Michigan Vs. Penn State: Positives and Negatives

Today, Michigan was exposed to be the team that many believed they were going to be at the beginning of the season. A 5-7 win team that would struggle with freshman quarterbacks, and would get whooped by the more elite Big Ten teams. In the 35-10 loss to the Nittany Lions today, Michigan compiled a mere 250 yards on offense, and gave up 396 yards on defense. Overall, there was very little good for Michigan, and many, many things that could be improved on.

Things I liked
1. Brandon Graham - Brandon Graham was an absolute beast. Graham was constantly busting up plays in the backfield, and was the lone bright spot on our TEAM in the game. While our secondary was getting beat and our linebackers were missing tackles, Graham was continuing the pressure and breaking up running plays. He was a one man punt blocking show, blocking the punt, then picking up the fumble afterward.

Things I didn't like
1. Secondary / Linebacker Coverage - this may be part of the system, but in many of the situations that Penn State gained yards in the air, there was poor coverage. In the 60 yard TD pass to the PSU Tight End, Ezeh just couldn't stick with him. Also, PSU used the quick passes outside to just kill us. In these situations, our cornerbacks would sit 10 yards off the opposing wide receiver, and they would gain 5-8 yards consistently. Finally, I am not a fan of the defensive play calling. Much of the time, we blitzed, left our defenders in single coverage, in which they got beat almost every time. Overall, Michigan's defense got smoked in the air, giving up 230 yards and 4 touchdowns.
2. Michigan Quarterback's Throwing Into Coverage - Many of our throwing errors came off bad decisions by Forcier / Robinson to throw into coverage. Forcier had an almost near INT by throwing it straight to a PSU linebacker. Robinson made a bad decision, not at all seeing the opposing linebacker, and throwing it straight to him.
3. Michigan Special Teams - Michigan's special teams were poor today. Michigan let up a few long returns, and the Penn State offense had great starting position all day long. This lead to quick, short drives and easy scoring opportunities.
4. Michigan Turnovers - Michigan once again made it hard for themselves to win, throwing two INTs and fumbling twice. As they did against Iowa, Michigan put themselves into a hole by giving the ball to the other team, and was unable to dig themselves out.