Michigan Holds Off Penn State 21-18 on Late Touchdown
Take away Chase Sowell's 24-yard touchdown catch in the final 71 seconds and this is a 21-11 Michigan win. Add it back, and it is a 21-18 Michigan win that was a whole lot closer than the clock suggests. Michigan moved to 4-2. Penn State dropped to 3-4.
It was a slow start. Penn State had a 24-yard Ryan Barker field goal in the first quarter and that was the whole first half, so Michigan trailed 3-0 at the break without having scored. Bryson Kuzdzal fixed that with a 43-yard touchdown run early in the third, and Jordan Marshall added a 1-yard run late in the quarter for a 14-3 lead entering the fourth. Carson Hansen scored from 2 yards out for Penn State, and Rocco Becht's two-point pass to Benjamin Brahmer cut it to 14-11. Tommy Carr answered with a 12-yard touchdown run with 2:58 left, and the Nittany Lions needed a miracle on one last drive. They got the touchdown, not the miracle.
Michigan passed for 90 yards and ran for 212, a ground-and-pound afternoon from start to finish. Penn State threw for 267 and ran for 66, but turned it over three times (two Becht interceptions and a lost fumble) to Michigan's two interceptions. Flip one of those and the last drive might have been a game-tying drive instead of a hopeful one.
For fantasy, Sowell was the star of the day: 11 catches, 151 yards, a touchdown and 32.1 points, the best of anyone in the game, on the losing side. Becht put up 16.6 on 28 of 44 passing.