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Michigan Football vs. Penn State: Get To Know The Nittany Lions

By Tyler Fenwick

Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley (26) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley (26) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O /
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This is far from the Penn State of last season, especially on offense. Michigan football still looks like a comfortable favorite, though.

It’s still James Franklin, and it’s still a Penn State team struggling to get off the ground, but Michigan football might have a difficult team recognizing the Lions on Saturday, especially on offense.

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Penn State hired offensive coordinator coordinator Joe Moorhead, who spent the previous four seasons with FCS Fordham, to install a new high-tempo offense that’s centered around running back Saquon Barkley.

If you got too accustomed to seeing Christian Hackenberg drop back in the pocket and scan the field, Saturday is going to be a little bit of a shock for you, as redshirt sophomore Trace McSorley is now leading the Nittany Lions’ attack. McSorley doesn’t have an incredibly strong arm, but he’s accurate enough underneath the coverage, and he proved a couple times in the first three games that he can beat you deep.

Though he’s a dual-threat, McSorley hasn’t done too much running this season. A lot of what Penn State does is run-pass option. So far this season McSorley’s thrown for 828 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s completing 64 percent of his passes.

That’s new. What Barkley will be doing from the running back position won’t be. He exited the game against Temple last week with an apparent leg injury, but he came back and looked perfectly fine.

A huge knock to this Penn State offense is that it really struggled to move the chains on third down, only converting 27 percent of the time. The Michigan defense is No. 1 in the country, only allowing four third-down conversions this season. That might be Penn State’s biggest set-back against the Wolverines on Saturday.

On defense the Nittany Lions returned more players then they lost from last season, but there were still some sizable gaps left on the defensive line. Penn Sate ranks No. 92 in the country right now by giving up 176.3 rushing yards per game. That number is also perhaps a little low, given Temple only ran the ball 28 times against Penn State last week.

The Nittany Lions rely on two veterans to get things done in the backfield: senior defensive tackle Parker Cothren and fifth-year senior linebacker Nyeem Wartman. They’ve combined for 6.5 tackles for loss on the year. Junior defensive end Torrence Brown has also had an impact with three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.

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Penn State makes up for its below-average run defense with a secondary that’s only allowing 168.7 passing yards per game (No. 22 in FBS). This looks like a week Michigan could use to get its running back on track after being shut down for most of the last two weeks.

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