Michigan Football: The good, bad, and ugly from win over Penn State

The ugly: Penn State’s second half

Penn State looked good to start the second half. Nicholas Singleton nearly broke a kickoff return for a touchdown and Sean Clifford completed a bomb on the first drive to make it 17-16 Nittany Lions.

It was the first time any team held a lead on Michigan football in the second half of a game this season. Only it didn’t last for long.

J.J. McCarthy scrambled for a key first down on the Wolverines’ next drive and it was off to the races with Edwards right after.

Penn State turned the ball over on downs on the next drive, then boom, Corum went 61 yards for a touchdown and in the blink of an eye, Penn State’s lead turned into a 14-point deficit.

And the Nittany Lions didn’t threaten to score again. Mike Morris and the defensive line battered Clifford and the Penn State run game was about as effective as Hawaii’s.

All in all, it was a pretty weak half from a team that was talking trash before the game and in the tunnel during halftime. The Nittany Lions tried to go toe-to-toe with the bully of the Big Ten and they got punked.

James Franklin also suffered his third loss by at least 24 points in the Big House. If you take away the COVID year in 2020, Michigan has won its last three games at home over Penn State by an average of 32.

And even with the one 10-point loss, Michigan has outscored Penn State by an average of 22 points during the Harbaugh-Franklin era in Ann Arbor. That’s ugly and so was the 25-0 stretch for Michigan in the second half.