AP Top 25 Discussion with Rece Davis - Very Optimistic on Wolverines
Ralph Russo sits down with Rece Davis to discuss AP Top 25.
He brings up Michigan, knowing that Rece had us at #7 in the ESPN poll.
Rece says what most of us know....."They're just going to be filthy on Defense:"
And goes on to say;
"I think their Offense will take a significant step forward."
You can skip to the 26:27 mark of the podcast for his comments.
The AP Top 25 College Football Podcast is with @ESPN_ReceDavis ,GameDay host and poll voter on how he put his ballot together.
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) August 20, 2018
Listen on #PodcastOneSportsNet and @ApplePodcasts. https://t.co/gukVMFmu8n
And the Top 25 is out:https://t.co/04bi9vr0Xb pic.twitter.com/KWJPS9LWSn
August 21st, 2018 at 3:56 PM ^
It's nice when a prominent media member looks beyond the "hurr durr 8-5 4th place in the East" nonsense and actually recognizes that last year we were an incredibly young and inexperienced team that suffered injuries to our 2 best QBs and our best WR. Anyone doubting that we'll have a great team this year just has their heads firmly lodged up their keisters.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
The problem wasn’t injuries to the QBs. The problem was that the first two QBs were really, really bad. As long as Patterson remains upright in 2018, and maybe even if he doesn’t, that huge weakness will become a strength and make all the difference in the world.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
I disagree. Speight and pre-injury Peters were serviceable and definitely better than O'Korn IMO. Not saying our QB situation would've been great last year, but we suffered 2 injuries at a spot where we really couldn't afford any.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
And I think Speight was injured early last year and never really recovered.
Even in the Florida game, he seemed “off”.
August 21st, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
I was just rewatching All or Nothing and was reminded of the wobbly, late throws he was making in the Florida game. The only really good QB play last season was by Peters before his injury.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
Pre-injury Speight looked like he was going to lose to Purdue.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:45 PM ^
When you talk about "pre-injury" Speight, you really need to be talking about the time before the Iowa game in 2016, not before the 2017 Purdue injury. Before that Iowa game, Speight looked fearless, stood in the pocket like he was invulnerable, had command of the field, and was making all the right decisions and throws. He lost a mental piece of his game when he broke his collarbone. That mental piece never got sorted out.
August 21st, 2018 at 6:22 PM ^
I think it was a bit of mental and a lot of mechanical. I'm convinced it never fully healed to where it was completely free of any discomfort. His delivery seemed off ever since that nasty injury. Prior to it, he was living up to the promise and was going to be the next great thing.
August 21st, 2018 at 9:07 PM ^
Um......i thought he broke his left collarbone....
August 21st, 2018 at 11:18 PM ^
He was never going to be the next big thing. He was however going to be serviceable.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:06 PM ^
I know he hurt his shoulder against Iowa but he didn't break his collarbone did he? He played against OSU, if he was out there with a broken collarbone Harbaugh has some explaining to do.
That being said, this blog has some serious revisionist history regarding Speight, he had 3 good games against trash opponents UCF, Illinois, and Maryland and thats it. He was decent against MSU but he still threw a pick in the 3rd that caused Harbaugh to turtle the 2nd half. The rest of his career was crap, that's not me being harsh it's just what it was. Go rewatch the first few drives of that Rutgers game before Peppers busted it open with a 70 yard run. He was 6-13 for 100 yards in a 78-0 game. Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, OSU, FSU, Florida, Purdue.. he was shit in all those games.
August 21st, 2018 at 11:14 PM ^
Yeah, in my multiple viewings of those games, Speight was not playing well. So, I agree with you ,HAIL-YEA. I'm not sure why so many want to act like Speight was good before the Iowa injury. He was mediocre against mostly mediocre competition and defenses.
August 21st, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^
the pre Wisconsin speight or the pre Colorado speight?
August 21st, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
Speight Looked horrible in the Purdue game. He wasn’t as good as previous season.
August 22nd, 2018 at 1:10 AM ^
Ehhh, Speight looked real shaky and a big part of that was the WRs and OL but go back and read the first 4 UFRs. He was missing a lot of wide open throws for some reason.
I think the post to which you responded was referring to JOK as the "second" QB since he did replace Speight.
Peters gets an INC here because he played against Rutgers, Minn and Maryland. And it's not like he even did anyting in those games. He throw 13 times for 56 yards against Minn! Just handed the ball off.
He had a couple nice plays against Wisconsin, got hurt and then was awful against South Carolina. Tough to say much of anything but certainly can't say definitively that he was serviceable.
That said, should be a big upgrade this year whomever it is. And the WRs should be a lot better. The big question is will the WRs have time to get open and will the QBs have time to throw it to them.
I could not be more confident in all other aspects of the game besides pass pro.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
Speight would have performed better than what we wound up with, and likely produces wins against MSU and OSU even with the yips he appeared to have before his injury.
There's a larger question about who you would consider our "second QB" since that obviously changed during the year; by the OSU game, O'Korn was obviously the third choice.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:03 AM ^
Sometimes I wonder if the super strength of our defense actually hurts our young developing offense because they never get a chance to develop some level of timing and confidence in practice.
I am really interested to see what the increased emphasis on coaching does - particularly for the receiving corps - this year.
