Victory Bell Rings
Fansided

Penn State Football: Game Balls for the Nittany Lions’ loss against Michigan

By Scott Mitchell

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Curtis Jacobs #23 of the Penn State Nittany Lions takes the field before the game against the Auburn Tigers at Beaver Stadium on September 18, 2021 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Curtis Jacobs #23 of the Penn State Nittany Lions takes the field before the game against the Auburn Tigers at Beaver Stadium on September 18, 2021 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Well, thankfully that’s over with. Penn State Football got steamrolled by the Wolverines today in Ann Arbor. While this was expected, there were glimmers of hope by the Penn State team to make this game close at one point, but sadly that just was not going to happen. The final score was 41-17.

This was in large part due to the running game of the Michigan Wolverines. Blake Corum continued to dominate, and Donovan Edwards dominated just as much. The Penn State run defense was nowhere to be seen, which made matters worse. Win or lose, and whether the team shows up or not, we still have game balls to give out.

Offense: Sean Clifford, QB

Although not his best game, Sean Clifford played his part to try to keep Penn State in the game. Clifford had a massive 63-yard run in the middle of the second quarter to set up a touchdown for Kaytron Allen to get Penn State on the board, 13-7.

Clifford also picked up a big gain early in the second half to Harrison Wallace for 49 yards. This play set up Nittany Lions kicker, Jake Pinegar for the field goal, which gave Penn State the lead, 17-16.

Clifford was able to also find Mitchell Tinsley quite a bit. Tinsley picked up a couple of impressive third-down conversions and finished the game with five receptions for 57 yards. Clifford finished the game with seven completions out of 19 attempts for 120 yards. He also had 74 yards on the ground in six carries.

Defense: Curtis Jacobs, LB

Curtis Jacobs came up with arguably the biggest play of the game for Penn State’s defense. Late in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions were trailing Michigan, 13-7. With Michigan moving the ball well and threatening to score, Penn State needed its defense to come up with a big play.

Jacobs was the man to make that play. Around mid-field, Michigan’s quarterback threw a pass that was tipped and bobbled a couple of times, only to be picked off by Curtis Jacobs. Jacobs would run it back for a pick-six, his second interception ever, and the first pick-six of his career. This gave Penn State the lead late in the second quarter.

This was the first pick-six of Penn State’s season, and it came at a big time. Unfortunately, the Nittany Lions weren’t able to build off of it as they still lost, big time. With that being said, Jacobs was a bright spot on the Penn State defense and played very well today.

Special Teams: Jake Pinegar, K

On the special teams’ side of things, Jake Pinegar played very well today with the opportunities he was given. Early in the third quarter, Pinegar hit a big 27-yard field goal to give the Nittany Lions the lead, 17-16. Pinegar also connected on the two PATs as well and did his part to keep Penn State in this game.

Unfortunately, this game was brutal, but it was also kind of expected. Looking ahead, Penn State Football has Minnesota on deck and looks to get back on track with a dominating win. Sean Clifford, who was benched in the fourth quarter due to a shoulder issue, will hopefully be ready to go and perform much better than he did today.

Home/Penn State Nittany Lions