Vegas, Kenpom, Torvik, just about anyone with any skin in the game expected Penn State to win this contest. Every single outlet, however, expected it to be closely contested, as the four-point closing line showcased. And, if the game ended three quarters of the way into the first half, they would have all been correct.
Alas, a game is 40 minutes long, and for the majority of that time, the Nittany Lions were putting on a clinic against a Wolverine team that couldn’t seem to get anything going outside ofJett Howard for long stretches of the game. In face, Penn State did both of its patented “slow the game down” and “go on an extended drought” in the second half, and all it did was shrink what was at one point a 32-point lead back down to the 22-point deficit it would become.