UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — One of the greatest spectacles in college football is set for Saturday night, as the No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions host No. 16 Michigan in Beaver Stadium in the annual Penn State White Out game. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on ABC.(Photo by Paul Burdick. Check out more of Burdick’s work here)
Penn State Game Notes — Michigan Game Notes
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will air live from Penn State Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon. It is the show’s fourth consecutive season airing from a Penn State game and third-straight airing from campus.
Penn State is one of 12 remaining undefeated teams in FBS. The Nittany Lions are 6-0 for the first time since 2017 and the sixth time in their Big Ten era. In 2017, Penn State improved to 7-0 with a White Out game win over Michigan.
Penn State (8.2 ppg) ranks second in scoring defense, not allowing more than 13 points in any one game this season. In three Big Ten games, Penn State has allowed just 19 total points. The Nittany Lions rank fourth in total defense (259.7 ypg) led by a stingy rushing defense allowing just 53.8 yards per game (3rd FBS) and a FBS-best 1.59 yards per rush. Penn State has 27 sacks through six games to average 4.5 sacks per game (t-2nd in FBS). The pass rush is led by Yetur Gross-Matos and Shaka Toney (5.5 total, 0.92 spg), who rank tied for 16th in FBS. The Nittany Lions also rank third in the country with 9.8 tackles for loss per game.
Iowa snapped quarterback Sean Clifford’s five-game streak of 200-yard passing games, but Penn State was able to rely on its ground game to earn the win, as freshman running back Noah Cain posted his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game. Penn State ranks in the Big Ten’s top four in both rushing and passing offense and ranks second in total offense (465.3 ypg) overall.
Michigan is 5-1 this season, counting a win over No. 14 Iowa and a loss at now-No. 6 Wisconsin. The Wolverines have been particularly strong on defense, ranking in the top 15 nationally in both scoring (17.5 ppg) and total defense (283.3 ypg) and ninth in passing defense (160.5 ypg).
Michigan is ranked No. 16 and ranks third in the Big Ten East Division with a 3-1 conference record. Overall, the Wolverines are 5-1 with their lone loss coming against now-No. 6 Wisconsin.
LB Khaleke Hudson ranks third in the Big Ten with 9.7 tackles per game. DL Kwity Paye ranks 16th in FBS in tackles for loss with 1.5 per game and 22nd in sacks with 0.90 per game. Michigan has five interceptions this season with defensive backs Lavert Hill and Ambry Thomas tallying two each. Thomas has also recovered a pair of fumbles to rank tied for fifth in FBS.
Michigan has surpassed 400 yards of total offense three times this season, doing so against Illinois (489), Rutgers (476) and Middle Tennessee State (453). Quarterback Shea Patterson is a top-20 finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
Punter Will Hart leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth in FBS averaging 46.5 yards per punt.
Penn State and Michigan are meeting as AP Top 25 opponents for the 11th time in series history.
Penn State is 4-6 in the 10 ranked match-ups and 3-4 as the higher-ranked team. Penn State and Michigan are meeting as ranked opponents in three consecutive seasons for the first time since meeting as top-25 opponents for seven consecutive seasons from 1993-99.
Year PSU MICH Site Result
1993 7 18 Home Michigan, 21-13
1994 3 5 Away Penn State, 31-24
1995 19 12 Home Penn State, 27-17
1996 11 16 Away Penn State, 29-17
1997 2 4 Home Michigan, 34-8
1998 9 22 Away Michigan, 27-0
1999 6 16 Home Michigan, 31-27
2002 15 13 Away Michigan, 27-24 (OT)
2017 2 19 Home Penn State, 42-13
2018 14 5 Away Michigan, 42-7
2019 7 16 Home —
Penn State became bowl eligible when it defeated Iowa for its sixth win of the season.
The Lions have appeared in 49 bowl games in program history, tied for ninth-highest among FBS schools at the start of the season.
Head coach James Franklin has guided his teams to bowl appearances in each of his nine seasons as a head coach (3 at Vanderbilt; 6 at Penn State).
He is one of five active head coaches who have earned bowl eligibility in their first nine or more consecutive seasons on the job.
Bowl Eligibility First 9+ Seasons
# Coach Team(s); Years
13 Chris Petersen Boise State/Washington; 2006-pres.
12* Dabo Swinney Clemson; 2008-pres.
11 Bronco Mendenhall BYU; 2005-15
10 Mike Leach Texas Tech; 2000-09
9* James Franklin Vanderbilt/PSU; 2011-pres.
8 David Shaw Stanford; 2011-pres.* Bowl eligible this season
P Blake Gillikin was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week after contributing to the field position battle at Iowa.
Gillikin averaged 42.1 yards per punt on seven punts, placing five inside the 20 and a career high-matching three inside the 10.
Gillikin hit a 62-yard punt in the third quarter, his 47th career punt over 50 yards and seventh career punt of 60 or more yards.
Penn State (2nd, 8.2 ppg allowed; 9th, 42.0 ppg scored), Wisconsin (1st, 4.8 ppg allowed; 8th 42.5 ppg scored) Ohio State (4th, 8.8 ppg allowed; 4th, 49.3 ppg scored) are the only three teams to rank in the Top 10 nationally in both scoring defense and offense.
The Nittany Lions have played complementary football over the last three-plus years (2016-19) and it shows in the national landscape.
Over the last three-plus years the Penn State offense is:
-Eighth in FBS in points per possession (2.33).
-Fifth in FBS in points per play (1.80).
-Eighth in FBS in scoring offense (38.60).
-Eighth in FBS in scoring percentage (43.02).
-Ninth in FBS in touchdown percentage (34.55).
-Ninth in FBS in turnover percentage (12.13).
Over the last three-plus years the Penn State defense is:
-Second in FBS in plays per point (4.75)
-Fifth in FBS in three-and-out percentage (28.83).
-Sixth in FBS in yards per play (4.72).
-Seventh in FBS in points per possession (1.22).
-Ninth in FBS in second half points allowed (8.85).
-Sixth in FBS in scoring percentage (23.89).
-Eighth in FBS in touchdown percentage (16.64).
-Fifth in FBS in punt percentage (48.60).
-Eighth in FBS in scoring defense (17.65).
-Eighth in FBS in percent of drives not crossing the 50-yard line (60.52).
-Sixth in FBS in percent of non-scoring drives (76.60).
-Sixth in FBS in percent of drives of 25 yards or less (58.97).
-Seventh in FBS in percent of drive of six plays or less (60.90).
Penn State has held the lead for 82.1 percent of its plays (841-1,024) this season and has had at least a three point lead for 78.9 percent of its plays (808-1,024), both of which rank sixth in FBS.
The Nittany Lions have held a lead for 73.6 percent of their plays over the last three seasons (2017-19) to rank third in FBS, behind only Alabama and Clemson.
Over a four-year span (2016-19), Penn State has held the lead for 64.7 percent of the plays, which is seventh among FBS schools.
By comparison, from 2013-15, Penn State led for 42.8 percent (2760 of 6453) of its plays, to rank 69th in FBS.
