Michigan 45, Colorado 28
Jabrill Peppers left the Buffaloes (and his coach) in awe. [Patrick Barron/MGoBlog]
After one quarter, Colorado had a 21-7 lead, outgained Michigan 195 yards to 66, and flat-out looked like the better team.
"We knew it wouldn't be a fairy tale all year," said Jake Butt. "We knew we'd get punched in the face."
Michigan punched back, hard. The Buffaloes gained 130 yards for the rest of the game. Michigan had 331. If Kenny Allen hadn't missed a pair of field goals, the Wolverines even would've covered the 20-point spread.
Early on, Colorado's up-tempo offense and athletic defense caught the Wolverines by surprise. Jabrill Peppers was caught out of position on a deep post for Colorado's first touchdown, then the Buffs went up by 14 less than a minute later when Chidobe Awuzie forced a Wilton Speight fumble that Derek McCartney took back 18 yards for a score. Speight, either shaken or hurt on the hit, had a tough time dialing in after that. If not for a blocked punt by Michael Jocz that Grant Perry took in for a touchdown, Colorado would've exited the first quarter up by 21 after another Sefo Liufao touchdown pass.
Then Michigan adjusted. The defensive front got to Liufau time and again, eventually forcing him out of the game with an apparent ankle injury, though not before Liufau somehow bombed a 70-yard touchdown off one leg to Shay Fields to open the second-half scoring. They shut down the Colorado running game entirely, and the Fields touchdown was the only big play after a first quarter full of them. Don Brown is paid good money for a reason.
[Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
The offense slowly but surely picked it up, too. With Khalid Hill leading the way in authoritative fashion, Jehu Chesson got the corner for a 17-yard jet sweep touchdown. Amara Darboh gave Michigan the proverbial momentum swing they needed on a 45-yard screen, stiff-arming a defender to the ground on his way to the end zone with only 33 seconds left in the half. Despite a disastrous start, Michigan led 24-21 at the break.
Colorado landed another big shot with the Fields touchdown. Michigan responded in kind with a pitch to De'Veon Smith on the second play of the ensuing drive; Smith hardly had to do anything on a 42-yard jaunt down the sideline on perhaps the best-blocked run play of this young season. The Wolverines finally grabbed control of the game when a long catch-and-run by Grant Perry set up a one-yard touchdown for Ty Isaac to give M a 38-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Then Jabrill Peppers, having a remarkable all-around game, launched his Heisman campaign. Peppers already had three punt returns and a kickoff return that were a block or two away from reaching the end zone when Colorado lined up to punt from deep in their own territory; a line-drive kick went right to Peppers's chest, and he exploded up the middle, overcoming a cramp at the five-yard line to at long last tally his first return touchdown in a Michigan uniform.
"It was definitely a sense of relief," said Peppers. "If I don't score there, then they needed to put someone else back there."
Peppers's overall stat line boggles the mind: two rushes for 24 yards, four punt returns for 99 yards and a TD, two kickoff returns for 81 yards, nine tackles (six solo), 3.5 TFLs, and a thunderous sack.
"Above all, Jabrill Peppers proved that he was the best player in today's game," said Jim Harbaugh, who praised the talent level on both teams. "We don't win that game without Jabrill Peppers."
"That's a team effort, but... wow," Harbaugh added.
Peppers wasn't the only Paramus Catholic graduate to provide some honest-to-god wow experiences. Rashan Gary recorded 1.5 TFLs and a pair of QB hurries; even better, he eliminated the mental errors that allowed UCF to pick up big gains on the ground last week.
Michigan leaves this game with plenty to work on. Dymonte Thomas, Delano Hill, and Peppers all had coverage busts that led to big plays. Speight's performance didn't equal those he had in the season's first two weeks. Allen, who looked either injured or overwhelmed by his workload, struggled in all phases of the kicking game.
"To be honest I think we did [need a game like this]," said Butt. "We can look back and learn from this."
With Penn State and Wisconsin up next on the schedule, it won't take long to find out how well they've learned those lessons.
September 18th, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 10:02 PM ^
What do you base that on? They weren't good last year but they won their first two games this year in big blowouts before playing us. If their QB is seriously injured, yeah, they might struggle going forward, but that's a different story.
September 17th, 2016 at 10:32 PM ^
Totally agree. I came away very impressed with him. CU has really good WRs, Corners, and a big Dline. If he's not seriously hurt, they can make some noise in the Pac12 this year.
