Utah 24, Michigan 17 Comment Count

Ace



Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog

A coaching change can only do so much.

Michigan flashed their potential to turn the corner. De'Veon Smith had some punishing runs. Jake Butt couldn't be covered. Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson consistently got open. The alignment of Chris Wormley and Willie Henry looked like a stroke of genius at times. Jourdan Lewis locked down one side of the field. After an up-and-down first half, Jabrill Peppers looked like a five-star talent in the second. Blake O'Neill had that punt.

But the mistakes were numerous. Jake Rudock's first interception looked to be the fault of freshman slot receiver Grant Perry, who hitched when Rudock expected him to cut outside. The next two Rudock picks, both thrown in Perry's direction, looked to be the fault of the quarterback; the third proved especially costly when Utah's Justin Thomas jumped a throw to the flat and took it back 55 yards for a score, giving the Utes a late 24-10 lead. Rudock also missed a few open deep throws that could've changed the outcome of the game; he finished with an underwhelming 279 yards on 43 attempts and didn't tally his second touchdown until desperation time.

The errors weren't limited to Rudock. Michigan's second cornerback spot is far from settled; neither Channing Stribling nor Jeremy Clark stood out there. Joe Bolden missed a handful of tackles on slippery Utah running back Devontae Booker. The offensive line got manhandled in the run game, losing leverage and missing assignments. Smith offset many of his broken tackles by failing to hit the correct hole. Kenny Allen pushed a 44-yard field goal wide right, after which Jim Harbaugh could clearly be seen muttering "I should've gone for that."

There were flashes, chief among them Peppers' second-half TFLs and Jake Butt's spectacular third-quarter touchdown catch to briefly pull Michigan within seven.

But on the road against a decent team, Michigan simply made too many mistakes, big and small, to expect to come away with a victory. They'll be better than they looked tonight, there's little doubt of that. There'll also be rough patches. Home games against lesser teams lie ahead until BYU comes to the Big House, by which time the Wolverines should look more impressive.

At least there was Harbaugh, a sensible gameplan, and a solid outing from the defense. That's something to build on. If this turns out to be an anomalous performance from Rudock, this squad still could be very good. After all the offseason excitement, it's painful to wait through the development process, but even tonight it wasn't hard to see that the process is underway. It just might take a little longer than we had hoped.

Comments

stephenrjking

September 4th, 2015 at 2:43 AM ^

I agree, the second was tougher. The first was open by a mile, and I don't think Chesson was really letting up either. Granted, Rudock might have been worried that a safety might be able to get there, but he just plain threw it too far.

And, if you watch the highlight, the ball was thrown at a pretty low trajectory; not a floater that the wind could've had a huge effect on, though I'm sure it helped. A real disappointing miss.

Ecky Pting

September 4th, 2015 at 8:52 AM ^

I thought the same on the long ball to Chesson - it seemed it might have still been in reach if he'd layed out to grab it.  A difficult catch for sure, as the pass was indeed a bit overthrown, the same as I thought Grbac's 4th&1 pass to Howard was in the Catch...  As for drops, I thought there some instances of borderline PI by the Utah DB's that weren't called, not to mention the PI called on Peppers was a joke!

Also in Rudock's defense, he was making great passes on the last TD drive (6-8, 76 yds., 9.5 YPA, in < 2 mins. w/ no TO's), but too little too late as the damage had already been done. I thought the throw to Butt on the TD was perfect.  Some people in the bar I was at thought he'd overthrown it, but Butt was in heavy coverage and Rudock put it where only Butt would be able to get it, and technically it's not overthrown if the guy actually catches it (some people...)!

The real heartbreaking aspect of it all was when he threw the pick-6, I felt at that point it was a 14 point swing because otherwise M may well have scored on that drive.  The other two INT's were either not his fault (the first one), or yielded the ball at midfield (not a sufficient reason to pull the QB, IMHO), after which the D held them to 3&out (missed long FG).

Lastly, Rudock was clearly not respected by the defense as a deep threat, so Utah was stacking 8 guys in the box it seemed for the whole game, which seemed their plan.  Tough sledding especially against a defensive front that was already known to be scary good after leading the NCAA in sacks last year.  To the OL's credit:  ONLY 2 NEGATIVE YARDAGE RUNS & NO SACKS ALLOWED.

buckeyekiller1

September 4th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^

That's a throw that you just need to keep in the stadium and it's 6 points. Even if he under throws it by 5 yards Chesson still scores.

I was very encouraged by the game plan and the play calling. Guys were wide open and holes were there, but Harbaugh can't go out there and make the play himself. He put us in a position to win and we just didn't make the plays. That's more than I can say for the past several years already.

not TOM BRADY

September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^

Needed to make a couple more plays. Would like to see out linebackers make some more plays. But overall I think we will be fine. They will get much better over the season. No doubt.

OC Alum91

September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^

nice writeup, Ace.



Typical opening game for both sides.  They mades some mistakes, also some plays as did we.  We could have won if we connect on a few more throws downfield, we also could have lost bigger had we not got a few breaks on penalties.

I thought both sides called good games.

Team has good base to build on.  We were in it, we had our chances.   Let's see what this team is made of--hopefully, better than the last few years.

