Michigan @ PSU, 10/21/17, 7:30p Eastern, ABC/Stream Watch ESPN

[hack]

I also did not account for 5 Michigan turnovers in that 12-10 M win prediction. That comes in the category of the football gods hating on M

No, it counts in the coach-was-stupid-in-this-case category. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. D'antonio knew better than to be flinging it around like that in the heart of the storm, and that's why he won. Football-gods kinds of plays are the O'Neill punt to end the game vs MSU, or the kind of shit that got Hoke a win against ND in the first night game.

[Hannibal]

We were lucky to be in that first MSU game to begin with. The football gods stole away a game that we had no business winning. We got outgained by over 150 yards and we didn't even force a turnover.

[Hannibal]

Michigan's defense hasn't faced an above average offense yet and they give up big plays, something that Penn State thrives on. It's a very good defense but it's a flawed one that PSU is tailor-made to expose. They won't ring up the scoreboard but they'll probably get over 12 possessions and they'll be able to break 30 against us. I'm thinking a 31-13 type affair. The Nittany Lions will cover easily.

[Rocky Bleier]

Ever the Optimigos! Think about it... O'Korn. Happy Valley. White Out. Saquon Barkley. Revenge. Analytics be damned! The game ain't played on paper. The horror will be reminiscent of Michigan v.s. Notre Dame 2014: 31 - 0.

[Cody_Russell]

The Giants won in Denver last night with a great D performance. After the Giants lost 4 WRs to injury, people assumed a win for the Broncos ( around -13 in Vegas?). Denver had a bye week to think about the Giants.

Similar to Giants (Michigan) at Broncos (Penn St), a win can happen. Play great D, don’t turn the ball over, and run the ball hopefully with some success. As the Giants used up Engram, perhaps there is one reliable target in the passing game. Throw to Gentry.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I think M beats Penn State and shocks the world!

...and someday AA will have a cogent thought and shock these boards!

[whodean]

I have confidence M's defense can contain Penn State unless they are on the field just way way too many minutes (a distinct possibility with this offense).

Run run run the ball when you have possession. Shorten the game. Ball control, a few timely play action passes and this defense could just shock P-U nation.

[WM Wolverine]

Winning the turnover, big play battle will be needed...

Corners will be tested as will the safeties, DL/LBs will need to get pressure so they don't have time to throw the 15+ yard routes.

[hack]

I think M's defense can make life pretty hard on PSU for 3.5 quarters, but without any help from the offense it's easy to imagine they'll wear out at the end. They can't win games by themselves.

[WM Wolverine]

Yup, the offenses very likely 3 and outs (and/or turnovers) are likely to result in:

Short fields, more possessions, and the defense being on the field way too long.. Those things make it far more difficult for the defense to do their job.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I generally don't find practice week pressers to be very revealing. I think this one with JOK is:

How would you assess your play, especially the last two weeks?

“Yeah, I need to pick it up. There’s no way around it. Definitely not up to my own goals and aspirations. I need to pick it up, simple as that.”

When you say you need to pick it up, what specifically?

“Hit the guys that are open, run when I need to, trust the offensive line. Really just there were a few plays on Saturday where we had guys open. Just need to hit ‘em.”

I have no doubt players read what's posted about them on the web. I'm also confident coaches tell them to not pay any attention to it then go digging for comments about themselves. Human nature.

Brian was really tough on O'Korn in his Monday recap:

So here we are. That's three of four O'Korn games with extended playing time where he's been horrible. I have no idea what happened against Purdue, but if you're asking me to project future performance it's more in line with the last two weeks than the outlier. Teams are now preparing for a guy who's only good when he breaks the pocket, and there goes the efficiency of that gambit.

It's bad, man. It's so bad that Michigan spent half of its dropbacks presenting O'Korn with just two guys—or even one—in a downfield pattern. The interception he threw at a dominated Eddie McDoom was third and seven; Michigan had outside receivers run fades. Nobody else was in a pattern. O'Korn somehow still threw the wrong fade, choosing the 5'11" guy being checked by Indiana's best cornerback. Michigan dumbed down their passing offense to an extraordinary extent in this game, and their quarterback still couldn't keep up.

Game over, man. Game over.

Harsh but fair.

I'm not sure what to feel about John O'Korn. Sympathy? Empathy? Anger? What I do know is that he's a young man (what 22?) trying to do his best and then there is a hypersensitive fanbase - deservedly so after a decade of frustratingly bad M football and now the expectations v. reality of HARBAUGH!!! coming home to roost - throwing rocks at the guy.

Anyway, I like how it appears he responded to questions about his performance that were not soft balls. Kid's got some character.

http://mgoblog.com/content/monday-presser-10-16-17-players

[iam416]

Well, J.O.K. doesn't have another school to transfer to, so he's stuck at M. Amazingly, he's playing. IMO, that's a terrifying comment on Peters.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think we know the whole story on Peters. Just my gut feeling.

O'Korn is from Pennsylvania and wanted to play for PSU. His family are life long PSU supporters. When Hackenberg committed, PSU was not going to take 2 QBs so O'Korn looked elsewhere and ended up at Houston.

So, playing this Saturday in HV is a bit of a homecoming for John. Makes the game personal I would think.

I'll be a huge JOK fan Saturday night regardless of his performance and the outcome. He had a decent game v. Purdue. Maybe because it was personal - like that game was for him playing against the team that hired the coach that benched him at Houston.

[whodean]

Can that be measured by analytics? ^

[Jeff Buchanan]

Heh ..... feelings ball has it's place.

The analytics on JOK though ...... THAT IS frightening.