Saturday's contest between Michigan and Penn State is a race to see who won't be at the bottom. After all, neither team has a win in the Big Ten as of yet. The Wolverines have had two tries while the Nittany Lions have had three.
Both teams have new head coaches in Kyle Whittingham and Matt Campbell, but the Wolverines have had a tougher go of things, having faced Oklahoma and Iowa, though the Minnesota game from two weeks ago has aged poorly after the Gophers lost to Purdue. PSU has faced a better-than-expected Wisconsin, Northwestern, and USC, and lost all three.
In his Week 7 preview episode, Fox Sports' premier college football analyst Joel Klatt broke down the game and noted not only the difficulties, but also that Michigan isn't quite as
bad as it may seem.
"How about Penn State at Michigan? Oh guys, whoever loses this game is like, yikes, yikes," Klatt said. "That's why I think this is an interesting game, man. I worry about whoever loses this game. Anybody else? Isn't this kind of the one you're like, you see it, and you're like, 'Ooh, someone's not going to be good. Not going to be good.'
"Penn State 3-3, Michigan 3-2. Let's just talk about, all right, two teams that have underperformed. They're below expectations. What do we know about this game? Let's start with that. What is the best element of this game? Well, that's easy. It's Michigan's defense. And they're the best thing in this game by a wide margin. And because they've got the best unit in this game, they can try to build into points. Everyone's going to be watching this offense, and I get it. All eyes are on Jason Beck. All eyes are on Bryce Underwood. Let's not make the mistake of thinking that it's been terrible every single week. Have there been weeks that it's been terrible? Yes. Minnesota bad. Western Michigan bad. OU and Iowa? Not bad. Not bad. The offense wasn't necessarily the reason that they lost the game. It was some of those bonehead mistakes and penalties late and then excellent play from Iowa in that last possession."
Ultimately, Klatt believes that not only will the Wolverine defense control the game, he also isn't particularly sure that the Penn State offense would be able to do much of anything anyway. Thus, he's predicting a Michigan win, its first in Big Ten play.
"Meanwhile, Penn State's offense, like they don't do anything," Klatt said. "They don't have guys that can get open. I worry about how many points that they can score. So I know everyone's going to be worried about Michigan's offense, but the key of this game is that Michigan's defense is an elite defense, an elite defense. I look at them to control the game. I find it difficult to see how Penn State gets even more than 13 points. Michigan's favored by six and a half. I'm going to take Michigan (in a ) low-scoring game, 20 to 13. Michigan covers the six and a half, and Michigan wins that one over Penn State. All right."
Penn State and Michigan will kick off at The Big House on Saturday, with it being a 3:30 p.m. EDT start on CBS.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Joel Klatt predicts Michigan-Penn State, sees one decisive advantage
