September 6th, 2017 at 5:24 AM ^
OL played reasonably well as did the DBs. I'd give them both B+. Also, Speight's overthrows were almost as maddening as the INTs. I'd give him a D+ and O'Korn a B-, so the position gets a C-.
September 6th, 2017 at 6:48 AM ^
You'd give O'Korn a B-minus? I guarantee if he was left in the game then we might have lost.
September 6th, 2017 at 6:58 AM ^
I guarantee if he was left in the game then we might have won.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:06 AM ^
cotton!
September 6th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
Well, I think you are both wrong.
September 6th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
I always cover my bases so that I'm never wrong.
September 6th, 2017 at 6:58 AM ^
"Guarantee" and "might have"? Wow... you are really standing by your claim there
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September 6th, 2017 at 8:08 AM ^
O'Korn threw just one pass and it was a beauty to Tarik down the sideline. Not much of a sample, but if he had been left in longer and given a chance to settle down, he might have been just fine. I guarantee it.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:40 AM ^
That was a great pass. I will note, though, that if O'Korn had been left in longer and given a chance to settle down, he might not have been just fine.
I guarantee it.*
*Of course, he might have been just fine. Or an early Heisman candidate. Or thrown more pick-sixes than Speight. "Might" is a really flexible word!
September 6th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
so he would be right then, right?
September 6th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
I guarantee if he was left in the game he would've completed that wide open pass to Crawford
September 6th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^
is he is very good against weak teams (thus he will play great next few games) and average to below average against competitive teams. Until he delivers good performance against good teams, he will be overall an average QB thereby holding this team back from playoff aspirations.
September 6th, 2017 at 5:34 AM ^
Especially given pre-game concerns, I would also bump up the DBs. There were no safety issues and Hill really only got beat (on something he could be expected to stop) once.
If Speight's grade is "accurate", imagine what this team can look like if we get B+ out of him.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:56 AM ^
The second time he got "beat" was an underthrown ball so i dont put that on him, Id like to see him turn around and find the ball next time but id also like to see the safety make a jump on that(Cant remember exactly who was in the area maybe Kinnel?). I agree with your grade
September 6th, 2017 at 8:45 AM ^
I agree that the safety play was fine - I'll be curious to see how it grades out, but my impression during the game was that our safeties were well-coached, athletic, and (to the extent viper is a safety) as good as last year.
The cornerback situation does not seem as solid, but I agree with you Dr. - the DBs overall were good if not quite lights-out.
September 6th, 2017 at 5:42 AM ^
The blocked punt and the short fg miss were bummers. I can't hold the long fg miss against Nordin since he made two bombs. DPJ looked elusive and seemed to get yards out of nothing.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:19 AM ^
I can't believe no one mentions the blocked punt. I didn't listen to the whole presser, but I have not heard that get addressed once. That guy came right up the middle.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:39 AM ^
They were running over Cheeseman the whole game. The snapper is supposed to be protected until he can get his head up and FL was really close to picking up a roughing the snapper penalty several times. I was surprised Harbaugh wasn't going nuts at the official offer this.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:46 AM ^
I got the feeling that Harbaugh has decided to tone the in-game official yelling down this year. I was waiting for it on the bogus ineligible receiver downfield call.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:51 AM ^
He has to tone down or it's a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty this year. Dana Holgorsen got one on Sunday night for what I thought was a fairly tame "blowup"
September 6th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^
The new rule is that they can't go on the field. They can still blow up all they want.
September 6th, 2017 at 5:46 AM ^
I'd hate to see what a QB has to do to get a c- or d+.
September 6th, 2017 at 5:56 AM ^
Probably not make the throws Wilton did to Black, Eubanks, and Perry downfield and throw more than 1 pick that was his fault.
Wilt had a pick that wasn't his fault and a TD taken away on an incorrect call. Those two things go the other way and he's at 50% completion, 2 TD 1 INT and we won the game 37-10 (and people who just want to hate him are less upset on a Wednesday after he played fine).
September 6th, 2017 at 7:37 AM ^
Thank you.
Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but the bomb to Eubanks and the deep post to Grant Perry were as good as it gets. In the games people complain about last year, he didn't make those throws.
He was on the money on nearly all his short throws. Last season when he struggled guys were snatching them off the ground or reaching behind them and slowing down to make the catch. The mistakes were obvious, but I'm baffled by how not obvious to most people his makes were. They were at least obvious to me.
He looks like a more promising QB than this time last year by a mile. I'm not worried. By Penn St. he will be hitting more of those throws. 1st game in Dallas against a top opponent can do some funky stuff to you as well.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:55 AM ^
In any sport or job, recovering from a major breakdown is really hard, and Speight recovered amazingly well from those two interceptions. Some of the misses were frustrating - the checkoff and the two fades he missed especially - but it was the first game of the year, and, at least on the fades, his timing with his receivers should improve as the year goes on. Even at that, it should have been 2TDs and 1 Int, which is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination against one of the three best Ds we will play this year.
September 6th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
on any of his bad throws. The picks were sailed high. Crawford was wide open and strolling-Speight had lots of time to adjust and still sailed it. The fades were too far out of bounds to be catchable by anyone, no matter how well they were timed.
And let's be honest, all of his bad throws were ones he's practiced countless times. You can either put them on target at this point in your career, or you can't.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:34 AM ^
Mistakes and goodness are irrelevant to the anti-Speight crowd. All they see - all they will ever see - is a stat line that doesn't look like 7th yr NFL starter Tom Brady. Anything short of that, and the Speight Hate Club will howl like screamer monkeys in the Amazon jungle...
