It’s great to finally get the Michigan monkey off our backs, but who wasn’t holding their heads, and cursing when Michigan got out to an early 10-0 lead.  When Michigan led 17-7 and the uber-reliable Kevin Kelly missed a 45 yarder.  But Penn State got the ball at their own 41 following a Zoltan Mesko punt and unnecessary roughness penalty on scUM with 2:01 left, and what ensued was the drive that saved the game, and maybe the season.  A great, gutsy performance by Penn State to cut the halftime deficit to within 3 points, and we all know what happened after that.  Penn State scored the last 39 points of the game, and from that drive on looked positively dominant.

The game got of to a highly auspicious start.  First, we had the alumni baton twirlers dropping the sticks left and right.  Then the drum major messed up his flip.  On the first play from scrimmage, a bad snap caused a fumble and a loss of 16.  Obviously there was the shaky beginnings that put Penn State down 10-0 and 17-7 and everyone saying “Not again, please god.”  But all-in-all, the homecoming celebration was very well done.  The alumni Blue Band played well, and it was great to have so many former Penn Staters around town, on campus, and at the Pep Rallies and Guarding the Lion Shrine.  At the Lion Shrine, there was someone from the class of 1955, who was part of the first guarding.  Pretty cool stuff.

In that first half, there was some awful tackling.  Penn State defenders went for the strip every time on Brandon Minor, which led to dozens of yards after contact.  Every time he touched the ball in the first half, it was 7 yards or more.  Even Steven Threet managed to pick up yards in bunches on his designed runs.  The team could not bring Michigan rushers down until midway through the second quarter.  Next week, it’s Beanie and Pryor.  Better be better.

Evan Royster looked like a Heisman candidate tonight in his own right.  He had that big 44 yard run that got Penn State on the board, and it was another instance of his incredible patience.  Royster was just waiting behind his offensive line for something to open up, and once it did, he just burst through the secondary untouched.  On the day, Royster finished with 187 all-purpose yards, and looked like a seasoned veteran doing so.  I just can’t believe we’re still getting this guy for another two years.

Daryll Clark struggled for much of the game.  His throwing was shaky from the get-go, as he airmailed a potential first down pass to Mickey Shuler on the first drive.  On the second drive, he committed Penn State’s only turnover of the game, when he lost the ball after a first down run.  He finished just 18-31 for 171 yards, and with 45 yards on 9 carries.  However, his poise was bigger than his play.  He was a short-yardage beast running the ball, pounding the ball into the endzone three times.  On one Evan Royster run, Clark got his nose dirty sealing off the edge with a great block to set up a big gain and a touchdown.  After the game, he was visibly excited, and celebrated with the fans.  This guy just oozes moxie.

I’m convinced that there is Josh Hull, and there is another guy who occasionally wears the number 43.  Josh Hull looked slow and soft early in the game, including one instance where Steven Threet blew right by him for a first down.  He was so bad, in fact, that the coaching staff pulled him in favor of Michael Mauti, who didn’t look like anything special.  But when Mauti proved ineffectual, Hull came back in and played beastly.  He’s only credited with 5 tackles, but he was all over the place.  We’ll need four quarters of Josh Hull against Ohio State.

Navorro Bowman continues to be our rock on defense.  Early on, he was the only Nittany Lion doing anything, and he was all over the place.  They credit him with 11 tackles, and they all seemed to come early on.  Maurice Evans also came back and had one of his best games of the season.  He had a sack, and a couple times put pressure on the Michigan QB.  He had the initial pressure on the safety, forcing Sheridan to step up where he was demolished by Jared Odrick.

The secondary didn’t have to do much, as Michigan only attempted 22 pass plays, gaining 89 yards.  However, when the Michigan offense was moving the ball early on, Mark Rubin and Tony Davis each got torched on long completions.  A Drew Astorino interception was ruled incomplete, I couldn’t tell because they refuse to show replays of controversial calls.  Any successes can be credited more to Michigan’s incompetence and pressure from the D-Line than great play by the secondary.

Stephfon Green got his typical garbage time duty, with 28 yards on 10 rushes.  However, we all got to see the potential, as he took a 3rd-and-12 screen pass 80 yards for a touchdown, burning the Michigan secondary.  It was great to see his top-end speed at work.  Also, if you happened to have money on the game, that late touchdown helped Penn State cover the spread.

Nate Stupar continued his phenomenal special teams play Saturday.  Last week, it was some great tackles on kickoff coverage and a big block on the Derrick Williams return touchdown.  This week, he blocked a Zoltan Mesko punt, giving Penn State great field position.  The guy is a really emotional player and really gets into it.  He was pumping the crowd up, going crazy.  Stupe is a fun kid to watch play the game, because he really plays like a kid; going all out on every play.

Derrick Williams was quieted, but Jordan Norwood and Deon Butler picked up the slack, with 12 catches and 133 yards between them.  They tried to let him throw a pass, but it was an awfull toss that should have been picked off.  He had Butler wide open in the corner of the end zone, but his pass sailed back into the middle, forcing Butler to play safety and tip the ball away from a Michigan defender.

The Penn State fans were incredible today.  When we were down early on, it was the ALUMNI section that started a WE ARE-PENN STATE chant, and that was great to see them getting into it.  We all remember the bad calls that have cost us games in this series and any time a controversial call went against the Lions, the crowd was out for blood.  In fact, on a Daryll Clark third down run, it looked like the mark was short, and the student section started chanting “Bull-$#*&.”  Only problem: they gave us the first down.  Whoops.

That’s all I have for now.  Ohio State looks scary good, having demolished a supposedly upset-ready Michigan State team.  Michigan fans were, for the most part, classy and solid losers.  The ones I met seemed to accept defeat before the game even started, but still cheered their team on.  They were gracious after the win, and wished us the best.  I still hate the Cesspool of the West, but the streak is over, the curse reversed, and now, at least, the animosity lessened.