August 21st, 2018 at 6:54 PM ^
Poor play calling and OL coaching was our primary issue.
August 21st, 2018 at 9:49 PM ^
Poor OL...yes. The play calling/game plan was great in the OSU game, but the QB's execution was bad. In many of the games the play calling was decent, but QB play was not.
August 22nd, 2018 at 1:12 AM ^
The playcalling in the OSU game was incredibly good...but it came out of nowhere and then died sometime between that game and the bowl game.
It was pretty bad all year.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:34 AM ^
The bowl game wasn't bad. We had a 16-3 lead when Higdon fumbled inside the 5 yard line with 8 mins left in the 3rd. Peters threw a pick around the endzone too. The McKeon play stands out as a bad thing, but it was only one of the five turnovers that led to the comeback.
August 22nd, 2018 at 5:43 AM ^
And Drevno is gone so.....upgrade
August 21st, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
I wish we can just forget 2017-18 football year so we stop making up all these excuses for the teams "blah" season. Harbaugh is tasked with putting together a competent team every year. Clearly, Harbaugh wasn't up to par when it came to the offensive side. Poor QB play, horrendous pass block and a confusing play calling doomed this team.
I believe Harbaugh has corrected his mistakes and will have a Top 40 offense this year to go with a Top 3 defense.
August 21st, 2018 at 6:23 PM ^
Agree with this.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
If you don't like football enough to look deeper into issues then "Harbaugh wasn't up to par", maybe you should step away from the blog for a while.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
I completely agree. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, Andrew Luck wasn't walking through that door. Harbaugh won 10 games in 2015 and 2016 with average at best QB play. Now he may have his Andrew Luck in Patterson. How about we wait to condemn him until we see what he does with a legitimate top QB. Just an honest question for those questioning Harbaugh after his first few years, if you feel he underwhelmed, what coach do you think we should have brought in that would have done better? Honest question.
August 21st, 2018 at 9:54 PM ^
I'd have liked to see this year's Harbaugh coach last year's team. He recognized that he needed to make a number of changes and has done so.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
Not to mention he took the team into Columbus in 2016 with a broken Speight at QB and came within a few, questionable bullshit inches, to beating OSU in Columbus.
August 21st, 2018 at 9:48 PM ^
And came within a JOK meltdown of beating Ohio State last year. And came within a 1-in-a-million play of beating Michigan State in 2015. And came within...
Takes a team that went 5-7 with a castoff QB from Iowa and goes 10-3 with the aforementioned fluke loss (balanced out by the fluke Minnesota win).
Goes 10-3 the following year, losing those 3 games by 5 points and all three of those turning on one play.
Loses 17-18 starters and goes 8-5 while cycling through 3 different QBs due to injury and general incompetence.
Meanwhile, Jimbo Fisher goes 7-6 after his starting QB gets injured, in a weaker conference, and gets more than $50 million from Texas A&M.
August 21st, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^
I'd say the oline's pass protection was a bigger problem last year. The QB Injuries hurt but the injuries were pretty much a result of the awful pass protection by the oline.
August 21st, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
Is there a millennial around here who would be kind enough to post a link to directly download the podcast? I have android so I can't figure out the iTunes thing.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:05 PM ^
https://www.podcastone.com/AP-Top-25-College-Football-Podcast - let me know if that works!
August 21st, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
Thank you!
Now, go enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
12 points since 2008. That's impressive to show that much restraint in posting.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^
Far from being a millennial, but I'll give it a shot anyway ;)
I should have included this in the OP but since I had iTunes I skipped it.
You can get the podcast on PodcastOne Sportsnet here;
https://www.podcastone.com/AP-Top-25-College-Football-Podcast
August 21st, 2018 at 4:15 PM ^
Much appreciated!
August 21st, 2018 at 4:52 PM ^
Podcast? Is that what the kids are eating these days?
August 21st, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^
Michigan will always get media hype. The team has to prove to people that it isn't always just bluster for clicks.
August 21st, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
Aren’t you the Sparty who blasts Michigan on maize n brew?
August 21st, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
Smart man. I'll have to read more of Rece's pieces.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
He was a sports anchor in Flint for a while.
August 21st, 2018 at 4:41 PM ^
I just want to win a road game...against a ranked team...that is also a rival. I'm glad we have a chance to check off all those boxes next weekend.
August 21st, 2018 at 6:25 PM ^
Absolutely!
August 21st, 2018 at 10:46 PM ^
Hopefully we can check that box three times this year.
August 21st, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
I always liked Rece because during highlight breaks on ESPN, he almost always refers to us as Meeeeechigan ala Bob Ufer.
I hope he's right that we will take that step forward. But that schedule still worries the hell out of me.
August 22nd, 2018 at 1:08 AM ^
Yeah, so generalizations about strength of schedule pre season have always bothered me. Every year, everyone is surprised about some team that is better than expected or vise versa. How much do we really know about strength of schedule? Was MSU Supposed to win 10 games last year? 3 games the year before?
not trying to make a big thing out of it, just thinking about something that has bugged me
August 21st, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^
Would rather hear what Chris Fowler has to say about us! (Jk, but I still prefer him over Davis).
August 21st, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
He'd probably say Harbaugh has a nice backhand volley.