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There was revenge, but the Michigan beatdown was a whole lot more than that for Penn State
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The moment dripped with irony.
With nine minutes left in the fourth quarter on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, Penn State’s offense prepared to take the field. According to ABC/ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor, Lions offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead had some words for the Penn State offense.
“You guys remember 49-10? Now the shoe is on the other foot, and we’re not slowing down anytime soon.”
Moorhead, of course, was referring to the blowout loss the Lions suffered at Michigan last year. Despite the fact that Penn State won 15 straight regular season games, it earned a B1G Championship, it went to the Rose Bowl and it entered Saturday as the No. 2 team in America, it heard about “49-10” all week.
And Moorhead was right. This time, the shoe was on the other foot.
It was the Lions who found themselves up big late against the Wolverines. They were the ones who had to decide if they were going to keep throwing the ball with the game out of reach. Just as Moorhead said it would, the Penn State offense didn’t slow down. It marched down the field and punched it into the end zone on just four plays.
That was Penn State’s last touchdown of the night. In the grand scheme of things, 35 or 42 points didn’t matter. The damage had already been done.
Once again, Penn State showed the college football world just how far it came since that nightmare showing in Ann Arbor.
It was 364 days ago that Penn State stunned Ohio State — and frankly the entire college football world — with what was deemed at the time as one of the biggest upsets of the season. The only thing that would’ve stunned college football fans on Saturday would’ve been if Michigan rolled into Happy Valley and dominated.
That, of course, didn’t happen.
Saturday night was about Penn State flexing its muscles against a traditional power. The Lions hadn’t hosted a battle of ranked foes in the post-Joe Paterno era. It hadn’t hosted College GameDay during that stretch, either.
Before James Franklin said a word about his team’s performance in the postgame interview, he thanked ESPN for being there on Saturday night. He knew what it meant to have the national spotlight on Penn State for the right reasons again.
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And sure, Penn State had plenty of incredible big-stage moments in its last 13 months, but Saturday night felt different. In the Lions’ biggest home game of the season, they got to show the world why they were worthy of that No. 2 ranking.
They got to show off their Heisman Trophy favorite in Saquon Barkley. They got to show off their gunslinging quarterback in Trace McSorley. They got to show off their top-ranked scoring defense.
It turned out to be a quintessential Penn State game. Once again, the Lions got off to a fast start and rolled to a comfortable win. The only downside was that nobody on the first part of the Lions’ schedule registered a blip on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s radar.
Against a Michigan defense that ranked No. 1 in FBS in total yardage, a drubbing like that went a long way.
Moorhead did a masterful job adjusting to Don Brown’s defense, which hadn’t allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. Penn State had that by halftime, and then it replicated that performance in the final two quarters.
Since that brutal loss in Ann Arbor, Moorhead’s offense scored 40-plus points in nine of 17 games. By the way, Penn State has now won 15 straight regular season games and 16 of its last 17 overall. Alabama is the only other Power 5 team that can claim such a feat.
It feels like a lifetime ago that Penn State was a dumpster fire after the 2016 loss at Michigan. Before that, Penn State was winless vs. ranked opponents and 7-13 vs. Power 5 foes under Franklin. Remember when Franklin was blasted because he settled for a field goal when Penn State was down big late in that Michigan game?
Needless to say, his dilemma was different on Saturday night.
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Penn State has much more enviable problems these days. Should the starters be pulled? Should we keep passing when we’re up big late in games? Is our strength of schedule good enough? Franklin won’t admit those are real issues, but they are.
He also didn’t admit that he knew Ohio State was next on the schedule. Whether he was aware or not, Penn State’s reality is that it will enter the second leg of a brutal 3-week stretch that will define its season. Both of the Lions’ next two opponents are unbeaten in conference play and can take a commanding division lead by beating them.
There’s a decent chance that Penn State will be favored heading into next week’s showdown in Columbus. It could mark the first time that Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes are home underdogs. Compare that to when Penn State was a three-score underdog at home against OSU a year ago. Times have changed in a hurry.
After last year’s Michigan loss, Marcus Allen told Barkley that Penn State was never going to get embarrassed like that again. Thirteen months later, Allen’s guarantee is in good shape. The Lions are the ones who do the embarrassing now.
And just like Moorhead said, they’re not slowing down anytime soon.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.