PSU Passing D Versus Pittsburgh

Right, they barely beat Pitt, the week after we barely beat Army.  It safe to say they've corrected and improved a few things since then.

We have also, hopefully enough.

The passing stat from the Pitt game is not a good indicator for us. Most of those passing yards were 50/50 jump balls thrown by the Pitt QB that their WR came down with. If we know anything about Shea, it is that he does not like to take chances like that. The game will come down to how much the o-line can pass protect. If Shea can get enough time to get comfortable, we will be fine. The odds of that happening is not very good.

It's not really a question of Penn State being beatable - they certainly are, and they've looked relatively pedestrian against teams with a pulse (Pitt, Iowa).

The problem is that we have 4.5 seasons of experience under Harbaugh to know that we tend to come out very flat in big road games and fold at the very first sign of adversity.

We should have a decent chance, as long as we don't fumble away the ball about 4 times. It helps that Saquon Barkley isn't in the backfield this time around, too.

Good point. After reading this thread I have confidence our game plan will be ‘run zone read into stacked boxes without the read aspect’

Michigan could win this game 24-21 and we could lose 35-17. 
 

The only decent defenses Penn State has played have held PSU to 17. A Purdue team playing with only half of their starters bogged PSU down at times as well. Michigan can slow them down. It’s going to be up to the offense to stay on the field. Requires Shea having a good running game, requires Gattis calling a good game, and requires winning the turnover battle.

I don’t expect a win, but I think the recipe for a win is easier than a win at Wisconsin would have been, in hindsight. 

The focus should be on how "WE" Michigan plays. Michigan has to step up and play winning football ,regardless of how the other team plays against us. Each game is separate from the others. 

#EXPECT VICTORY 

 #CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK

I'd feel good about our chances given the info cited by the OP except for the fact that Gattis has shown a complete inability to utilize the many offensive weapons we have at WR.  Tarik Black has 15 receptions for 232 yards on the season, for example.

Jump on them early. Fergodsakes, script the first 15 plays, don't deviate, and then toss all the ones that didn't work.

The problem on offense is the QB doesn't understand it (which is at least half the fault of the coaches). So simplify everything. Roll Shea out. Run a ton of intermediate routes. They'll be expecting deep shots and will try to bait Shea into them. Don't do it. Matriculate the ball down the field. We need McKeon back. Find creative ways to get the ball into DPJ and Blacks hands. How about a reverse? Or a WR screen?

If this were all about tactics, it's be a straight up rock fight. So don't make it about tactics. Let our guys out-athlete theirs. We are faster on both sides of the ball. Don't think your way to victory, Jim. Challenge the guys to show no mercy. 

What I wouldn't give to hear the national media wonder, "where has THAT Michigan team been all season!?!"

After Illinois I have no confidence that this team can win. Before Illinois, I was hoping that we would run an efficient offense that had all the basics down. Then we could add wrinkles that the PSU defense wouldn't have seen. This team is where it should have been after the second game of the season.

Two threads down there is a post about PSU's defense.  You couldn't have posted this snowflake there?

I actually think they sustained a functioning offense against Illinois for longer than any other opponent so far. That is good. (I throw out Rutger)

But they still have stretches where just nothing works on offense and they look pathetic. That is bad.

If they can limit the offensive funks to a drive here and there instead of a whole quarter or half, then they'll have a shot in this game.

Your fandom should be challenged if you can't get excited for an away game at night against a top 10 team. I'm as BP#N3D (it's a trigger word for some, you understand) as the next fan, but lets all commit to shelving the complaints until the snoweflake threads open up. 

Let's take a dump on Frames Janklin's smug head!!

Go Blue.

I watch 2 to 3 games every Saturday and I always see one team not taking shots down field at least a half dozen times a game. The other teams that do tend to have success doing this at the college level. A lot of times the receiver catches the ball and other times the receiver draws a PI call. If the throw is incomplete or intercepted the game does not automatically end in a loss. Having tall, fast wide receivers typically makes this process even more successful. I think this style of play might be worth trying.

Shea will need to run the ball (and not fumble) 4-5 times in order to prevent PSU from abandoning defending the keeper play like Illinois did... if he continues to hand off rather than keep, the run game will disappear.

Any team is 'beatable' as shown by USC at Georgia this weekend. However until Michigan actually does this on the road versus a top ten opponent, its hard to give them the benefit of hope imo.

Maybe this is the weekend that all changes? If I actually had to bet my house on the result however, i'd pick PSU as would everyone on this board.

Iowa’s last drive shows the recipe to beat PSUs defense. Go over the top, 50/50 balls, etc... I don’t like their DBs. 

I think our defense is better than we showed at Illinois. Intensity level diminished after going up 28-0 because of inexperience. However, we will still give up some points. 

31-30 good guys. 

Here's the difference, however. Good teams improve over the course of a season. PSU has improved a good deal since that game, as expected. Other than some slight improvements on defense that were brought about, not by a coach's decision but by the necessity of injuries (McGrone and Hill), there has been no improvement from this team. That's 98% coaching. 

Can we please just stop with the "this is the week everything clicks" and just be honest with ourselves that mediocrity is what we're dealing with moving forward?

Look for Shea to start running now that the 'season' begins in earnest.

This season we are incapable of exposing weaknesses in an opposing defense that has any sort of a pulse.  Against, Rutgers or Illinois, sure no problem because they have so many weaknesses and it would literally be impossible to run an offense without happening upon some sort of mismatch.  Against a team like Wisconsin we needed to be surgical about attacking their D line and taking deep shots, and our performance was anything BUT surgical.  Same story at PSU.  As of now I don't have the faith we'll be able to attack with consistency.  Whether we win or lose will factor heavily on how our defense plays.  If we go down by two scores we are most certainly done.

Pitt is their rival.