Utah 24, Michigan 17
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:46 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 1:15 AM ^
You don't need to throw a fastball strike when your receiver is "Oh, wide open".
IMO, the second miss was more understandable, as Chesson only had a step or two. That would have taken a good throw, certainly not a given for the typical college QB.
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
When I was watching the first pass, I thought about Denard. He was erratic as a passer but smart enough to get some air under long balls and let Junior/Jeremy/Roy go up and get it. In the future, I hope Rudock trusts his 6-3 receiver to take care of business.
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:28 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^
Thanks Ace. The last paragraph is helping to re-calibrate my expectations.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:29 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 12:40 AM ^
His second half was much better. The 3rd and 11 on the TD drive in the 1st half hurt.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
If it wasn't for Peppers, we would have virtually no box defenders who can tackle in space. We need more James Ross.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^
Bolden is bad in coverage, his run support is pretty good.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:29 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:42 AM ^
Yes, but you can see that we need to be more athletic at the linebacker position. Cardale Jones is going to kill us. Fortunately we have great young linebacker depth. Oh, actually we don't.
September 4th, 2015 at 6:38 AM ^
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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.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:57 AM ^
We were in it, we had our chances.
That is what I require as a fan. Be goddam competitive. Fight until the end. Wins are the best but they don't happen in a vacuum.
It's a C- from me tonight, but I remain invested in this team and coach.
September 4th, 2015 at 2:57 AM ^
As Ace said, flashes of hope.
If coaching is indeed the reason Harbaugh teams have done well, then we can expect this team to be a better team by the time OSU comes to town. They will have had twice as much Harbaugh/Drevno coaching as the do now by seasons end.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^
Chesson
September 4th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^
Chesson certainly looked like a game breaker last night if the passess were on target.
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.
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.
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.
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:46 AM ^
I don't know what happened exactly on the pick six, but on the replay it looked like there was no moment in that entire play that throwing to Perry seemed like a good idea.
September 4th, 2015 at 7:54 AM ^
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
Not impressed at all with our QB.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:10 AM ^
You don't have to be that athletic to run a QB sneak (we did it a ton with John Navarre). He just happened to slip when taking the snap.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:21 AM ^
They were Rudock's feet, after all.
September 4th, 2015 at 2:50 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 8:14 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
Braden had a rough night.
Come on Dawson, improve muy rapido.
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"?
September 4th, 2015 at 12:32 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
Except for the fact that Smith can be counted for 2-5 extra yards if he can get through the hole.
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.
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:43 AM ^
We need Drake Johnson to play and hit the right hole. The line was good in pass pro, but hit and miss running the ball.
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.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:33 AM ^
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