Penn State Neutered, Placed In Pet Taxi

I watched this game up north, surrounded by the woods. I'd been up north for the Notre Dame game, so I thought this would help us win, even if I was by the lake for that one. I was really worried about this game. An undefeated team goes on the road to play an overmatched team looking for redemption? Where have I heard this script before? Thankfully, we didn't fall victim to what could've been a trap game.

THAT was an impressive defensive performance. This game was never as close as the score would indicate, as the Nittany Lions got all of their points off of a pair of busted plays. Tony Hunt gets tackled on that 56-yard TD screen pass if Johnny Sears and Shakir Edwards (I think it was #27; it might have been Mundy, who's #21) don't crash into each other on their pursuit. When was the last time Michigan had seven sacks against a team that wasn't Michigan State? It was a severe pummeling of quarterbacks.

On the other side of the ball, Henne looked poised if not perfect. That TD pass to Arrington in the second quarter was magnificent. Breaston missed a couple of passes he had a shot at, including the third-down play in the fourth quarter, but he turned in a quality performance. Arrington's starting to play up to his potential. Mike Massey just couldn't make that grab in the endzone, turning 7 points into a Rivas field goal. I have accepted Mike Hart as my own personal hero.

Broadcast Notes:

• My dad watched the whole game with me. Normally he can't bear to watch a Michigan game unless he's in the stadium.
• When Brent Musberger had all but declared the game over in the early fourth quarter, we began shouting at him to to shut the hell up, he was going to lose us the game. Then the Tony Hunt thing happened.
• I can sort of see now why others think the broadcasters are biased toward Michigan. Not just the Musberger thing; Davie and Herbstreit were more than complimentary to the maize and blue.
• It. Was. NOT. HELMET-TO-HELMET.

Back to the Big House to take on Iowa. I didn't see much of their game with Indiana, but their offense looked good. Given that they were playing Indiana, that doesn't mean much. Also given that they were playing Indiana, it doesn't say much for their defense that they gave up 31 points and lost. They'll be out for blood on Saturday.