16 — Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Erratic 

quarterback 
play hurts 
Wolverines

Run defense 
collapses in 
Penn State

loss

Don Brown looked down, then 

back up. His lips pursed as his 
mask sat below his chin. Penn State 
quarterback Will Levis was in the 
end zone celebrating. Brown was 
left to watch and wonder. About 
what was next after the final 
Nittany Lions touchdown to seal 
a 27-17 Michigan loss. About how 
to fix a defense that again showed 
porous holes. And surely, about his 
job security.

The Levis touchdown run made 

up two of the 254 Penn State 
rushing yards on the day — all 
without Journey Brown or Noah 
Cain, its two top running backs 
coming into the season. Keyvone 
Lee 
finished 
with 
134 
yards, 

quarterback Sean Clifford with 73 
— including a 28-yard touchdown 
on a quarterback draw. To add to 
the humiliation, it’s the Nittany 
Lions’ first win of the year. To 
further add to the humiliation, it’s 
not even the worst performance of 
the year for the Wolverines’ run 
defense.

That 
honor 
still 
goes 
to 

Wisconsin’s 341 yards on the 
ground two weeks ago. Much of 
Penn State’s came because of the 
same problems — setting an edge 
and missing tackles.

After the loss to the Badgers, 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
talked of evaluating all facets of the 
program and changing what needed 
to be changed. He said Saturday 
they put in two new schemes to 
help set the edge better. 

“A lot of the plays today weren’t 

initial edge plays,” Harbaugh said. 
“They started inside and the back 
was able to find the crease on the 
edge. And we either folded in or we 
didn’t make the tackle on the edge 
or a combination of things.”

From the first drive of the game 

— a 75-yard march down the field 
that featured 39 rushing yards — to 
the last, on which a Lee cut to the 
outside got him 23 yards and sealed 
the game, Penn State seemed to get 
whatever it wanted on the ground.

Either Michigan couldn’t get to 

the ball carrier or Michigan couldn’t 
tackle the ball carrier. It was the 
latest in a line of disappointing 
defensive performances, and will 
add fuel to the fire for those calling 
for Brown’s head.

Amid a flurry of cliche and 

saying he needed to watch the 
film, junior defensive end Taylor 
Upshaw offered this when asked if 
there were any adjustments made 
during the game.

“We just gotta be there,” he said. 

“So I don’t know how to answer 
that. I think that’s a coach Brown 
answer.”

The tackling, at least, should be 

simple, Upshaw said. It’s something 
they’ve been doing their whole 
lives as football players. “It’s just 
something you’ve gotta do,” he said.

But they didn’t. And Harbaugh, 

a coach renowned for his attention 
to detail and intensity, who kept his 
team on the field for practice when 
the Big Ten cancelled football and 
Michigan released a statement 
halting all athletic activities in 
March, was left lamenting a lack of 
fundamentals.

“I feel like sometimes we’re 

tackling a little too high and 
leaving our feet a little too early,” 
he said. “Timing of the tackle, 
wrapping and getting our man on 
the ground.”

To open his press conference 

following 
Michigan’s 
drop 
to 

2-4, Harbaugh was asked if his 
approach had changed since 2016, 
when the program seemed on the 
cusp of being a national contender. 
The hiring of Brown — a process 
that started when D.J. Durkin left 
to become head coach at Maryland, 
Harbaugh looked up who ran the 
No. 1 defense in the country the 
prior year, saw Brown’s name and 
got moving — is a quintessential 
example.

But on Saturday, a Penn State 

offense in the throes of its worst 
season in nearly two decades ran 
the ball down the throat of Brown’s 
defense for 60 minutes, and the 
distance from 2016 and national 
relevance and yearly appearances 
among the top five defenses looked 
further than Brown’s stare.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor

ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh described his team’s mood as disappointing after Saturday’s 27-17 loss to formerly winless Penn State.

When halftime ended Saturday 

afternoon and Michigan’s players 
gathered around their position 
coaches, Jim Harbaugh stood by 
Cade McNamara. The sophomore 
quarterback 
had 
missed 
two 

second-quarter 
drives 
with 
a 

shoulder injury, but he was still 
the Wolverines’ path to reversing 
their 17-7 deficit and Harbaugh 
knew it.