September 6th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^
was awesome
September 6th, 2017 at 7:58 AM ^
i can't remember a michigan game with this much "if this didn't happen..." analysis.
especially when it's used to get a guy to a 50% completion rate. it's like the early days of joey harrington.
September 7th, 2017 at 8:18 AM ^
Really? That's probably on account of the drugs.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^
He also missed the wide open throw to Crawford, and on the overthrow end zone corner route to Crawford, DPJ was coming wide open on a crossing route underneath and would have had the end zone.
Speight is the guy, but it's OK to say he was disappointing in this game. Still the no-doubt starter, but C- is a reasonable grade.
September 6th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
I'm not a huge fan of his accuracy. I think he make good decisions and has excellent pocket presence and escape ability. But his accuracy... Woof. Both pick 6 were over thrown.
Harbaugh said he told speight to keep throws under the shoulders and passes were still high.
44% complete.
2 passes picked returned for TDs.
These noted missed opportunities.
This game was not an excellent showing. Arguing that it was awesome or that Speight had a great day... I dunno. The world isn't going to end and Michigan's defense won them the game. Michigan won. It was good. I expect Speight to improve some this year and look better, but we might have to see something better than reasonably competent to beat an elite team.
I guess my question for people attacking people saying Speight looked rough is What do you day about Speight's game if Michigan had lost? Was it still acceptable? Does the spotty accuracy start to matter?
September 6th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
Michigan up 20-17 with a 3rd & 6 from the Florida12 yard line. Florida has everyone up on the line of scrimmage. I thought Speight completely botched this play. I think the move is to go to Perry who immediately beats the saftey with a open lane right down the middle. Speight throws the fade route poorly to Crawford. I am no football coach, but isn't a fade typically when you can get 1v1 coverage on the outside and to avoid the safeties in the middle? When the safteies crowd the line of scrimmage, I think it makes more sense to attack them and Perry clearly had his guy beat. Speight was determined to throw the fade and I don't think he really read the defense on that play.
Speight still gives us the best chance to win and I think he will improve in these areas. My concern is the overthrows as he seems to get lazy with his mechanics.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:20 AM ^
I mean let's not gloss over the fact that Speight was the leading scorer for both teams. That's pretty impressive.
September 6th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
Don't let this distract you from the fact that Texas lost to Kansas in 2016.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:31 AM ^
Sorry to Russell but man that showing was awful
September 6th, 2017 at 9:08 AM ^
Yeah, not to trample on his grave, but that was quite literally the worst I've ever seen a college quarterback play. At any level. Still can't believe it.
September 6th, 2017 at 6:48 AM ^
DBs & OL should be at B+ and B, respectively. No grade for Special Teams? Maybe a B/B+ as Nordin and DPJ were solid, blocked punt scares me.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:30 AM ^
Let's just not punt the rest of the season.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:15 AM ^
the coaching staff. OP isn't specific.
I pretty much agree with everything by position, but would give the overall a B+.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:08 AM ^
These are grades from David Noe at Maize n Brew. OP: Not everyone knows what MnB means.
I like that he doesn't inflate the grades but his discussion of each group is not very detailed, so they seem like general impressions rather than an actual chart-based grading system like what the coaches do or Brian's UFR approach.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:24 AM ^
I really can't wait for the UFR to come out and tell everybody Speight had two to three bad throws all game. The Perry overthrow and the Crawford pick play in the 4th. This team doesn't stand a chance with any other quarterback on this roster. Overall I thought Speight played very well. His largest error came at the worst possible time considering the tipped ball pick 6, and then followed the bad pick 6 up with a blocked punt which magnifies around his play. wutevs
September 6th, 2017 at 7:30 AM ^
However when you turn in your performance or thesis you will still get graded. No matter when you turn it in. Go Blue and Go Speight!
September 6th, 2017 at 7:35 AM ^
and still aknowledge he's the best option we have.
C or C-
September 6th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
There were far too many mistakes to call this a B. There were several passes that landed out of bounds with no chance of being caught, the pass to a wide open Crawford being the most apparent example. As a QB, turnovers are going to be judged more harshly than a simple incompletion. While the first pick wasn't a great pass, it's one a player with Crawford's ability should catch, so that's mostly not on Speight. The second was as terrible a pass as you can see. Even the TD that was taken away was a pass where he threw across his body over the middle, a cardinal QB sin. If you take away the drops, you're still only looking at a 50% completion percentage with a really bad pick 6. A 'C' is more than fair.
September 6th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^
I'm good with that, but people who believe O'Korn or Peters would've been better are bozos. O'Korn looks to his first read and then panics. I don't care about the pass across his body due to it being 4th down, I would've taken any arm punt there.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:23 AM ^
I think it's spot on.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:38 AM ^
Wait, I thought college football was pass/fail.
All I'm seeing is 1-0.
September 6th, 2017 at 7:36 AM ^
Fairly accurate. I think Speight will settle in with Cinnci and AF. RT, CB and QB/WR are the concerns going forward. If Speight settles in I think QB/WR will solve itself. Crawford didn't have many catchable balls, Black looked more than decent for his first game ever and Perry looked great. Throw in the TE hydra and we'll be fine. I'm rooting for Ulizio. He is probably the most important player on the team right now.
September 6th, 2017 at 8:41 AM ^
Where is the grade for the position of 'Viper'?!