Michigan football has run game questions ahead of matchup with Penn State's No. 1 defense

Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia looks back at Michigan football's 41-13 win over Purdue and what's ahead for the Wolverines in their first game against a ranked opponent, at No. 9 Penn State on Saturday.

Three things we learned

Run game worries: Even though U-M scored five touchdowns on the ground, the run game looked like a legitimate concern against the Boilermakers. The Wolverines got two carries from wide receivers on end-arounds and made the most of them: Semaj Morgan ran in a 44-yard score and Cornelius Johnson had a 14-yard rush to set up a first-and-goal. Michigan's top three tailbacks, however, struggled: Blake Corum had 15 carries for 44 yards and three touchdowns, Donovan Edwards had eight carries for 21 yards and a TD and Kalel Mullings ran four times for 20 yards. That's a combined 27 rushes for 85 yards — a season-low 2.9 yards per attempt. Of Corum's 12 carries that didn't end in a TD, nine went for 3 yards or fewer — what the Wolverines deem "inefficient" runs. Of Edwards' seven non-TD runs, six were inefficient. And Mullings had two inefficient rushes. That's 17 of 27 runs (63%) in the "inefficient" category. Clearly, the run blocking has not matched that of the past two seasons, when the Wolverines won back-to-back Joe Moore awards (as the nation's top offensive line). That may be a big concern Saturday against Penn State's run defense, which leads the nation.

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Won't be distracted: The bye week is normally known as "improvement week" around Schembechler Hall, a time for players down the depth chart to get more reps than usual. However, this bye week might better be remembered as "distraction week," as sign-stealing allegations swirled about the program and those at the top were mostly unable to comment. When the game started, though, the distractions seemed forgotten. The Wolverines were as disciplined as always; they were called for just one flag (a questionable holding penalty on Corum). U-M's defense was suffocating; Jesse Minter's unit held Purdue to just one third-down conversion on 14 tries. The offense had just one three-and-out. There was a five-drive stretch without a touchdown but Michigan still ran for five TDs and J.J. McCarthy threw for a season-high 335 yards.

“To be honest, we don't care what outside people say," said Edwards, who had 61 total yards and his second TD this season. "All we care about is what people in Schembechler Hall say, and that's the people that are there on a day-to-day basis. That's the people who actually know what's going on inside of Michigan football. We don't gotta prove nothing to nobody. Just keep doing what we're doing, as that's going to take us very far, as it has so far.”

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Some more for Semaj: The big plays of Morgan have made an argument for more touches all year, but it became truly undeniable Saturday. The true freshman from West Bloomfield took his second touch against Purdue 44 yards on an end-around for a touchdown. It was Michigan's longest play, though he later added a 23-yard grab in the fourth quarter and a 21-yard kickoff return. Morgan played just 13 offensive snaps but was the second-highest graded offensive player (81.3), according to Pro Football Focus . This season, he has 12 catches for 159 yards, two rushes for 48 yards and three total touchdowns. “I feel like some of the biggest strides I made was adapting to the college life, how fast-paced things go,” Morgan said. “Like studying. High school, everything came easy for me. I didn't really study for the games and all that and watch film and I feel like I adapted to being a pro, doing everything right, like taking care of my body, watching film, studying, so I can go out on a game day and put my best foot forward.”

Next up: Nittany Lions

Matchup: No. 2 Michigan (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) at No. 9 Penn State (8-1, 5-1).

Kickoff: Noon Saturday; Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania.

TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: Wolverines by 6½.

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Know the foe

After no games against a team even close to the polls' top 25, Michigan now travels to Penn State for a top-10 clash with the Nittany Lions. The strength of James Franklin's team, in his 10th season in Happy Valley, is its defense.

Manny Diaz is the defensive coordinator and architect of the group, and his unit has been as formidable as any in the nation. Penn State ranks No. 1 in yards allowed per play (3.8), No. 2 in yards per game (246.3) and No. 3 in points per game (12.5). Its run defense is even more imposing: Penn State is No. 1 in both rush yards allowed per game (55.9) and yards allowed per carry (1.9). That has forced opponents into third-and-longs to boost the Nittany Lions to No. 16 in third-down conversion rate (30.63%).

Not that the pass defense is lacking: Penn State is No. 2 with 38 sacks, propelled by Adisa Isaac, who leads the team with 10½ tackles-for-loss and 6½ sacks. One caution: star edge Chop Robinson, who has missed consecutive games, may not be available; he has nine tackles (five for loss) and three sacks in seven games.

Penn State's offense is No. 10 in points per game (37.4), thanks largely to the field position provided by the defense: the Nittany Lions rank No. 66 in yards per game (375.6), But Penn State protect the ball well, starting with quarterback Drew Allar.

Some of his numbers rival McCarthy's: 62.8% completion percentage for 1,895 yards, 20 touchdowns and one interception. Still, many of the sophomore's throws are underneath in his first season as the starter; Penn State ranks No. 100 in yards per pass (6.4). Penn State's rushing attack is a two-headed threat, with sophomores Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton splitting the carries and combining to average 4.4 yards a carry. They've totaled 1,053 yards through nine games (117 yards a game), well off their performances as freshmen, when they totaled 1,928 yards in 13 games (148.3 per game).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football: 3 things we learned before facing Penn State