Michigan's Metellus still seeking revenge against Penn State for 2017 game
Angelique S. Chengelis
Ann Arbor — Michigan trounced Penn State last season at Michigan Stadium, payback for Penn State trouncing Michigan the year before, 42-13.
But as far as Michigan senior safety Josh Metellus is concerned, that revenge wasn’t quite enough and unfinished business remains.
The 16th-ranked Wolverines play at No. 7 Penn State and there’s a bit of deju vu considering two years ago at Beaver Stadium was a prime-time kickoff and whiteout with ESPN’s "College GameDay" originating from Happy Valley, just as will be the case on Saturday.
“We ain’t finish the payback,” Metellus said Tuesday night after practice. “Playing there, losing there, it still hurt regardless if we won last year, because we’re going back and last time we was there we lost. We got nothing to show for being there. It’s still the same feeling of revenge going back to their place.”
Michigan is 5-1, 3-1 with a loss at Wisconsin, while Penn State is 6-0, 3-0 heading into this important Big Ten East Division game.
“I like it the fact it’s pretty much the same thing — whiteout, 7:30 at night, because it’s going to help me bring back the same emotion I felt leaving that game,” Metellus said. “Basically everybody else that was there, we still going to have that same emotion once we get into that atmosphere, once we see what’s going on, feel the big stage. I feel like everybody’s going to come out to play.”
Metellus can’t shake the loss at Penn State in 2017.
“No matter what happened in the game, I hate losing,” he said. “Every loss stick with me, and that one really stuck. That could have been a real defining point in our season. We lost that game and we went downhill from there.”
Michigan finished 8-5 and lost its final three games, to Wisconsin, Ohio State and South Carolina in the bowl game. That could have been a defining moment in 2017, and this will be defining in the must-win sense.
“We already got a loss, we can’t afford another one,” Metellus said. “Every game we play, Saturday at noon, 3:30, 7:30, is a defining moment in our season.”