Michigan Vs. Florida: Offensive Snowflakes

Guy was an X Factor.

Speight continues to be frustrating as he looks good at times and then inexplicably has some throws that are way off. I liked that he was benched for a couple series to let him calm down, also felt it was a bit of a message to him that if he isn't focused he will be replaced. OL was solid, good running lanes at times and pass protection was pretty good against a really good pass rush team. Hopefully the new starters continue to improve into a really good group. Overall they held up well against a talented D Line. The running backs were good. Evans and Isaac appear to be a really good pair. There were times where the blocking was not good and they found a way to get yardage. Higdon looks good too. Receivers looked pretty good although some early drops were frustrating. Black looks like a big playmaker and Perry is very good. The receivers are young so they should improve throughout the year as they get experience same with the TEs. The turnovers and stalled drives turned a blowout into a closer game for too long hopefully that gets fixed.

Evans was pretty meh. Receivers got open, but didn't look totally comfortable out there. Speight was bad, but still our best QB. He'll have better days. OL was decent. 3rd down draws and bombs were our best play. All in all, I'll give the offense a C+. They're super young and should get a lot better as the season progresses.

Evans' 22 carries for 88 isn't all that bad against that defense.  Isaac got a lot of yards in situations where we surprised Florida (3rd and long draws, that one quick snap on 4th down).

The D gave up only 3 points. If the offense continues as is our guys will lose to teams with more potent offenses as long as their defense isn't terrible. We can't expect the D to hold good offensive teams to 3 points. Speight made a handful of nice throws, but he missed some easy ones. The first pick 6 was his fault despite what some have said. The ball was high and early so Crawford didn't have time to react other than getting his hands up. He also missed an open WR on a slant when he overthrew Perry on the corner route and missed Eubanks when he took a sack both late in the fourth. The oline was better than expected. Mostly QB will hold us back from being elite unless someone improves.

I really do not understand the people saying that JOK sucks. How do you know? Because he played poorly in terrible weather one game? He throws a far better ball than Speight. One thing we do know is that Speight sucks and JOK definitely could've gone 11 for 25 with two pick sixes.

If Speight can stop sucking, this offense is going to be tough to stop. 6 weeks Wilton.

Running game was good, speight wasn't. I wasn't impressed with Crawford at WR. Would have liked to have seen more Perry and more TE's. Playcalling was odd, it looked like the way it did when we lost 3/4. Long way to go, but we managed a W, thanks to the D!

The good plays outweigh the bad at present, but if we had played OSU, PSU or Wisconsin, we would have lost today. Many good things to celebrate, much work yet to do. Overall - good team effort and savor the Gator stomping!!

I can at least understand the Speight is the best we have point of view. I can't understand the Speight is a good QB and all we need point of view.

The first was on Crawford and the second a bad throw. Sleight's accuracy was way off today. It was the difference between a 16 and 30 put win.

but oline did him no favors. we had to run fewer routes because we needed extra blockers. didn't really seem like receivers were getting open consistently (except for a couple of those obvious terribly thrown and blown passes from speight).

good news is that we're young and our schedule gives us plenty of time to build up some experience.

our team's ceiling is still the same as it was last year, which was 2 points away from being in the cfp...so i'm not too worried.

C+

I got a little more than I expected from the O line today.  I thought they held their own well against a very good UF DL.  Right tackle was a problem.  Up tempo worked really well.  I don't know, I think this OL may actually be pretty good as the season goes on.

Take away the second pick-6 and I'd be up around a 9/10 for that team performance. That's the one that sticks. Happy to see the team rebound with that drive to open the 3rd. That's good coaching. They made adjustments and it paid off. Did we ever get a ruling on how many revolutions are required to get a 15-yard penalty for spinning the ball? Do they have instant replay for close cases?

Speight was fine. Obviously his deep ball is not helpful, and the latter of the two pick6s was not a good look, but he is a lot more reliable and consistent than any other QB on this team would be. He is our guy.

Wide recievers were awesome (especially because normally young WRs suck and this was not the case). Tarik Black obviously made some awesome plays today, and Grant Perry was a consistent recieving threat. I hope to see something from DPJ in future weeks.

The offensive line was not good on occasion (and this is in fact my biggest positional concern right now), but it was significantly better than I originally thought. A silver lining that I am starting to find out of this shakey offensive line is that it can be a cause of shorter and quicker passes from Speight due to occasional pressure, limiting some deep Speight throws.

It is very clear that the most valuable part of this offense certainly will be the running game. Ty Isaac had a good set of snaps, giving each carry some extra yards. Chris Evans was better than ever, and he also seemed to be gaining experience and improving with pounding the ball up the middle, which is impressive because he isn't that type of RB.

In the end though, it is just clear that this offense just needs to relax and simply play football. Their main thing to think about is not turning the ball over. If they don't turnover, they can beat a great portion of the teams on this schedule. This includes Florida (and they certainly proved this fact in the second half).

Just keep working toward being better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today. Improvement will take this offense to a successful and functional place.

But until Monday, let's celebrate this win because it will hold up as a valuable one!

Who's Got It Better Than Us?

It's either rocketed at the receiver at 500 mph or it's such a gentle loft that it takes forever to get there. He needs to find a "medium"

People still making excuses for Speight. 11-25 with 2 pick 6's and a blown wide open TD that anyone on this forum couldve made is "fine" Cost us 2 games last year in the Big Ten and the league this year will be a lot tougher.

