Updated: Brandon Graham, Evan Royster trade words on Michigan-Penn State

I love it. I'm glad to see Brandon Graham stepping up and giving this team a nasty attitude for this game. I have a feeling we are going to see a really jacked up team Saturday. Something tells me Royster and Graham are going to be seeing eachother a few times this game.

Yeah, but aside from graham our defense's tackling isn't awe inspiring or making a fan very confident. Thank God the offense can score like crazy

Our defense played much better vs Iowa and I expect them to play well against Penn State. This should be a great game and could be the difference between Michigan gonig 8-4 or 6-6. I think Michigan is jacked for this game. GO BLUE!

I think the key is Forcier. The defense is bound to be what it's going to be, and my understanding is PSU has one of the better defenses in the Big Ten...so running might not be as easy as it has been on some other teams. It's time to find out if Forcier's performance in the two games before DSU was about his shoulder or just him being shut down on the road against teams that played better. I believe it was his shoulder, and if it was...this is bound to be a close game, so we will need one of his classic comebacks.

I agree with LRTROJAN, though, i.e. glad to see I'm not the only one holding a grudge over last year's whippin' by PSU. Never should happen. PSU might generally be a respectable team, but when it comes to Michigan they're not much different from Michigan State and Minnesota--we own all those teams. I don't see how PSU can have the kind of lackluster season they're having relative to last year in terms of how they play and fix their mouth to say they're better than Michigan.

There's no disputing that Lloyd Carr and Chad Henne had success against Penn State. Rich Rod not so much so far. Looking forward to a great game in the Big House. GO STATE!

can you say back track....too late Royster, you already provided the locker room post. Now hopefully, we move the ball on offense

I had this game pencilled in as a loss at the beginning of the year, but now I have changed my mind. PSU has apparently abandoned their spiffy, new "Spread HD" offense, or at least doesn't use it nearly as much as they did. They really haven't proven anything this year except that they could lose to Iowa at home.
On the other hand, UM is improving as the year progresses, like young teams often do. The D and OL are improving, and DRob is looking like he might be a bona fide major college QB now. Forcier is probably close to 100 percent, and Minor and Brown are probably as close as they will get all year. A lot of backups got a lot of great live practice against DSU, and are probably hungry for the taste of more success on the field.
I would rate this game a tossup right now. That is a lot better than I would have thought at the beginning of the year. The upset gods owe UM one; maybe they get it this Saturday.

We should have beaten MSU, we definitely should have beaten Iowa. We gave those game to those teams. Michigan beat themselves. Focus,execution and hunger is the key here. They lost a little of that during those two weeks. The Deleware State game has put that back into them. Penn State is not as good as everybody think. OSU just proved that no team in this conference is a solid champion. The Big Ten is up for grabs. I see Michigan coming out on top of this game, just because they have something to prove and a big chip on their shoulders. GO BLUE!!!!!!!

Did anyone else find Graham's first quote ridiculously amusing?

@Gina - Not until you pointed it out. Go Blue!!

Some of the fans here are clearly blinded by colors blue and yellow lol. Let me clarify the understanding of PSU's defense this year. It is second in the nation allowing 8.9pts per game and if you watched any games you know that the 8.9pts per game comes not only with its stars on the bench but also in the 3 or fourth quarter on meaningless touchdowns. To put this in perspective, the team has not allowed a single touchdown this year before halftime. If you still this PSU is "respectable" and "not much differnet" to Michigan State or other teams, you have another thing coming not only this year but in the next few years (check out PSU's recruiting class this year). Lol. And the Michigan player that said we should have won the game because we were leading in the first quarter and lost 70-3 is a darwin. Lol. Not even going to explain. Watch some tape of how nasty PSU's defense is or their 4th down goal line stand last week (forgetting the shutout) and then talk. I hope Michigan brings it because it is clear that PSU players are neither afraid nor worried about the game. Times have changed and Michigan is now viewed as the armpit of the Big Ten. Good luck. ;)

There's some reason to believe that Penn State joined the Big Ten because they thought they could become a replacement for Michigan. And in the first couple of meetings, it looked like they would prove it! But then came November 1997. The Wolverines were climbing in the standings with each passing week but they had to travel to Happy Valley to meet one of the best offensive units in the country.

Most people then thought that Penn State would again embarrass Lloyd Carr. Going into the game, the odds makers gave PSU a few points over Michigan. I, as far as I've ever been able to determine, was the one guy who checked Penn State's defensive record. I was amazed: PSU Defense was about 60th in the country. At that point, I started predicting a blow out for Michigan. People laughed when I said the score would be 35 - 7 for Big Blue.

PSU put up a fight, no doubt, but they lost 38-8. Since then, they've had little luck against Michigan, regardless of the relative standings or season record. Fan forums there are pocked with comments about the "Jinx of Michigan Stadium." And predictably: there're a lot of PSU fans saying that it's the "Ann Arbor refs" who cause PSU losses.

We shall see. Just remember, you won't hear many say it out loud, but Penn State and Jo Pa want to "be Michigan." They can only do that by beating the Wolverines a lot more than once or twice in a decade. Go Blue!!

Not sure why PSU would want to be Michigan. PSU had much better records in the past two years and has a legendary coach that has the most wins in Div 1 a football. Both Michigan and PSU are 800+ win teams. PSU has a bigger stadium as well as a #1 or #2 recruiting class this year. Right now, PSU has the edge. Don't believe me? Just ask all of the Michigan decommits that ended up leaving last year. Must have been that Appalachian State game. Why would PSU want to be Michigan? That makes no sense. As far as the referees go. Yes they were an issue in the past. Why? Because when the game expired (every Michigan fan knows what I am talking about as well as my baby sister who now goes to Michigan :)), they put one second on the clock with Michigan on the goal line. They DETERMINED the OUTCOME of the game. Anyhow, I don't look to the past very much. I think Michigan is close to becoming a very good football team but not yet there. That is not to say they can't beat Penn State but they are not there as a program yet. Players reporting the coaches for violation of practice rules, freshman QB arguing with the coach and getting benched, and etc. Too many distractions....Should be an exciting game either way.