This is nitpicking, but the interception was slightly behind Perry. The DB made a good play, but Perry probably catches it if the ball is 90%-100% accurate. Instead it was about 75% accurate, a little behind, and got tipped. I'm obviously making up numbers here, but you get the point. 

 

O'Korn did play really well, and, given what I think is the nature of Wilton's injury, O'Korn should and will be our QB the rest of the way. He certainly brings a mobility that Wilton doesn't have. I will say, however, that I see why Wilton has been our starter. Wilton is safer, and Jim does not like turning the ball over. John made a throw our two yesterday that Wilton would not have and that would probably have been intercepted against a better team (the 1st down throw to McKeon in triple coverage comes to mind). This can be awesome when it works out, and people will hail O'Korn as gutsy. However, when he rolls the dice in the future and it doesn't come up in our favor, we have to remember that this is what you get when you pine for O'Korn. 

 

John might more than make up for the risks he takes with great play otherwise, and he might be the best QB to lead us the rest of the way. I really hope he is, as he seems like a great guy with talent and I love that he stuck it out here after not winning the job immediately. Like Isaac and McCray, O'Korn will embody the "Those Who Stay" mentality. All I am saying is that, while O'Korn led this team very effectively yesterday, there were a few plays where I could see how Jim's conservative nature led him to stay with Wilton. 

 

I'm looking forward to John's bye-week-bump and a win over MSU in two weeks.

This is a tough one.  I have always been in Speight's camp and I inherently do not like changing quarterbacks.  I was 100% sure Speight would/should be our starter but I agree with a lot of what the OP has mentioned.   Now I do not fault Speight as much for a lot of what has happened because I think our OL play and poor blitz pickup has really hurt the quarterback play.  But I do see that O'Korn gives us a better fighting chance against these breakdowns.  I will say the offense with the shorter quicker throws to the blocky-catchy types make our offense more efficient and something that Speight did not do as much.  Not sure if this was by design/play call or him not looking for the checkdown..   or not surviving the rush long enough to get there.

 

One thing we don't see perhaps is how O'Korn takes care of the ball in practice.  If he is making too many 'gunslinger' throws into traffic then the coaches may prefer a less risky, less dynamic Speight.

But O'Korn had an awesome day, overcame all the penalties and negative yards, kept picking up first downs and was a ton of fun to watch yesterday!

into a hostile environment, immediately leadng a long drive for a touchdown, and subsequently continuing to "shake pickles out of the jar," I would say he earned a chance to start. I admire Spieght and hope he is OK, but a meritocracy is a meritocracy and I trust Harbaugh to do what's best.

I have to wonder how much he was inspired by playing against a coach that had benched him in Houston.  Glad to see that turned out well for him.  Hopefully he can keep that momentum and attitude for the rest of the season; that was the best QB play we've had this year and I hope it keeps up.

They should move forward with O'Korn until he proves he can't do it. The offense moved better with him. Better than the previous two games too. He's not perfect but he can get the ball down field and is more mobile. People I was watching the game with and don't know football well could see it. I'm afraid Harbaugh's affinity for Speight will be a big factor, however.

The difference between how O'Korn looked and how Speight has looked for most of the year was night and day.  Seemed like there was little to no hesitation in JOK's decision making.  His throws were crisp, with confidence and very accurate.  The best play to me was the pass to Gentry where JOK stood in the pocket, took a vicious hit (targeting penalty) and still made a throw that gave his receiver his chance.

Unless JOK completely shits the bed in practice the next week two weeks, I don't see how his doesn't start the next game.  The second half of the Purdue game was easily the best the offense has looked all year.

Upon reviewing the tape, on the McKeon reception in triple coverage, Hill was wide wide open in the flat. That's my nitpicking for the day. Nitpicking over.

The two biggest differences that I noticed were:

O'Korn sees his target and throws. Speight sees his target, thinks about it for a second and throws.

But I couldn't figure out why O'Korn was getting the ball to his target faster. I counted, not a big difference. 1 second maybe. Speight's ball just hangs in the air and O'Korn snaps it in.

Here is the big difference betweee Wilton Speight and John O'Korn.

Speight

O'Korn

Speight

O'Korn

Look at the way that elbow sticks out. When O'Korn thows the ball it snaps. When Speight throws the ball his elbow whips out and the ball hangs.

We have been running the Fraidy Cat offense for so long because Speight plays scared. Besides poor accuracy and lack of ability to make proper reads, he just plays afraid. Some call it playing smart footbally but it really isn't smart when you are so risk averse that you can't make a play. The fundamental problem for Speight is that he has a weak arm and has to have wide open receivers and perfect timing to make a play. The offense looked night and day with O'Korn in there.  Suddenly guys were gtting YAC after being hit in stride.  The running game opened up as the defense had to respect the pass.

All of this is why this change was long overdue and all the more diappointing that an injury had to force it. This should have been done long ago,.

Though not down on Wilt, I thought JOK displayed great field vision yesterday, and was very decisive.  His scramble and completion on third and 6 deep in Michigan territory in the early 3rd quarter that ended up propelling us to the 86 yd. drive was most impressive.  JOK's field vision and quick release yesterday reminded me a bit Sam Darnold.  Sam makes a lot of plays on the run in part because of his unusual field vision, gifted receivers, and very mediocre offensive line.  JOK was quite a playmaker yesterday.

