The pick six: Jake Rudock or Grant Perry at fault?

I was just trying to point out that it was not all Rudock's fault.  One pick and the overthrows were on him *though the one in the endzone, Chesson slowed up a step check it out on the film...

Rudock certainly did not play all that well, but on that Pick 6, Perry rounds his route out and a is not in the position where he should be.  Rudock threw the ball where Perry should have been.  The DB made a nice play, but if Perry Squares that route out he makes that catch.  It was a small window and maybe Rudock should have not thrown it but the play itself was more on Perrys shoulders for not running a good route than on the throw itself.  He also blew the one in the first quarter as well which was much more obvious. 

The play was also a result of a lack of timing on the QB and WR as well

The WRs played pretty well overall, except for Perrys mistakes.  He blocked well on two bubble screens however.  One drop by Darboh on that 3rd down...otherwise solid game by the Wideouts.  Perry will get better.

Leading Perry would have prevented the pick. Perry ran a poor route. High school coaches would have been upset with his lack of precision. He needs to snap that route off at 90 degrees and head for the sideline at full speed. Speed out of the cut is what brings separation. Perry rounded the cut and jogged out of it. He almost seems to sit down out of the cut and then run to the sidelines.

It was an odd route for the for Perry to run. From where he is lined up, he had little room to move toward the sideline.

Rudock should have lead Perry. The worst part of the play was that Rudock threw behind the receiver. When quarterbacks take the Oath of Eric Hipple, they pledge not to harm thier own teams. Rudock broke the pledge. If Perry had run a crisp route, he would have been even nearer the sideline. A good throw is to the outside away from the corner. At worst, a throw further outside is an incompletion.

Rudock had many critical errors. But I absolutely do not think Shane should've been put in. Besides the interceptions, he had a decent completion percentage (63%) and almost 300 yards, which isn't great, but not bad either. We need to give him a chance. If it still looks like this after the next two games, give Shane a chance vs BYU, otherwise, I still prefer Rudock. 

I trust Harbaugh's QB judgement and so should you. 

there is responsibility on both. Not a great route by Perry, I thought he could have prevented the int by first running a more crisp route and then shielding off defender once he felt he lost the route. However, Rudock shouldn't have thrown it. To me, it looked like a play they have ran a lot in practice, definitely a timing play in which Rudock knew he had to throw quickly. I think responsibilities fall on both...a nice read by the defender too. Both will learn from this.

was from a guy watching the game with me. "Predetermined" the QB was going to throw that pass no matter what. No QB is perfect, and I have no intention of being unreasonably harsh, but that particular interception was on Rudock, because he should have thrown it to another of his options. If Rudock throws to Butt or Ty it doesn't matter if Perry protects the route better or not, but Jake never looked. 

This one is on Rudock. The stick out (the route) as you said, isn't perfect. Perry doesn't quite sell anything, he doesn't step on the defender's toes, he doesn't sell the slant and force the defender to jump inside, those are things that Perry needs to work on.

But Rudock never really sees the coverage either. If the WR doesn't run a good route (note: not an incorrect route, just not a good route), it's on the QB to identify the coverage and determine if they should make the throw. The defender is squatting on this thing from the snap, and he has inside leverage, so he is only trying to wall off the slant (not trying to trail it or fight over the top from outside leverage). Rudock needs to see that man coverage, understand how the defender will be impacted by the stick-out (hint: not much), and look elsewhere.

He looked better on that late TD drive, but the pick-six was a lock-on from the snap and a fatal play. We needed Ruddock to make about three plays to win that game. He did not make any of them.

  Rudock probably should have thrown the ball away, but felt (and/or was coached), this is a "got to have" situation.

Keep in mind:

1. It was supposed to be a quick throw. Typically, on quick throw calls the QB is told to pick a side (pre-snap) and stay with it. Not there, throw it away.
    
2. Can't see Rudock's eyes, so I have no reason to believe that he "stared down" Perry.  More likely, he was looking long-to-short to the side he chose.
    
3. Perry was running stick/whip/out route (whatever terminology Michigan is using).  It is not a Speed Out.
    
4. It looks to me like Rudock bounced twice after coming to balance- too much for an out into the boundary.
    
5. Perry was slow getting into and out  of the break so he didn't establish leverage on the DB, and was not able to get sufficient separation.

The last two points are what seemed to create the interception.

The good news is, they can be fixed. 

Rudock did throw it low and away (where it should be), but yes, the DB made a great play.

Rudock should've put it further outside and Perry should've came back to the ball harder.

Edit: Great minds think alike Fann.

"Perry should've came back to the ball harder."

Not sure if he could have done enough to catch it or break up the interception, but this has been a problem for UM receivers in recent memory- not aggressive enough in catching or protecting the ball. They resign themselves to thinking the throw is what it is, and maybe what they will do if they catch it, and not fighting and snatching the ball.  Jake Butt being an obvious exception.

I didn't like his route running in this game, but I have to say, I do like the aggression he showed on several plays blocking, etc.

It seems like Rudock has a lot of confidence in him- perhaps they worked together a lot over the summer?

I said this in the offense snowflake thread and I'll say it again:  It is going to take time for the offense to gel.  Rudock has new teammates to acclimate to and his teammates are in there third offensive system.  What is good news is that the game plan was coherent, they do have athletes to take the top off of a defense, they played hard throughout the game and I was encouraged by how they finished.  If they can get the run game going they have a chance to be very good as soon as this year.  I expect to see improvement and development every week.  In the past losses were more discouraging at first because of coherence and later because of effort, but while this loss sucked it was easy to find positives.