Michigan Football: Breaking down each ranked opponent for Wolverines

At Penn State

The three-year starting quarterback, Trace McSorley, departed Penn State as did the heir apparent, Tommy Stevens. This season, the Nittany Lions will depend on Sean Clifford who has thrown seven collegiate passes. The untested sophomore quarterback arrived in State College as a four-star with a 9223 composite rating out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sean’s main target is going to be KJ Hamler who brought in 42 receptions for 754 yards in 2018. The 5-foot-9 speedster will give the Wolverine defense much like Purdue’s Rondale Moore did against Ohio State.

PSU did lose running back Miles Sanders to the draft; however, Ricky Slade, the No. 1 all-purpose back from the 2018 class, will be handling the ball this year. Ricky is so extraordinarily talented that he was ranked as the 27th overall football player from his class.

Both of the previous matchups ended with the home team blowing out the away team. In 2017, Michigan lost 42-13 at Beaver Stadium and in 2018, UM blew PSU out 42-7. This Penn State team has a lot of similarities to the 2017 squad where Michigan struggled mightly in the face of future NFL star Saquon Barkley. Hopefully, the Wolverines have someone fast enough to defend Slade in order to avoid a repeat of the matchup two seasons ago.

The game time has not been announced for the seventh-ranked Wolverines and 15th ranked Nittany Lions, although many speculate it will be a night game with the added touch of a whiteout at Beaver.