Wolverines Dominate No. 3 Penn State on Judgment Day, 34-8

Saturday, November 8

State College, Pa.

3:30 PM

Michigan

9-0 , 6-0

Penn State

7-1 , 4-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Michigan

Penn State

Wolverines Dominate No. 3 Penn State on Judgment Day, 34-8

11/8/1997 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Site: State College, Pa. (Beaver Stadium)
Score: #4 Michigan 34, #3 Penn State 8
Records: U-M (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten), PSU (7-1, 5-1 Big Ten)
Attendance: 97,498
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Nov. 15 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), 2:30 p.m. CST

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Michigan went into Saturday's game at Penn State as underdogs, but raced out to a 24-0 halftime lead en route to a 34-8 thrashing of the Nittany Lions. After losses the last three years to Penn State, the fourth-ranked Wolverines (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) dominated both sides of the ball in toppling the Nittany Lions (No. 3 AP, No. 2 ESPN/USA Today Coaches) in front of a record crowd of 97,498 fans at Beaver Stadium. Michigan handed Penn State (7-1, 4-1) its worst home loss ever in Joe Paterno's 32 years as coach and fourth worst loss in the Nittany Lions' history.

Michigan came out firing on its first possession. Starting on its own 35, the Maize and Blue moved the ball to the Penn State 48-yard line, but on third-and-16, Brian Griese's pass was incomplete. However, Penn State was called for roughing the passer, and Michigan had new life. After moving the ball down to the Penn State 12-yard line, the Wolverines got on the scoreboard as Kraig Baker nailed a 29-yard field goal to put U-M up 3-0 with 8:52 left in the first quarter.

Michigan set the tone defensively on Penn State's first possession as Glen Steele and Juaquin Feazell each had sacks to force the Nittany Lions to punt after just three plays. Following the PSU punt, Michigan started with good field position on its own 45-yard line. After driving deep into Nittany Lion territory, Anthony Thomas raced for a 12-yard touchdown to give the Wolverines a 10-0 lead with 4:41 still to go in the first quarter.

Two possessions later, the Wolverines put another touchdown on the board. Starting from the Michigan 20-yard line, Griese scrambled for a career-long 40-yard gain. Two plays later, Griese hooked up with a wide open Charles Woodson for a 37-yard score to give U-M a 17-0 lead with 11:07 left in the first half.

Michigan increased the lead to 24-0 on its next possession. Starting from its own 43-yard line, the Wolverines traveled 57 yards in 11 plays, culminating in a eight-yard touchdown throw from Griese to tight end Jerame Tuman.

After going into the lockerroom up 24-0 at half-time, Michigan didn't let up in the third quarter. Chris Howard raced 29 yards for another Maize and Blue touchdown and Baker hit a 42-yard field goal to increase the Wolverines lead to 34-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Penn State did manage a touchdown in the fourth quarter as Curtis Enis scored from a yard out and caught the two point conversion to cut the deficit to 34-8. The Nittany Lions touchdown marked the first time this year a team scored on the Wolverines in the fourth quarter, but it didn't matter as Michigan held Penn State from scoring again.

Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr was proud of his team's performance on both sides of the ball, saying, "This is the best our offense has played this year. Everybody was talking about the matchup with our defense against their offense but our offense has been on the verge of breaking through which they did today. ... Our defense was tremendous and I would not have guessed our defense would do as well as they did because Penn State's offense is so physical."

U-M controlled the ball for 33 1/2 minutes, gaining 265 yards on the ground and 151 yards via the air. Griese had another solid game, completing 14 of 22 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns while gained 46 yards on the ground on five carries. Howard and Tuman each had four catches for the Wolverines for 41 and 39 yards, respectively. Howard also gained 120 yards on 22 carries while scoring a touchdown, and Thomas ran 12 times for 40 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Wolverines gave up just 169 yards of total offense to the Nittany Lions. Enis became the first runner to gain 100 yards against the Michigan defense this season with 103 yards on 18 carries, but 47 of those yards came during the fourth quarter with the game already in hand for the Wolverines. Dhani Jones led the Wolverines with eight tackles and a sack, while Sam Sword added seven tackles. Josh Williams had two sacks to go along with his four tackles, while Marcus Ray had Michigan's lone interception.

Carr was proud of his team's performance but realizes there are still more games ahead of the Wolverines. "We have taken a big step tonight in the Big Ten race yet we still have a lot of work to do. We can see the summit but it is tough and there is going to be tremendous resistance in Madison, Wisconsin because that is an outstanding team:"

The Wolverines quest for the Rose Bowl continues next Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2:30 p.m. CST at Wisconsin. Penn State travels to Purdue for its next game.