Slim_Hype

September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^

Those missed deep balls killed us along with that pick 6. The team is clearly better in comparison to last year though, I thought that was obvious. Impressed with the wide receivers.

SC Wolverine

September 4th, 2015 at 12:43 AM ^

Yes to the receivers.  But I was disappointed to see so little of Drake Harris.  We badly need a gamebreaker on offense.  Since we don't have one at running back -- and I do love Deveon most of the time -- it has to be WR.  Which means it has to be Drake.  Very nice showing from Darboh.  And the Butt All-American campaign began in earnest tonight.

OC Alum91

September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^

nice writeup, Ace.



Typical opening game for both sides.  They mades some mistakes, also some plays as did we.  We could have won if we connect on a few more throws downfield, we also could have lost bigger had we not got a few breaks on penalties.

I thought both sides called good games.

Team has good base to build on.  We were in it, we had our chances.   Let's see what this team is made of--hopefully, better than the last few years.

MGoRedemption

September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^

will be a long season if rudock keeps throwing picks. He did not look like a 5th year senior on some  of his throws.  Some positives to take away but every game is gonna be a dog fight if you can't score. 

jackw8542

September 4th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^

Defense played pretty well but got no turnovers other than the one meaningless INT as time ran out in the first half.  Harbaugh said only the second INT was on Rudock and attributed the third to a great play, whereas the announcers thought it was on Perry, which was also my impression (on a sideline pass like that, isn't it a primary job of the receiver to make sure he stays between the defender and the ball?).  Smith ran hard but missed holes and never made anyone miss, which made it hard to get anywhere on the ground.  Some real positives, though, as Coach Harbaugh emphasized on postgame comments.

SC Wolverine

September 4th, 2015 at 12:44 AM ^

True about the turnovers, but they ran a conservative passing attack with a good and smart QB.  I didn't really see any pick opportunities, other than that tipped ball that fell short.  And the hail mary, of course.  We shoud be worried about Stribling.

BlueInClearwater

September 4th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^

was right on Perry's hip with his eyes staring into the backfield at the QB. The only way in hell that pass would have worked is if Rudock threw the ball up and away to Perry's outside shoulder and the DB had his back turned while in coverage. Didn't look like Rudock even used his eyes to make the DB think the ball was going elsewhere and telegraphed it the whole way.

mert

September 4th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^

Pass protection form the OL was astoundingly good. They've made great strides, but rudock wasn't up to the challenge tonight. Some more creative play calling would also be helpful, some guys in motion, confusing the D a little.

swoosh

September 4th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^

Jake does not look like a 5th year sr QB, but sometimes it's the plays before that cause bad situations and plays. The QB sneak was the wrong call, Rudock is not very athletic, darboh not cutting back inside on the bubble screen.



Not impressed at all with our QB.

MinWhisky

September 4th, 2015 at 9:39 AM ^

That, and outstanding QB play by the Utah QB were the two big differences, IMO.  Utah spread the field on offense and when a play needed to be made, their QB made it.  The conservative play calling by Harbaugh (e.g. multiple hand offs into the line on 1st down for no yardage making it obvious passing downs afterwards) made it harder for our receivers to get open.

I guess I can accept our play calling was due to a new QB with a limited arsenal.  Nonetheless, repetitive, predictable routes made it possible for the Utah DBs to "jump" our receiver's routes, especially the interception for a defensive TD.

Special accolades to Butt, Darboh, Peppers, and Wormley.  Very impressive.

I thought our LBs would be a strength.  Now, not so much.  Could one of our RBs please read Lombardi's "Run to Daylight"? 

UMForLife

September 4th, 2015 at 12:32 AM ^

Agree with everything Ace, except on Smith. He is mediocre at best. Time to see what Isaac has got and wait for Drake. Smith is no good.

Thanks for the uplifting words.

BlueInClearwater

September 4th, 2015 at 11:10 AM ^

find the hole as well that is. A couple replays showed gaping creases where Smith just runs into the back of the pile. It's all well and good that he runs tough and picks up yards after contact but its a tradeoff with other runs that could have produced way bigger chunks of yardage. What would you rather have, a guy that consistently gets a couple yards after contact with no vision and is basically bottled up to short impressive runs, or a guy that goes down a little easier overall after contact but has the vision to make the right cut and eat up big chunks of yardage? Seems to me that Smith is tailor-made for short yardage situations and clock-eating drives when we have a lead in the second half of games and the late 2014 edition of Drake Johnson exploding through holes and making impressive cuts would be the better option to get the majority of carries. I realize Drake isn't 100% and wasn't available for this game, but looking to the future I'd rather sacrifice Drake getting 2 yards on some runs instead of Smith's 4 to have the option of getting big chunks of yardage because of Drake's ability to make the right cut and be fast as hell while he's doing it.

Chitown Kev

September 4th, 2015 at 12:33 AM ^

it showed up in flashes here and there and the team didn't quit even after the pick-6

 

We need a running game. Period.

 

But this is a better team than last year's.

 

 

Christicks

September 4th, 2015 at 12:32 AM ^

Honestly, for all of those who said this team is better now that we have a magician coach that can ease all of the pain....what is better?  Who is better?  EVERYTHING in this game reaked of the same old BS as before.  NOTHING changed.  I would love to hear what people think is different now because I saw a.) no run game b.) turnovers and c.) a lack of any QB competence.