Michigan 28, UNLV 7 Comment Count

Ace


Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog

That's pretty much how that should go.

The biggest drama of the afternoon was whether Michigan would give Sione Houma the ball again after his first career touchdown was overturned on review. They did, and Houma plunged one yard to give Michigan a 28-0 lead.

The second-biggest drama was whether the defense would hold onto the shutout. After allowing only 111 yards on 42 plays through three quarters, they relented in the fourth, ceding a touchdown pass to Devonte Boyd after a slip-up in coverage set up UNLV deep in M territory.

Channing Stribling remained in phase and nabbed an early pick. De'Veon Smith started off the scoring with a walk-in receiving touchdown in the flat. Jabrill Peppers had a tantalizing, twisting 24-yard punt return. Jehu Chesson took a sweep and ran untouched for a 36-yard touchdown as Amara Darboh nearly blocked his man into the end zone. Ty Isaac burst 76 yards down the same sideline for another.

That about covers the important stuff.


Upchurch

Also important, of course, is Jake Rudock's performance at quarterback. He underwhelmed again this week, throwing his fifth interception of the season—as many as he had in all of 2014—and finishing with 123 yards on 22 attempts. When asked to assess his quarterback's performance, however, Jim Harbaugh seemed unconcerned.

"His job is to win football games. It wasn't an ideal day to throw, there was a swirling wind the whole day. I thought he did a good job. He managed the game well," Harbaugh said. "There's things to get better at, to improve from, and coach, so it'll be another week of doing that."

"Satisfied is a word I'm never going to use. I don't associate it with football," Harbaugh added later. "I've never been satisfied. But yeah, I'm happy."

After a routine 21-point win that could've easily been by a much bigger margin, it's probably best to follow the head man's example here. Michigan has issues to work on, that much is apparent; they're also taking care of business, and that too must be acknowledged.

Comments

champswest

September 19th, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^

with Utah as one of the loses, but with our current level of QB play, I think 7-5 might be the ceiling. I still think the decision to redshirt Shane this year is a mistake. Not saying he should be the starter, but I would like to see him in situations and I would really feel more comfortable if he were getting some more experience. With the young talent that we have at QB, we don't really need two more years of eligibility from him.

ReegsShannon

September 19th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^

For any one who didn't notice, Darboh didn't block his guy 20 yards downfield, Darboh just ran a route and the DB didn't notice it was a run until Chesson was waaaaay downfield

Moonlight Graham

September 19th, 2015 at 4:54 PM ^

I'm getting concerned that Rudock is bordering on looking like he has the yips on deep balls. I Know a lot has to do with the route and protection, coverage, etc. but if he hopefully hits on one soon at home, man is that going to get a big Bronx cheer.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

BroadneckBlue21

September 19th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^

Great D, great run game with Isaac and Drake. The game was never in doubt. Rudock must improve his accuracy. I can forgive the one pick because the game was never in doubt, but he is very inaccurate. He's missing some easy throws, and not reading consistently. Yet, this team plays much better than anything the past three years. Go Blue.

Bertello NC

September 19th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^

Rudock is a smart guy and a smart quarterback. But I believe his skills pretty much end there. His arm is weak, he's not very mobile, doesn't throw on the run well, no touch or accuracy on any pass deeper than 25 yards, and just overall isn't much of an athlete. That is what we are stuck with. The one thing that he should be hanging his hat on is being accurate and he was not that at a consistent level today. Throwing behind receivers ect. It's one game but JH must really not be comfortable with anyone else's command of the offense and ability to put the ball where it needs to be on a consistent basis. Really looking forward to the day someone like OKorn steps in that could be a potential gamechanger. It'll be interesting to see how JH manages it as we move forward.

SteelBrad

September 19th, 2015 at 5:49 PM ^

I'm assuming some of the people coming down hard on Rudock weren't in Michigan today. It was windy with strong gusts all day.

Not saying it was the cause for all but it played a role. He's the QB for the whole year and he's still beyond serviceable. Hang in there.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Blue_sophie

September 20th, 2015 at 3:01 AM ^

Rudock has mist a couple gimmies, and had a few bonehead int's, but he has almost always made reasonable decisions. I think that is what is meant by the term "game manager." He doesn't get in the way of a solid running game, and (hopefully once he gets over this string of INT's) he will at least give O'Neill a chance to pin our opponents.

