Michigan football stock watch: Blake Corum to be missed, Donovan Edwards finally gets free

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia breaks down the Michigan football members who helped or hurt their stock in the Wolverines' 24-15 win over Penn State on Saturday at Beaver Stadium.

Three up

Blake Corum: The Wolverines got a vintage Blake Corum performance for perhaps the first time this season. Corum, bloodied and bruised in the postgame news conference following the penultimate road game of his maize and blue career, ran a season-high 26 times, for a season-best 145 yards and two touchdowns to extend his nation-leading total to 18 on the season. Penn State's No. 1 ranked rushing defense did what it could by limiting 16 of Corum's touches to three yards or fewer, however he and his blockers wore down the Nittany Lions defense. Corum had five carries go for more than four yards but two of them, a 44-yarder in the second quarter and a 30-yard touchdown run to make it a two-possession game midway through the fourth, proved to be game-changing plays.

Donovan Edwards: Headed into Saturday, only four of Donovan Edwards' 74 carries (5.4%) had gone for a gain of 10 yards or more and not a single one had gone for more than 14. At long last, Edwards had a semi breakout in Beaver Stadium, as he ripped off a pair off 22-yard runs, one for a touchdown. That came midway through the second quarter when Edwards took the delayed handoff on an inside-zone on third-and-11, broke through the first level and high-stepped his way into the end zone. Edwards' day was far from perfect though. Four of his rushes went for a loss and six went for two yards or fewer. Additionally on his first 22-yard run, he ran into the back of his line to start and nearly missed a massive hole on the right. Still, it was a step forward for Edwards, who finished with 10 runs for 52 yards and the TD.

Sherrone Moore: Outside of a potential FCC violation for some four-letter words in his postgame speech on Fox, Saturday couldn't have gone much better for Moore as the acting head coach. Moore was informed in the first half of the week should Jim Harbaugh not be available, he would be tabbed as the next man up. That's exactly what happened and not only did Moore serve as a "guardian of victory" but he operated in his two normal capacities as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. As coordinator, Moore recognized the pass game was off to a slow start as J.J. McCarthy got hit on each of his first two downs. He made an adjustment to the quick screen game and got Semaj Morgan involved, which set up the first touchdown. Then, once Penn State had a better read on the passing game, Moore abandoned it and the ran the ball 32 consecutive times to end the game. McCarthy's final pass attempt came with 7:41 to play in the second quarter, as they ran over the previously top-ranked run defense.

THE MAN: Blake Corum, bloodied face and all, a perfect encapsulation of Michigan's big win

Three down

Karsen Barnhart: It was a rough start to the afternoon for Michigan’s senior right tackle, who’s been an important fixture on the line as he’s bounced from the left side to the right while U-M found its groove. On the first drive of the game, the Paw Paw native jumped early and was flagged for a false start, which set up an obvious passing down. To make matters worse, he was beat by Penn State’s Dani Dennis-Sutton on third-and-11, quarterback J.J McCarthy was sacked and U-M was forced to punt. On U-M’s next possession, he was beat badly off the line by Chop Robinson who dropped McCarthy to the turf and forced an incompletion. It was those drives in large part that led to U-M abandoning the pass entirely and focusing on the ground.

Tommy Doman: When the punter is the weak link in a game, that’s a good sign, however Doman’s inability to successfully flip the field as well as he did last week when all four of his punts downed Purdue inside of its own 12 was a relative let down. The Orchard Lake St. Mary’s grad punted five times this week, none of which went 50 yards and only one of which was downed inside the 20. His first was among his best, which went 45 yards to the Penn State 26 before a mis-kick later in the quarter traveled just 32 yards to the Penn State 31 on the second drive off the game. He didn't punt again until the fourth quarter, when he kicked three times. His first of those went 47 yards, the next pinned PSU at its 12, the last went just 40 yards to the Penn State 21.

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Finishing: Michigan was dominant, however there has become a theme with the Wolverines inability to stop the opponent from scoring on its final possession. U-M has allowed its opponent to score in the final five minutes of the game six times, five of which have been touchdowns. While the argument could be made many of those came against the third unit, that wasn't the case Saturday. Instead, U-M had a series of unfortunate events, which began when what appeared to be a Quentin Johnson interception was ruled incomplete. To make matters worse, U-M was assessed a flag for excessive celebration, so Penn State picked up 15 yards. Later in the drive, Cam Goode was flagged for a personal foul, which ultimately led to a Penn State touchdown. That's not to mention earlier in the game, when Penn State had a drive late in the first half and converted twice on fourth down. U-M did a good job getting off the field for the most part, limiting Penn State to 4-of-14 on third down, but that has to translate late in the games too.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football stock watch: Donovan Edwards finally gets going