Penn State's offensive line overwhelmed by Michigan's pass rush

UNIVERSITY PARK — Michigan’s edge rushing duo of Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo caused a lot of problems for Penn State’s offensive line.

The two combined for five sacks with Hutchinson sacking Sean Clifford three times and Ojabo getting to him twice. Michigan’s defense as a whole had seven sacks on the day and brought consistent pressure on Clifford with four quarterback hits.

Hutchinson and Ojabo are in a dogfight for the Big Ten lead in sacks. Ojabo led Hutchinson coming into the game by one sack, with eight on the year to Hutchinson’s seven. They are now tied with 10 sacks apiece to lead the Big Ten. While Penn State was finally able to get its running game going a little bit, it wasn’t enough to take the pressure off the pass rush.

“We knew their defensive ends were going to be a problem,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “We had plans to chip them for most of the day. We had plans to screen them as much as we could and then, obviously, staying with the run game and not going away from the run game. I thought for the most part we battled but, obviously, Sean got hit too many times. But those two defensive ends, you could make the argument maybe the best combination of defensive ends in the country.”

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren was at the forefront of assisting tackles Rasheed Walker and Caedan Wallace with blitz protection. Oftentimes, he’d make a chip and go into his route to slow down the pass rush. While the team saw more success in the second half with Warren catching a 2-yard touchdown pass from Clifford for Penn State to trail 14-12 with Jahan Dotson tying the game at 14-14 with 7:35 left.

“I think we just stuck to our plan for the game,” Warren said. “We knew coming in that the D-ends were going to be a force. So we had to prepare for that.”

Starting center Mike Miranda left the game with an undisclosed injury and the offensive line had to adjust. Juice Scruggs — usually a right guard — moved to center. Bryce Effner, who has been used as a reserve at both guard and tackle, moved to Scruggs’ initial position. The running game seemed to finally blossom with Keyvone Lee rushing 20 times for 88 yards and 4.4 yards per carry. John Lovett also had four carries for 17 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

Taking the wind out of Michigan’s pass rushing sails came with the onset of Penn State’s running game.

“We lost Mike Miranda, that’s why he wasn’t in there,” Franklin said. “He wasn’t able to go back in the game. I think at times that we did, we did some pretty good things, but we weren’t consistent enough. We’ve got to be able to run the ball to take the pressure off of the passing game. We got to be able to protect when everybody knows you’re going to throw the ball, and we got to be able to run the ball when everybody in the stadium knows you’re going to run the ball.”

Nittany Lions wide receiver Parker Washington believes that improvements are coming soon with the offense and how they protect the quarterback. Washington had four catches for 94 yards and had to make big plays throughout the game. He understands the offensive line had a tall task ahead, but that they stepped up despite the loss.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough week as far as pass rush,” Washington said. “I feel like we took the next step this week. I know we didn’t get the job done, but I feel like we were taking steps and we’ve just got to continue to get better.”