September 18th, 2016 at 12:02 AM ^
were excellent. Very different game with him and without him. Hopefully he makes a quick recovery.
September 18th, 2016 at 6:58 AM ^
That guy threw 3 perfect throws for TD's against a very good Michigan defense. If he had stayed in the game, who knows what the outcome may have been.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:14 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:17 PM ^
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September 18th, 2016 at 12:04 AM ^
good chance he tweaked something given how early he left.
September 18th, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^
Hope not, but Rabbit's right about Isaac. I'm liking the trajectory of his game.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
So far, the elite unit on this team is not the Defense, it's not the Offense, it's the Special teams.
They've been worth a couple of free TD's a game so far.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:59 PM ^
the special teams guy, Partridge.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^
Did somebody say Gerbil Peppers?
September 17th, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^
At this point, I'm not worried about Grant Newsome anymore. I think he's a really good football player.
September 17th, 2016 at 11:18 PM ^
saw him looping so far deep and wide once or twice that the RB actually used him as a shield to find a cutback lane.
September 18th, 2016 at 12:08 AM ^
when it acts like a shield for your RB and allows him to find a cutback lane.
September 18th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:20 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:22 PM ^
If we dominate the last 47 min of every game, I think we'll be OK.
Harbaugh.
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:33 PM ^
the first bona fide "other than THAT, Mrs. Lincoln,..." of the thread.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:07 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 9:30 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:23 PM ^
I think we still might be a QB away. There were a lot of missed passes that probably would have put the game away much sooner.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:46 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 10:02 PM ^
Speight looked tenative. He was missing a lot of throws early and in some cases by a lot. How does he not see defenders coming at him unblocked from his right??
September 17th, 2016 at 11:42 PM ^
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September 18th, 2016 at 6:52 AM ^
Speight looked very skittish in this game. He took a few big hits early on and then didn't look comfortable the rest of the way. This is a bit of a concern. I wasn't sure if he needed to play through this or if it was time to put JOK in. Tough call for sure but he played through it and got the win. Does he continue to play this way or will this be a good learning experience to build on? Looking forward to see how he plays next week.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:57 AM ^
September 18th, 2016 at 12:14 AM ^
but this was probably as good a secondary as we're going to face this year. It doesn't get better than #4 and #23 was right with Darboh on a lot of routes. Speight wasn't entirely to blame. He did have a come back down to earth kind of game though.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:26 AM ^
That late sack he took, he had several players close by he could have dumped the ball off to. He was overthrowing and underthrowing passes a lot yesterday. I'm actually surprised he got to 16 for 30 throwing.
September 18th, 2016 at 1:28 AM ^
might be because the CU corners were really good, which meant that Chesson and Darboh weren't open.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:46 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:59 PM ^
The big thing I see with Speight is that if his passes are not perfectly timed and placed, the lack of zip on his passes give defenders time to close in. Seen several balls today that could have been intercepted because the defender had just a good a play on it as the receiver.
Perhaps the timing can be fine tuned as the season goes along but the arm strength is what it is. He's not the guy that's ever going to sling a pass like a rocket. He's a smart QB and I think he beat O'Korn because he is less prone to making dumb decisions but I'm not 100% comfortable with his throws.
September 17th, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:25 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:34 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:53 PM ^
September 18th, 2016 at 2:57 AM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 8:26 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^
September 17th, 2016 at 9:47 PM ^
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September 18th, 2016 at 6:32 AM ^
September 19th, 2016 at 4:23 PM ^
I mean, do you expect the defense to never give up a play?
September 17th, 2016 at 8:26 PM ^
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:27 PM ^
<says in Dennis Green voice, RIP>
- Peppers: From outer space, via New Jersey
- DL: Hulk smash!
- LB: Pretty good, but no depth
- CB: Good, esp considering we're missing our best player
- S: Alert, alert!
- QB: Growing pains, but definitely enough to win with
- RB: Some quality for sure, but nothing special
- OL: Work in progress.
- TE: I like big butts and I can not lie
- WR: Excellente
- K/P: More than a bit disappointed here. Hopefully a short term glitch
- Special teams overall: Exceeding all expectations in terms of blocked kicks
- Coaching: Seriously prepared, ready to adjust
On to Penn State.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:46 PM ^
- Coaching: Seriously prepared, ready to adjust
That's the biggest thing. They made significant adjustments and did it quickly. No 27 for 27 here.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
the money M-Dog. When we get J. Lewis, Chartlon and Mone back I also like our depth.
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