McNamara, 
though, 

represented more than that. He 
was Harbaugh’s only chance to 
lend a semblance of positivity to 
a season that careens toward new 
lows with each passing week.

Then his shoulder tightened 

back up, Harbaugh re-inserted Joe 
Milton and the Wolverines scored 
just 10 second-half points. With a 
27-17 loss to a previously winless 
Penn State team, Michigan fell to 
2-4.

And in the end, this week’s 

iteration 
of 
Harbaugh’s 

calamitous Year Six looked just 
like the others. When the Nittany 
Lions sealed their win with a 
final third-down conversion, the 
only sound on Michigan’s sideline 
was a player slamming his plastic 
water bottle against a metal 
bench.

“No one wants to lose a game,” 

junior defensive lineman Taylor 
Upshaw said. “So it’s frustrating, 
of course.”

This year, losing has happened 

at the highest rate since 2008, 
when 
Michigan 
finished 
3-9. 

The 
Wolverines’ 
four 
losses 

are already the second-highest 
total of the Harbaugh era. In his 
previous five years in Ann Arbor, 

Harbaugh hadn’t hit that mark 
before Week 12.

It made sense, then, when 

Harbaugh’s frustration reached a 
boiling point Saturday. This was 
the Wolverines’ opportunity to 
build off momentum from a come-
from-behind, triple-overtime win 
over Rutgers last weekend. That it 
came against a winless opponent 
should have provided Harbaugh 
with the perfect opportunity to 
reverse this season’s course.

Instead, 
Michigan 
only 

sunk further into the depths 
of despair. The loudest cheers 
from 
Harbaugh’s 
sideline 
in 

the second half came on Penn 
State penalties. When freshman 
receiver A.J. Henning leapt over 
a Nittany Lions’ defender to make 
a highlight-reel catch, Harbaugh 
had to turn towards a group of 
players sitting on the bench and 
tell them to stand up and cheer.

“It’s tough to be in this position, 

it’s not what we imagined,” senior 
right tackle Andrew Stueber said. 
“As an older guy on the team, you 
really gotta keep everybody up.”

For 
stretches 
in 
Saturday’s 

second half, the Wolverines did 
that. When junior running back 
Hassan Haskins cut the deficit to 
20-17, he was met with fist bumps 
and butt slaps. A similar reaction 
met Upshaw after his third-
quarter sack.

Far more common, though, 

was the familiar intersection of 
frustration and dejection.

Harbaugh’s 
calm 
demeanor 

evaporated for good when the 
Nittany Lions converted a second-
and-6 and third-and-7 deep in 
Michigan territory to restore their 
10-point lead, waving his arms 
and yelling angrily after each.

“We 
gotta 
tackle 
better,” 

Harbaugh said. “There’s too many 
missed tackles.”

A drive later, his frustration 

culminated when Haskins and 
Milton were stuffed short of first 
downs on consecutive plays, just 
outside field goal range.

“You’re down there on the 

field, you don’t really know for 
sure (about the spots),” Harbaugh 
said. “But getting the tackles on 
the short yardage and just being 
able to get a yard when you need 
it offensively. … Our inability to 
do that and their ability to do that 
was critical in the game.”

After Milton’s stop, Harbaugh 

lowered his mask, screaming at 
the field judge to bring out the 
chains and double-check his spot. 
The official complied, proving 
that, once again, Michigan had 
come up short.

The same rang true again 

moments later on the defensive 
side. This time, Harbaugh had no 
fire left in him. All he could do 
was yell out one word and look 
up at the south scoreboard for a 
replay. What he said was obscured 
by his mask and fake crowd noise, 
but it takes no great leap of faith 
to assume it may have been four 
letters.

“I’m very competitive and want 

to win,” Harbaugh said. “And hate 
losing.”

This 
year, 
that’s 
happened 

far too often for his liking. On 
Saturday, it happened against a 
winless team, seven days after 
a win that seemed to reverse 
momentum.

