Behind Enemy Lines:
PSU writer Tyler King
Before the season began, it
seemed the Michigan football
team’s entire 2018 would be
defined by its three-game stretch
against
Wisconsin,
Michigan
State and Penn State, from middle
October to early November.
Two
games
through
that
stretch,
the
fifth-ranked
Wolverines (7-1 overall, 5-0 Big
Ten) have nearly made it out the
other side unscathed.
All that is left in Michigan’s
season-defining span now are
the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions
(6-2, 3-2).
Penn State was thought to
be a national title contender
at the start of the season, but
after two heartbreaking losses
to Ohio State and the Spartans,
the Nittany Lions are now
fighting an uphill battle to play
meaningful late-season games.
Of course, if they can overcome
the Wolverines on Saturday, that
narrative may be flipped on its
head.
To
preview
the
top-15
matchup, The Daily caught up
with Tyler King, the football
editor at Penn State’s student
newspaper, The Daily Collegian,
to ask about the importance of
the game and how he sees things
panning out.
The Michigan Daily: So,
Michigan players have been
talking, and the coaches have
been talking a lot this week about
last year’s game. I’m wondering
how much talk there’s been on
the Penn State end about that
game.
Tyler King: Yeah, Penn State
is like one of the few schools
in the country, maybe the only
school, that doesn’t do a big
press
conference,
which
is
very frustrating from a content
standpoint, but that’s beside the
point. But they take this whole,
1-0 each week mentality, treating
every game like the Super Bowl,
which is such a cliché, but they
do it. For every game, they treat
every game, not like it’s Akron,
but there have been misconstrued
quotes from, like, last year, where
James Franklin says beating
a team like (Pittsburgh), an
in-state rival, is just as important
as beating Akron.
So, I mean, they haven’t really
talked about it too much, because
honestly even today, the players
and James Franklin were asked
about two years ago, the game at
The Big House, which Michigan
won, 49-10. And they kind of just
shrugged those questions off,
like, ‘Yeah, that happened, but
we’re just focused on this year’s
game and this year’s Michigan
team.’ They usually like to shrug
those questions off and they don’t
heavily talk about that game a lot
from last year. Obviously it was a
whiteout game and Penn State’s
had success in the whiteout the
last couple of years. Obviously
this year losing by one point to
Ohio State, but in general, usually
the whiteout has been successful.
I just think that was just a product
of two teams last year where
Penn State was just clearly better
and in that home environment it
just kind of showed.
TMD: And about those two
losses, both of them have sort
of come at the last minute in
heartbreaking fashion. Does it
feel at all like a team demoralized
by those or are they sort of
rallying around finishing strong
here?
TK: Yeah, like I said, they do
that annoying, kind of, 1-0-each-
week kind of thing, and James
Franklin said that after they beat
Iowa this past week. Another
beat reporter asked about, you
know, does this kind of, maybe
breathe some life into the team?
And James kind of really just
played that question off and just
said, ‘Look, we’re 1-0 this week.
We’re happy we won this week.’
So, I mean, after the Ohio State
game, the vibe that I got from
talking to players and especially
a guy like Trace McSorley, who
had, I mean, just an unbelievable
performance against Ohio State,
they felt kind of confident. I
mean, in my opinion, I thought
Penn State was the better team
for three quarters, and then they
just had another fourth-quarter
collapse and they lost by one
point. So I didn’t think they were
very defeated.
But after Michigan State, I
could feel it, talking to players,
that they were kind of defeated.
And obviously now, that was
three weeks ago, so I mean, I
would have a good feeling they
put those two games behind
them. But, I mean, definitely
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
Football Friday, November 2, 2018
2B