Speight vs Rudock: a statistical comparison through 6 games

Given this is W. Speight's first year as a starter, his stats are pretty good.  As Michigan has become a better team the expectations for Speight have gotten higher and some of the fans patience a little lower, but he has thrown some really nice long TD passes on a dime, and asTrue Blue Grit states, his TD to Int. ratio is solid. (even better after his first pass as a starter).   If the QB Whisperer Coach Harbaugh can mentor Speight to half the progression of Rudock it will be a very successful year for Wilton and the team, especially with our outstanding defense.

I was thinking about this comparison myself.   This is the perfect time for this analysis.  We'll see if Speight's trajectory follows Rudock.  I don't think it can, because Rudock played almost flawlessly during the latter half of last season.  I've had a few "uh-oh" moments with Speight dropping back, although I had similar thoughts during the 1st half of last year's season.

Just curious where you took Strength of Schedule from.   Obviously it will be different from place to place. Sagarin has us at 41 so far this year.

Bye week is a great time. I expect Speight to make the largest leap out of anyone coming off the bye.

but 2 picks in 6 games is fantastic, regardless of competition. I think his ability to be safe with the ball is the only reason he's playing, but that's admittedly a pretty good one.

Rudock was 37-43 at Utah? That sounds incorrect.

Main stat that matters: 6-0

We're doing BIG BIG things. That's the thing nobody ever mentions about Rudock and Speight - Rudock was a multi-year starter before taking a snap for us. A huge jump for him was only waiting on him getting used to the playbook, timing with targets and some Harbaugh coaching. His seemingly immediate rise from Rudddock to Rudock was not that crazy looking back. Speight has started 6 games snd looked entirely like a new starter vs any defense with a pulse (and Rutgers but I'll blame weather). It's easy to stare targets down from the snap and force the throw or wait 5+ seconds for them vs Hawaii, UCF, etc. He could easily have 6 INTs on the year and I'm only counting passes the defense had two hands on, more if we count poorly forced throws our WR had to become a DB for, one hand on ball, etc. Speight is almosy literally RS FR John Navarre right now and that's ok. It means that without vast improvement we'll likely lose to osu (maybe even another if we can't run the ball and opponent defense plays well) but it doesn't mean he sucks. It means he's learning and he's not Andrew Luck (ha).

I think Speight's development is the most important factor going forward this season. The defense is playing excellent, the running game has life again, and special teams look good (aside from Kenny Allen's sudden struggles). Speight still makes me nervous when he drops back. We will definitely need him to improve by the time The Game rolls around because we're going to need him to make some plays to win it. I think he can do it.

I don't get the negativity surrounding Speight sometimes. He's not perfect, and I certainly get frustrated with him at times, but he's not hurting us. I think he will continue to improve, and I think the bye week comes at a particularly good time for him. Obviously, several tests await him the rest of the way, but I'd give him a solid B for the first half of the season.

Speight has another two years under Harbaugh, and is already showing some Big Ben attributes...   he is gonna be a good NFL QB, and it'll be him that restarts the QB pipeline.

I expected Speight to be further along at this point than he is. Rudock was fresh into the system and campus. Speight is not. His rating is also more erratic that Rudock's through six games and it buoyed by a huge (or is it tremendous?) number from the Hawaii game that he's not come anywhere close to since.

I think we can win the next five games with him as-is. But with a shakey O line, especially at left tackle, and Speight as-is, I don't see how we score enough points to beat OSU unless the defense plays out of its mind *and* scores. OSU is going to stack the box, stuff the run, and dare us to beat them passing.

So I'm counting on some bye-week QB whispering :)

Clemson & Michigan have the same amount of total yards - 2820

A lot of people consider Clemson having a high powered offense.

Clemson has run 227 more plays to obtain their 2820yds

MI yards per play - 6.35

CU yards per play - 4.20

So for all the people saying we need a better QB/Offense to win it, I feel the team will be able to compete with anyone, especially when they have the best defense in the land.

Thanks for the stats.  It is nice to see, and a reflection of the improvement in the offensive line as well.  What is more important to me, however, is that he continues to improve.  Continued improvment is the hallmark to Harbaugh's approach.  Plateaus can happen.  Here's to hoping that it doesn't.

Stats aside, I was more impressed with Rudock through 6 games than I am Speight. Rudock did a lot of technical things better (footwork, pocket awareness). A lot of his issues came with timing and that is to be expected in a new system.

Speight has been better on the deep ball, but that is about it when you compare the two. We need Speight to be better than he has in our two toughest games (Colorado and Wisconsin) when we go to Columbus. If he is not, than we are going to have to play Jabrill A TON at QB.  

Double Post.

6-0>5-1 though.

the fact that people have to start a thread once a day about the numbers showing that Speight is playing ok just proves that all of us are not thrilled with what we have seen so far

he's not perfect, but he's our best QB as of today.

 

those (mr. yost) claiming o'korn is better don't realize he gives up on the play way too early.  even in the rutgers game, if his first read isn't there he looks to scramble.  did it all spring game too.

 

i think o'korn has a better/more natural arm, and if they were sitting there throwin at targets or playing 7 on 7 he'd be better.  nonetheless, it's 11 on 11 and speight is just simply the best option. 

6 of 13 isn't horrible considering drops and it was raining - by the time it stopped raining we were basically just running the ball

We played UNLV last year, not Nevada.

I find Speight somewhat inconsistent with the easy throws. However, I'm 100% sure that JH is a better evaluator of QB talent than I am and that he is well aware of the issues, if any, with the QB play. After losing close to a lost decade to utterly miserable UM football, I'm willing to give JH the benefit of doubt on this one.

Totally agree with this.  The argument of "yeah but Rudock got way better the second half of the season" has got to stop.