So 
after 
the 
game, 
when 

Harbaugh was asked to sum up his 
team’s mood, he could only offer 
up one word.

“Disappointing.”
Yet again.

THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

PLEASE 

CLAP

Frustrations mount for Harbaugh’s team 
in loss to previously winless Penn State

When Cade McNamara led a 

17-point comeback against Rutgers 
last week, it appeared the Michigan 
football team had found its answer at 
quarterback.

After an underwhelming two-

week stretch for junior quarterback 
Joe 
Milton, 
McNamara 
did 

everything 
necessary 
to 
secure 

the Wolverines’ starting job, and 
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh gave 
it to him against a winless Penn State 
team on Saturday. But in a 27-17 loss 
to the Nittany Lions, the Wolverines 
were doomed by erratic play from 
both Milton and McNamara.

Throughout the game, Michigan’s 

quarterbacks failed to capitalize 
on the team’s performance on the 
ground. The Wolverines racked up 
108 rushing yards in the first half 
alone, which should’ve set their 
passing game up for success.

“It makes the (offensive) line 

not play harder, but play with more 
confidence maybe,” senior offensive 
lineman Andrew Stueber said. “… 
The defense starts getting more 
worried about the run game so they 
start bringing down some safeties, so 
it kind of just opened up the offense 
as a whole.”

But 
the 
opposite 
was 
true. 

Michigan was reluctant to throw 
the ball downfield for much of 
the afternoon, leaving much to be 
desired. A good portion of that can 
be attributed to the shot McNamara 
took on the team’s second possession, 
which sent him to the locker room 
with a shoulder injury and forced 
Milton onto the field.

The same accuracy struggles that 

sent Milton to the bench against 
the Scarlet Knights and Wisconsin 
continued on Saturday. After a 
21-yard completion on his first 
attempt, Milton’s next two throws 
were way off the mark. One sailed 
over a receiver’s head, while the 
other bounced a few yards in front of 
his target.

Harbaugh 
turned 
back 
to 

McNamara 
after 
two 
Milton-

led series resulted in zero points. 
McNamara completed his first four 
passes on the Wolverines’ opening 
drive prior to the injury, but when 
he returned from the locker room, 
the effects of his shoulder pain were 
clear.

He completed only one pass longer 

than 15 yards in the second half. 
Without the gunslinger mentality 
that powered Michigan past Rutgers, 
he struggled to put together scoring 
drives. He finished 12-of-25 passing 
with just 91 yards and no touchdowns 
— a far cry from his performance last 
week, when he completed 27-of-36 
passes for 260 yards and accounted 
for five total touchdowns.

As 
the 
game 
progressed, 

McNamara’s 
shoulder 
worsened. 

When the Wolverines needed a 
score to make it a one-possession 
game 
with 
eight 
minutes 
left, 

McNamara opened the drive with 
five 
consecutive 
incompletions. 

Sandwiched between them was 
a strip sack, though a penalty 
prevented 
the 
turnover 
from 

standing.

By the midway point of the fourth 

quarter, Harbaugh had seen enough. 
He opted to roll with Milton in the 
game’s final minutes.

“Cade, really gutty performance to 

come back, but the shoulder did start 
to tighten up,” Harbaugh said. “I 
could see it. He was doing everything 
he could to stay in the game, but I just 
felt like that was tightening up and 
causing (pain). I felt like going to Joe 
was the best option for us. I can tell 
you this: Cade was doing everything 
he possibly could to rally the team 
and to play on when (his shoulder) 
was tightening up on him. That was 
the reason.”

But by then, it didn’t matter who 

was under center. The Wolverines 
had 
already 
proved 
themselves 

incapable of taking advantage of 
run-game success to stretch the 
field vertically. Playcalling became 
predictable, and a comeback wasn’t 
in the cards for an offense juggling 
an injured quarterback and an 
inaccurate one.

A week after it seemed Michigan 

had solved its quarterback woes, 
Saturday left the team with more 
questions than answers at the 
position.

