Michigan 36, Cincinnati 14
[Bryan Fuller]
Michigan's home opener was supposed to look a lot like last year's Rutgers game. Instead, it more closely resembled last week's Florida game. While that was perfectly fine against a talented UF squad, it was far less so against an overmatched Cincinnati team that barely squeaked by Austin Peay last week.
The game began as expected. Ty Isaac churned out yards with ease, setting up a 43-yard Wilton Speight touchdown bomb to a wide open Kekoa Crawford on the opening drive. The defense held up its end, booting Cincinnati off the field in three plays. While the Wolverines went three-and-out on their ensuing drive, Tyree Kinnel got them back on track, picking off an overthrow from UC's Hayden Moore and diving into the end zone for a 28-yard pick-six.
Then things started going sideways. A short punt by the Bearcats bounced off Nate Johnson's leg, giving Cincinnati a first down on the Michigan 38-yard line. After a penalty kept the drive alive, Mike Boone squeezed his way in from a yard out for the first touchdown scored against the M defense this season. The next Wolverine drive stalled in the red zone, and Quinn Nordin's 28-yard field goal opened one of the uglier quarters Michigan has played under Jim Harbaugh.
Seemingly nothing could go right on offense in the second quarter. Speight fumbled a jet sweep handoff to Crawford to kill a promising drive. Tarik Black ran what, on review, turned out to be an 11-yard route on third-and-12 to end the next one. Speight winged a couple passes high, evoking bad memories of last week's second quarter.
Michigan didn't get a first-half point after Nordin's field goal with 14:03 left. The defense didn't give up any, either, but only after an interminable final drive by Cincinnati resulted in a 51-yard field goal sailing wide right. As the team ran into the tunnel, the fans were audibly displeased with the 17-7 halftime lead.
[Eric Upchurch]
The grumbling continued into the third quarter as Cincinnati took the kickoff and marched 85 yards in ten plays to cut the lead to three points. Michigan's next two drives went nowhere. What had been an annoyingly close game was becoming a potential nightmare.
Thankfully, Michigan woke up. With 3:01 left in the third quarter, Speight hit Grant Perry in stride on a crossing route, and Perry jetted through the Bearcats secondary and dove in for a 33-yard touchdown. Cincinnati could only threaten to score after that. Michigan's offense, meanwhile, piggybacked off some excellent running by Isaac to drive for a short Quinn Nordin field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
Luke Fickell handled the rest. On fourth-and-two from the Cincinnati 33, down two scores with seven minutes remaining, he called for the punt team. One yakety snap later, Michigan had a safety and the ball back, and the potential nightmare was over. The next UC drive ended after one play when Lavert Hill cut off a Moore pass, reversed field, and slipped inside the pylon for M's second defensive touchdown of the afternoon.
By pure box score standards, this game turned out well. Michigan outgained Cincinnati 414-200, dominated the ground game, and kept Moore under constant pressure. Speight, for all the complaining, completed 17-of-29 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. Isaac seemingly cemented himself as the lead back with a 20-carry, 137-yard performance.
Still, it's difficult to shake the feeling of the middle two quarters, which were indisputably ugly. The offense has some issues to work out, especially in the red zone, where they haven't scored a touchdown since the wrongfully negated Crawford catch to open the Florida game. Next week, Air Force presents another overmatched opponent, but one that's tricky to prepare for because of their unusual schemes on both sides of the ball. If Michigan doesn't bounce back with a more authoratative win, the good feeling from the Florida game won't carry over to Big Ten play.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
That's exactly what my good friend Braylon said....
September 9th, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:28 PM ^
"I've never seen Peters play..." so how do you draw conclusions about his abilities relative to Speight and O'Korn?????
September 9th, 2017 at 6:10 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 11:31 PM ^
man, you might be onto something big here.
September 10th, 2017 at 11:29 PM ^
are certainly entitled to your beliefs, but that doesn't make it true.
September 9th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
they played like crap. they should've lost the way they played...
September 9th, 2017 at 5:25 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:32 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
A little bit more than some...
September 9th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
today.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
It exhibits the problems forecast pre-season. Onwenu is a massive rock but he fails to pick up faster opponents and they penetrate to the next level. Speight needs Adderall® or something. Evans exhibits sophomore issues. The play calls were conservative, and so I hope there is more capability the staff choose not to show at this juncture. Otherwise it looks to be 9-3, which isn't terrible although as Michigan we do have our expectations.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:24 AM ^
2-10. Everyone PANIC!!!!!!!!
September 9th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
It was a minor concern last week but now it's a big one. What's going on with the playcalling? This is the 2nd game in a row where the TE's were non-existent until the 2nd half. I don't think we've seen a single RB screen in 8 quarters. The Oline is an issue and so is Speight so far but the overall offensive scheme seems to be completely watered down. For as much as Harbaugh football is hailed as an old school B1G offense, it was still relatively creative these last 2 years. What's happened to that?
