Lion offense overpowers highly touted Michigan defense

Both had gotten an earful in the preceding weeks. One group cherished the words of praise they heard, but the other had listened to nothing but harsh comments for supposedly not fulfilling lofty expectations.

Michigan's defense was one of the best in the nation, sixth-best to be exact, and was punishing opposing running games by allowing them a petite 2.1 yards per carry, while also making 35 sacks. Penn State's offensive line was anticipated to also be one of the best in the land, but had been snowed under by criticism as quarterback Wally Richardson has been snowed under by 20 sacks.

In its last game, the Wolverine defense held Purdue's Mike Alstott to 20 yards on 11 carries, the first time the big fullback had been held to under 100 yards in nine games. The last time out, the Lion line let Richardson feel the scrape of the Dyche Stadium artificial turf five times in a 21-10 loss to Northwestern.

So when those two forces met Saturday in Beaver Stadium, it was easy to expect the Wolverines to continue their domination of opposing offenses. It was easy to expect Richardson to have to run for his life all day and the running backs to struggle for space. Penn State-Michigan is always an emotional affair, but did the hype surrounding Michigan's defense stoke their motivational fire even more?

"No question," Lion tackle Andre Johnson said. "They're supposed to be the best. And when you're going against the best, it definitely presents a big challenge, and challenge is why you play ball....We're a Penn State team. We're known for running the ball. We wanted to go out and prove that we could."

They did. Richardson was sacked three times, but that petite 2.1 yards per carry? It gained a lot of weight in a 27-17 Penn State win.

Offensive tackles Johnson and Keith Conlin, guards Jeff Hartings and Marco Rivera, center Barry Tielsch and tight end Keith Olsommer blew the highly touted Michigan front seven off the line of scrimmage. Lion running backs were able to scramble past them on a regular basis, chewing up 258 yards on 45 rushes, an average of 5.7 a carry. Consider the challenge met.

"Obviously they blocked us," Wolverine Coach Lloyd Carr said. "There were too many creases, and the ball popped through there too many times. Our secondary ended up having to make too many tackles."

Carr said they didn't swarm to the ball like they had in past weeks. When they did get to the ball carrier, he said they had a hard time pulling him down, as they tackled poorly. They didn't play with the physicality that propelled them to the top of the Big Ten total defense chart. The Michigan players agreed that the effort was there, but the execution wasn't. The game plan was not acted out the way it needed to be for victory.

But Michigan linebacker Jarrett Irons, who led the team with 12 tackles, said there was something more.

"You got to give Penn State credit," the redshirt junior said. "They've got a great offensive line and great backs. Anytime you have an offense put together like that, they're going to be make some plays; they're going to be able to run the ball."

Finally, after a year's worth of flak, the Penn State line got its share of acclaim -- like it did a season ago, when it allowed just three sacks and was the soul of a record-setting attack. This season was a tough one, as frequent blitzes put pressure on them in almost every game.

They were vilified for most of the sacks -- perhaps wrongly.

"Some of the sacks have been our fault," Hartings said. "How many media people sit down and watch the game films and focus on the offensive line?"

Yet Saturday, when they saw tailback Stephen Pitts burst through a hole they had opened for a 58-yard run to set up the game-sealing touchdown, all that was forgotten. Hartings, a fifth-year senior, said he would like to be walking off the Beaver Stadium field for the last time at 10-0 rather than 7-3, but what he and his linemates did Saturday was special nonetheless.

For perhaps the first time all year, they played the kind of game they were expected to all season long.

"We showed ourselves that we could do it," Hartings said. "That's the most gratifying thing."