Turns out Michigan didn’t need a head coach or a quarterback to beat Penn State. In one of the more embarrassing losses since the Nittany Lions’ loss to Ohio State a few weeks ago, the Wolverines were content running the ball right at Penn State en route to a 24-15 win.
J.J. McCarthy threw eight passes while the Happy Valley crowd relentlessly booed its toothless offense, and any concern about Jim Harbaugh’s absence eased with every errant Drew Allar pass. If James Franklin still had supporters before this game, the last of them gave up after the team’s failed fourth and sixth call in the final period that led to a Blake Corum game-sealing touchdown on the very next play.
Even the two-point try — after Allar added a garbage time TD that would’ve cut the lead to seven with enough time to make Michigan sweat — was moronic. Swinging gate? Oof.
Interim Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore sobbed, swore, and professed his love for coach Harbaugh during the postgame interview with Fox’s Jenny Taft. It would’ve been uncomfortable if not for the unintentional comedy.
Thanking god, and then Harbaugh felt redundant, but I digress.
Corum, who finished with 145 yards and two TDs on 26 carries, relieved Moore, and then gave another passionate interview with blood pooling between his eyebrows from a cut on his nose. It was the kind of gritty win you’d expect in a borderline unprecedented situation.
But it’s not unprecedented because U-M began the season without its patron saint for four weeks. The NCAA and the Big Ten continue to throw obstacles in front of Michigan, and they keep breaking through them like it was Penn State’s front seven.
Did it help that Franklin coached while staring directly into the sun? Yes, but we’ve all agreed to overlook how piss-poor the Big Ten is this season. If Penn State is a top-10 team, I’m Arnold Palmer.
Regardless, now Ann Arbor’s best and brightest legal minds have a full week to try to overturn the results of the B1G commissioner’s decision, and you better believe they’re going to storm something if Jim Harbaugh isn’t back on the sidelines by the Ohio State game.