September 9th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
Sloppy and undisciplined. Does not speak well of our qb's if WS is the best we got. If anything this guy has digressed! The defense is no doubt top caliber but that offense has a long way to go if we are to have the slightest B1G title aspirations. The talent on offense is there and hope for the future. The o-line was a big worry headed into the season but the last 2 weeks show the qb position should be of major concern. The sample size of this team is small but so far, outside of Don Brown's dudes Michigan by no means is a top 10 team.
September 9th, 2017 at 6:53 PM ^
Speight's not the all-star I'd hoped, but the length of the drives is encouraging. Hard to believe that a little more disciplined approach and better protection from the line can't turn some field goals into TDs.
September 10th, 2017 at 8:23 AM ^
I watched both Trace McSorly and Baker Mayfield in their respestive gaames yesterday.Both quarterbacks consistently completed passes under pressure and into traffic, neither of which Wilton was able to accomplish.I've always been a supporter of WS but have now come to agree with many on this board; he has regressed in all facets of his game, confidence, rythem and timing, as well as throwing mechanics. Until these problems are fixed or we can find a solution in either Peters or O'Korn this team will not be able to compete for a Big ten championship let alone a NC.
September 10th, 2017 at 8:23 AM ^
I watched both Trace McSorly and Baker Mayfield in their respestive gaames yesterday.Both quarterbacks consistently completed passes under pressure and into traffic, neither of which Wilton was able to accomplish.I've always been a supporter of WS but have now come to agree with many on this board; he has regressed in all facets of his game, confidence, rythem and timing, as well as throwing mechanics. Until these problems are fixed or we can find a solution in either Peters or O'Korn this team will not be able to compete for a Big ten championship let alone a NC.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^
The games turned out to be equally ugly and frustrating. The BIG difference, though: Hoke barely held on to beat Akron by 3 points, whereas Harbaugh wound up winning by 3 touchdowns.
It was bad, but I'm far from panicking.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^
It's not uncommon for really good teams to have these lethargic sleepwalk games. It's also not uncommon for young teams to have growing pains. Sloppy football on both sides of the ball, though it just looked worse for the offense. But a win is a win. We need to start seeing more consistency from Speight or else you have to consider Peters (O'Korn is terrible). Speight will throw some very accurate bombs and a few great bullets and then some terrible underthrows and overthrows. He needs more consistency and confidence. But a win is a win
September 9th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
It doesn't matter if O'Korn is terrible. Peters is still behind him which should tell you something.
September 9th, 2017 at 6:03 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:20 PM ^
there's more to quarterbacking than just throwing the ball. The game management or other parts of the package must not be there yet for Peters. I think Speight's a little in his head, and hopefully more whispering from Harbaugh can settle hiim down.
Glad to get an ugly game out of the way early in the season - lots to teach from. At least we have a decent stat line for voters in 3 months :)
September 10th, 2017 at 12:26 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^
Can I believe that Speight and O'Korn are better than a kid nobody's ever seen take a single snap of college ball? Absolutely.
September 10th, 2017 at 4:15 AM ^
For three reasons.
First, find me a coach less likely to put politics (or really, anything) ahead of performance than Harbaugh. This is, after all, a man who dreams of ways to win football games and then wakes up and implements them; if there's anything he puts in front of winning games, he hasn't shown it in fifty years. No way he's playing politics or placating a player - if Speight is starting, Coach thinks he's the best chance to win that game, period, end of line.
Second, you do realize that most redshirt freshman QBs are awful, right? Peters had one year to learn Fisch's system, and now he's learning a new one in his second year on campus. How often do you think redshirt QBs unseat decent-at-worst upperclass starters?
Third, the more we see of our right tackle spot, the more it becomes evident that the most significant attribute our QB can have once the ball is snapped is pocket presence. Nothing else will matter as much until we get an offensive line that can block elite D-lines. One thing Speight has is pocket awareness in spades.
We can win with this level of QB play, but it's a lot harder than if pre-Iowa-2016-Speight showed up. I don't think we can win with OKorn or Peters, unless they've been taken over by alien QBs from the future.
September 10th, 2017 at 11:34 PM ^
Harbaugh is playing the QB that he did not recruit over the QB that he did recruit due to politics.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
at the beginning of the season. A young team with a below average QB, talented but experienced defense and good special teams. The Florida game elevated them among the fans and press to being a top ten team. They are not. Maybe toward the end of the season but not now. BTW, the offense will not improve much with Speight at QB but he is all we got.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^
Honestly, if Speight just goes back to last season Speight, the offense would be fine. That guy could find a rhythm in most games and make confident throws. This guy we've seen the last 2 games seems to be a downgrade in terms of mental presence. Which makes zero sense.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
Don't take this personally...you're just the straw that broke the camel's back. these non-stop excuses for Speight and the carte blanche acceptance that Peters is SO FAR behind (anyone)is pathetic. Peters passed, with flying colors, the ony eye-tested we have had. Speight and O'Korn have failed significantly on all counts.
I hope y'all are watching Mayfield quarterbacking right now-ther's a kid who knows how to play the position.
September 10th, 2017 at 9:06 AM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:45 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:37 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:16 PM ^
Drevno could be the weak link of this coaching staff. I am not impressed.
September 9th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^
RPS is going to be poor.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
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