O'Korn played great, but let's not ignore the fact that Purdue is by far the weakest defense this team has played all year.  Coming into the game they had a defensive efficiency in the 60's; everyone else was 30 or below.  And last year's Purdue defense was 107th; they look better, but this is still a team without much defensive talent and, as we saw with all the late hits, some discipline issues.  Speight got about 2 drives against their team, for a total of 4 passes, and then he was out.  O'Korn didn't really get put out there against Florida, Cincy, or Air Force, and while he did get that one nice throw against Florida, he also looked lost on the rest of that drive and it sputtered out pretty quickly.

I am fine with O'Korn getting another start, but claiming Speight shouldn't get another meaningful snap unless O'Korn feels quite reactionary.  He has had close to 2 years to beat out Speight and he never did.  Speight was the backup to Rudock, then he lost out as the starter spot, then he lost out again over this offseason.  And it's not like Harbaugh had any predisposition to Speight at any juncture; he didn't recruit him.  I am 100% happy if I'm wrong and this O'Korn is what he looks like on gameday forever and ever, but I have a feeling that against a better defense, one that had some time to prepare for him, he would look worse, and you'd hear the same people saying "bring back Speight" or "give Peters a start."  

This year's version of Speight has none. Maybe it was the trauma of two pick-6's in the first half of his first game, maybe it is lingering doubts about his collarbone, but for whatever reason Speight was playing scared. He hardly dared throw the ball in the middle of the field, and sometimes even inbounds. 

The thing I noticed most about O'Korn was his decisiveness. He read the coverage, looked for his guy, and threw the ball without hesitation. I don't think the receivers suddenly learned how to get separation after Speight went out--I think O'Korn was just throwing to them when they were open, instead of hesitating (out of fear) and throwing late. 

Quick passing requires a quick pass, and Speight seemed incapable of that. Because Speight was holding on to the ball so long, afraid to throw it, Michigan was forced to commit extra blockers to protect him while he scanned the field. The mass of humanity engaging at the LOS was confusing to our young O-Line, and one or two rushers inevitably snuck through, making Speight even more nervous. It was a passing attack that couldn't help but fail.

But with O'Korn making quick decisions it was no longer necessary to keep 6-7 guys in to block. Instead, Harbaugh could send those TEs and backs out in patterns, keeping the defense honest. If the defense wants to blitz with 7, they'll now run the risk of leaving someone comnpletely uncovered, and there's a good chance O'Korn will recognize it and get him the ball. This was exactly what happened on the long completiong to Gentry near the goal line. 

I don't see how there can be an objective QB controversy. What there might be is a "meritocracy" controversy.

One guy has had 13 quarters to get the offense out of sputter mode and didn't.

The other guy gave us one good quarter and two excellent quarters of an offense that looked entirely different: Drove the ball, was red-zone perfect, and delivered a decisive win, dominating the 2nd half.

If that's not enough to "merit" the next start, then I'm not sure I'm buying the meritocracy thing.

The replay angles were very tight this week, again, but it looked like Perry was crossing to the left and turned back to the right when O'korn spun. If that was indeed what happened, it just shows what happens when a WR knows what to do in a scrable drill.

On another note, the blocking in the first half was pretty bad whike Purdue did not respect the passing and just loaded the box and blitzed a bunch on passing downs. How much, if at all, did you see this change in the second?

I also went back and watched the game a second and third time. I thought O'Korn played well, and I'd like to see if he can replicate this performance going forward. However, Purdue is NOT even close to being one of the better defenses in the big ten. Everyone here already knows what John O'Korn did well, so I thought I would look for things he struggled with. O'Korn stared down his first read several different times in his game action yesterday. Purdue didn't make him pay for it, but against a PSU, a Wisconsin, or an OSU, staring down receivers is not going to result in success as often as it did in west Lafayette. With exception of 4 passes, almost all of O'Korn's passes were thrown to WR's that were within 10 yards of the LOS. If O'Korn is the starting QB going forward, I would expect that teams are going to put more emphasis on the short / intermediate passing defense to see if O'Korn is capable of throwing the ball down the field. All in all I thought O'Korn played very well. I thought the playbook opened up a little bit as the game went on. I thought O'Korn was getting rid of the ball quickly with accurate throws. I thought O'Korn's attitude and confidence was more beneficial to this team than Speight's. I thought that confidence and attitude was on display during his QB scramble where O'Korn lowered his throwing shoulder and ran a dude over to get a first down later in the game. That kind of attitude and confidence is what Michigan Football needed. That said, there is a reason that Speight has beaten O'Korn twice for the starting gig in as many seasons. Jim Harbaugh is a QB guru that knows more about the position than any of us. Harbaugh didn't just select Wilton for the hell of it. However, I think that Speight has lost some confidence and has zero trust in the offensive line. Wilton is a guy who would rather focus on not making mistakes instead of trying to make big plays / take chances. In that instance I really think O'Korn is a fresh start for this offense. Whether or not we ever see Speight again this season will depend on how much growth O'Korn is able to achieve going forward. The offense is going to have to get better with more WR's getting involved. Seemed like O'Korn only threw the ball to tight ends / grant Perry with exception of a pass or two. Our defense is good enough to beat anyone on our schedule. Our special teams are good enough to beat anyone on our schedule. Our offense has been the issue all three of Harbaugh's seasons as head coach. Hopefully yesterday was the first step in seeing a better, more complete offense going forward.