State, Allar and Penn State have yet to face a defense along the lines of Michigan.

Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu or justinciavolella@gmail.com.