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James Franklin, Penn State continue horrific streak vs. top-10 opponents with Week 7 loss

Grant Bricker

By Grant Bricker

Published:

James Franklin and Penn State lost to Michigan on Saturday. The Nittany Lions are 0-10 against top 10 teams since 2016.

Penn State lost to Michigan 41-17 as the second half got away from Franklin’s team. The Nittany Lions were outscored 25-3 in the second half by the Wolverines.

Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards gashed Penn State’s run defense for a combined 339 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.

This is Penn State’s first loss of the season, but this has been a struggle for the team for quite some time. In that 2016 season, the Nittany Lions beat No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Wisconsin. Since then Penn State has not beaten a top 10 team.

Penn State is no longer undefeated with just Ohio State (6-0) and Michigan (7-0) left to compete for the B1G East title. The Nittany Lions are now 5-1.

Sean Clifford had 120 yards passing and was replaced by former 5-star QB Drew Allar. Allar had 37 yards passing in relief. The Penn State offense as a whole was held to 268 total yards of offense by the Michigan defense.

Next up for Penn State is B1G West opponent Minnesota on Oct. 22.

Grant Bricker

Grant Bricker covers the B1G for Saturday Tradition. His previous stops include the Williamson Homepage and Nashville Post.