Well since my opinion is exceptionally more relevant than everyone else's... 1. Tarick Black looked like everything we expected/hyped DPJ to be at WR (not saying DPJ isn't what DPJ was expected to be) 2. DPJ was Peppers elusive in returns (yeah yeah there's another thread for that) 3. Speight was Speight (he is what we thought he iswasmightbemaybecouldbeidunno) 4. The white sidelines should be in in golf and football. 5. I bet $1 the RB corp won't piss off too many people 6. Even though Perry was Inspector Gadget sticky hands, what value is he with unsportsmanlikes?

I'll get positive first: HBs looked great! We knew what Evans and Higdon were. Ty? He seemed to talk about being serious last year. Now he's noticeably slimmer, faster and stronger. He looks locked in. OL - I didn't expect much anyway. We're still pretty mediocre there but everyone seemed to be a slight step up from last season (outside of RT). TE- Mc looked good as a pass threat out in the flats and intermediate routes. TWJ looked good blocking when he chose to. He still needs to get that nasty streak going. We definitely miss Asiasi! Still, not a huge drop off. WR - Black looks LEGIT. DPJ is clearly a freak athlete, when he learns how to be a WR it'll be scary. Perry played well (spin call was BS). K - Special Teams? Sure. A bonafide member of the offense this game? Yup! Worth the sleepover jokes and all, we have a swag kicker 9000 and that feels great. Get to the 40 and we have a real shot at 3pts. It's been a long time. Feels good. His first miss was due to the 55 yarder almost getting blocked. Had to push it. Other miss was on him but Nordin is that confident kicker all great teams have, haircut and all. That was offense. The not so good: QB needs time to settle and gell with young WRs. Not a Speight fan or hater. He is who he is, he'll always need help. That said, it was clearly the first week. Rust and mistimings everywhere. WR - None but Crawford. First INT is on him. High throw but he had 2 hands on it. Bad game all-around for him but he'll get there. Hard to remember that he's not a grizzled vet compared to his outside WR counterparts. OL - RT/Ulizio clearly the weak link on OL. Will get better and really shouldn't be playing until next year but we need him. Not atrocious but a step down from Mags, as expected. Overall, OL still lacks the consistent push needed to grind 3-4 at will to close games. Inability to put a team away - exactly that. This program has been plagued with an inability to finish dying opponents and this was no different. Could have easily been a 40pt win but UF was technically in the game until the fumble recovery in the endzone. Not ideal.

I thought Wilton Speight was average at best today, but putting the game as a whole into perspective, I thought he acquitted himself well.

Florida has a very solid, fast defensive unit. It was a prime time, week 1 game against a team that has been running their mouth all summer.

Speight had a new center, a new right guard, a new right tackle, and new WR's. Speight's first pick six was not his fault. The ball was high, but should've been caught. So, you're dominating, throw a pick six, and come back out on the field under immense pressure. The second pick six was absolutely Speight's fault, though I think nerves / situation affected him a bit in that situation.

On a positive note, our young guys are all big timers. Tarik Black is unbelievable, and I really thought Sean McKeon looked really good as well. By the end of the season, some of these guys are going to be unbelievable.

Defensively I was enamored with the play of Bush jr, khaleke hudson, and the play of our young secondary. There is no question that this 2017 defense is much faster, and more athletic than the 2016 version.

We have ourselves a kicker!!! Nordin was awesome, and going forward should be one of the best in the country.

I thought our run game was solid. The 3 headed monster of issac, higdon, and Evans were efficient and effective all day long.

I don't want to put too much pressure on Speight, but, if he can be a consistent QB who doesn't make big mistakes, this team will compete for the big ten title.

Please give Don Brown a raise. Can you imagine how good the defense will be next year and beyond?!?!? Lmao wow

Is Perry needs to spinning the damn ball after every catch........considering the circumstances over the offseason, I would have thought he'd be a bit more disciplined on stuff like that.

I normally just enjoy reading these threads and don't usually post.  A couple things were concerning to me.  

1.  Lack of discipline.  young team, I get it, but Perry's stupid spin took points off the board, and it just seemed overall the guys were playing a little too loose.  (False starts, etc...).  Hopefully they get worked out over the season.  

2. Speight concerns me.  Should have any 'first game' jitters after playing the schedule he did last season, so I don't accept that as an excuse.  Too many balls were high.  Obviously both interceptions were high, but I remember specifically there was a play where I think it was 3 and 4 and Florida essentially lined up in a goal line defence.  All he had to do was lob the ball to one of the streaking receivers and it's 7 on the board.  NOPE.  he throws it into the bench.  It didn't even look like he was under pressure on the throw.  If he doesn't get his accuracy under control, he's going to cost us a game this season (ALA OSU last year).  

Overall, I'm glad we know what we have at this point and can compare it to others.  MSU looks like what I expected, though LJ Scott may have taken a step back.  We'll see if that's a trend or an anomaly.  PSU against an overmatched opponent looks tough.  Still think Happy Valley is our toughest game on the schedule.  OSU looks like a step back from last year.  JT still can't throw and it's obvious their secondary has some holes.  Long way till we play them though.