Glennsta

September 19th, 2015 at 8:18 PM ^

He said a few times that Rudock's struggles are due to him not knowing the offense well enough yet.  I almost gagged on the beverage when i heard that one. 

But I hope Long is right AND that Rudock learns the offense fast.

Then again, Chuck Long's performance as Lions QB kind of taints his credibiiity on QB play for me.

The Geek

September 20th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^

to Bo Jackson in 1985.

That season Michigan went into Kinnick Stadium ranked #2 in the country, behind #1 Iowa. It was and is the only #1 vs. #2 in Iowa football history.

I'll never forget the drive Chuck Long had late in the 4th quarter, with Michigan leading 10-9. Long drove the Hawkeyes down the field to set up the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Of course, Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback for the good guys. Iowa won the yardage battle, 422-182 and TOP 38 minutes to 22. 

In typical Hawkeye fashion, Iowa went on to lose to Ohio State two weeks later, and lost the Rose Bowl to UCLA.

 

brianntb

September 19th, 2015 at 5:56 PM ^

He's in his 5th year. Harbaugh has done all he can, I'm guessing. Only other option is burning Shane's potential redshirt and it's obvious Harbaugh really doesn't want to do this if at all possible. 

I expect Harbaugh will continue to say very positive things about Rudock to help keep his confidence up. 

EGD

September 20th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^

Morris wasn't good in 2013. He wasn't good in 2014. He wasn't good in the 2015 spring game. According to people who were there, he wasn't good at the student only practice this fall. And Harbaugh is trying to redshirt him. Maybe Morris has a future as Michigan's QB in 2016, maybe he doesn't--but for right now it seems pretty clear that Morris would not perform any better than Rudock and would probably be even worse.

Quag77

September 20th, 2015 at 7:38 AM ^

I dont beieve the coaching staff gives a flying flip about redshirting Shane. 

They care about winning and winning now.  They know they have enough frosh talent, a transfer waiting and another couple top recruits coming in that can be developed.  You really think they're worried about getting a player thats been here 4 years and can't sniff the field an extra year?  

UMForLife

September 19th, 2015 at 6:03 PM ^

OMG. There is this fascination with long ball. Because Rudock couldn't do it, we are doomed. Come on. Rudock can move the chain. He is not spectacular. But he will be serviceable. If coaches thought Speight is better, they would have played him. It is more important to hit short and intermediate passes, than long ones, at this point. This team will keep the games close and hopefully we will get some lucky bounces.

Go Blue in MN

September 19th, 2015 at 6:20 PM ^

I'll bet Ace would have found more cause for concern if a Hoke team had beaten an awful UNLV squad 28-7.  After reading how undersized the UNLV DL is (two 230 pounders), it is very concerning that our OL didn't look dominant.  Don't get me wrong, I have confidence in Harbaugh and Drevno to improve this unit, but like QB play, the performance of this veteran OL is something that will hold us back.    

BlueGoM

September 19th, 2015 at 6:43 PM ^

Offense seemed a bit sloppy , still, or at least inconsistent.   Ruddock shouldn't be throwing picks at this point, that's  a big cocern.  Next week is a big test against BYU, we can't afford turnovers against them.

 

 

Bertello NC

September 19th, 2015 at 6:56 PM ^

On a refreshingly good note we won a game we were supposed to win and I think the game ball needs to go to the special teams. Defense was solid but man it's nice to have very good execution on special teams. They were solid today!

WolverineHistorian

September 19th, 2015 at 7:21 PM ^

Several times, it seemed like the defense was sacrificing TFL's in order to try and strip the ball, and it ended up burning them. But otherwise, they had a good game.

I'm not as scared to death about Rudock as others but it would have been nice to see him connect on a few deep passes. He was behind his receivers today but did look a little better in the second half. It was a very conservative day in terms of play calling.

Getting stuffed on 3rd and 1 and then 4th and 1 pissed me off. I wish they tried something different than rushing up the middle.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Glennsta

September 19th, 2015 at 8:09 PM ^

The inability to hit WR's downfield is distressing.  Seems like darn near everything that we complete is quick and short.   Quick short passes don't do much to get the LB's and safety out of the box.

And take away Isaac's one long run and the running stats don't look overwhelmkingly good.  The inability to open holes for the running game (like last week) was disappointing, especially against a bad team.