Michigan Football: 6 things we learned from Wolverines rout of Penn State

The defense pass its test too

We have been waiting for Michigan’s defense to face a really good offense. The Wolverines did against Maryland and they did well but they really looked the part of a championship team on Saturday.

In terms of the rushing yards, Penn State did get 111 yards on 22 carries. Yet, if you take away the 62-yard run by Clifford, which was more of a mistake by Michigan than anything, the Nittany Lions and their vaunted freshman running backs got 39 yards on 21 carries.

Nick Singleton has six for 16 and wasn’t a factor. The passing game wasn’t any better. Clifford completed a bomb in the third quarter for 48 yards and Penn State still averaged a meager 5.4 yards per pass attempt. That’s elite pass defense.

Clifford completed 7-of-19 passes and combined the two quarterbacks for Penn State went just 12-for-29 for 157 yards. Michigan only had two sacks and didn’t force any turnovers, but outside of two big plays, Penn State got absolutely nothing on offense.

The Nittany Lions scored 10 (not counting the pick-six) and they were fortunate to get that, so stop talking about the schedule and give this defense the credit it deserves.

It’s championship-caliber.