Michigan 36, Cincinnati 14
[Bryan Fuller]
Michigan's home opener was supposed to look a lot like last year's Rutgers game. Instead, it more closely resembled last week's Florida game. While that was perfectly fine against a talented UF squad, it was far less so against an overmatched Cincinnati team that barely squeaked by Austin Peay last week.
The game began as expected. Ty Isaac churned out yards with ease, setting up a 43-yard Wilton Speight touchdown bomb to a wide open Kekoa Crawford on the opening drive. The defense held up its end, booting Cincinnati off the field in three plays. While the Wolverines went three-and-out on their ensuing drive, Tyree Kinnel got them back on track, picking off an overthrow from UC's Hayden Moore and diving into the end zone for a 28-yard pick-six.
Then things started going sideways. A short punt by the Bearcats bounced off Nate Johnson's leg, giving Cincinnati a first down on the Michigan 38-yard line. After a penalty kept the drive alive, Mike Boone squeezed his way in from a yard out for the first touchdown scored against the M defense this season. The next Wolverine drive stalled in the red zone, and Quinn Nordin's 28-yard field goal opened one of the uglier quarters Michigan has played under Jim Harbaugh.
Seemingly nothing could go right on offense in the second quarter. Speight fumbled a jet sweep handoff to Crawford to kill a promising drive. Tarik Black ran what, on review, turned out to be an 11-yard route on third-and-12 to end the next one. Speight winged a couple passes high, evoking bad memories of last week's second quarter.
Michigan didn't get a first-half point after Nordin's field goal with 14:03 left. The defense didn't give up any, either, but only after an interminable final drive by Cincinnati resulted in a 51-yard field goal sailing wide right. As the team ran into the tunnel, the fans were audibly displeased with the 17-7 halftime lead.
[Eric Upchurch]
The grumbling continued into the third quarter as Cincinnati took the kickoff and marched 85 yards in ten plays to cut the lead to three points. Michigan's next two drives went nowhere. What had been an annoyingly close game was becoming a potential nightmare.
Thankfully, Michigan woke up. With 3:01 left in the third quarter, Speight hit Grant Perry in stride on a crossing route, and Perry jetted through the Bearcats secondary and dove in for a 33-yard touchdown. Cincinnati could only threaten to score after that. Michigan's offense, meanwhile, piggybacked off some excellent running by Isaac to drive for a short Quinn Nordin field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
Luke Fickell handled the rest. On fourth-and-two from the Cincinnati 33, down two scores with seven minutes remaining, he called for the punt team. One yakety snap later, Michigan had a safety and the ball back, and the potential nightmare was over. The next UC drive ended after one play when Lavert Hill cut off a Moore pass, reversed field, and slipped inside the pylon for M's second defensive touchdown of the afternoon.
By pure box score standards, this game turned out well. Michigan outgained Cincinnati 414-200, dominated the ground game, and kept Moore under constant pressure. Speight, for all the complaining, completed 17-of-29 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. Isaac seemingly cemented himself as the lead back with a 20-carry, 137-yard performance.
Still, it's difficult to shake the feeling of the middle two quarters, which were indisputably ugly. The offense has some issues to work out, especially in the red zone, where they haven't scored a touchdown since the wrongfully negated Crawford catch to open the Florida game. Next week, Air Force presents another overmatched opponent, but one that's tricky to prepare for because of their unusual schemes on both sides of the ball. If Michigan doesn't bounce back with a more authoratative win, the good feeling from the Florida game won't carry over to Big Ten play.
September 9th, 2017 at 7:50 PM ^
Either way, it was probably on DPJ for not eiher catching it or authoritatively getting his guys out of the way.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:04 AM ^
think that and a failure to make a field a punt a short time later (I think it was later) are probably what caused Harbaugh to put Grant Perry in to field punts.
September 10th, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
And that's the youth factor. It's boom or bust.
And thus the team's two first performances, vs. Florida then vs. Cinci
There's also a let down factor, for coming off of big games. Which is also a youth thing.
I'm usually an over-worrier, but in this instance, wait for another 3-4 games before forming an opinion.
Everything looks to be going to plan so far.
September 9th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:14 PM ^
I think that formula would work for any team...an accurate QB with dependable receivers.
September 9th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
And you sound like a dick.
Let's all just accept our win today, ugly as it was, and hope that Harbaugh and Co. fix the glaring issues we saw on the field.
September 9th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
The stat line is deceiving. Speight played like shit and Brian/Ace won't admit it for whatever reason.
September 9th, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
who should play? O'Korn is terrible. We have all the proof we need of that.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:41 PM ^
No one is calling for O'korn to start. But just because O'korn sucks doesn't make Wilton Speight a viable option for QB if we wanna win a big ten championship and make a playoff run.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:15 AM ^
I have seen some calling for O'Korn.
My belief is that OL play needs to improve dramatically for a Big 10 championship and play off run.
September 11th, 2017 at 9:24 AM ^
The guy behind me was screaming for O'Korn the whole game until I yelled, "No thanks asshole."
September 9th, 2017 at 7:58 PM ^
I'm not saying I'm calling for O'Korn or anything, but I think it's a little ridiculous for people to say he can't play based on his two possessions vs. Florida. He entered in a horrible position from a momentum standpoint. Was given three straight handoffs on the first possession and on the second had one great play and one bad one. How does that tell us that he can't be better than Speight.
I would think all but the most hardcore Speight fans would agree that the ideal scenario is Peters being close enough to be handed the keys. But if he is absolutely not ready, and Speight continues his mediocre at best play, I would think O'Korn warrants an opportunity to get some run in a good scenario to see what he can do. If he was close enough that he was getting some scheduled time in the Florida game (not that I believe that, but he was at least close enough that benching Speight was a reasonable option too), he is obviously better than what we saw last year in the IU game.
September 9th, 2017 at 4:58 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
Glad you could join the discussion, Mr. Franklin.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:16 AM ^
you seen JT Barrett throw the ball?
September 9th, 2017 at 5:32 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:57 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:13 PM ^
Peters is probably still learning the playbook and calling the protections, etc.. or at least that is what i keep telling myself.
September 9th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
How many snaps have you seen Brandon Peters take? Harbaugh and the crew have seen hundreds. Many on this blog believe he must be better because he hit some nice passes in an exhibition game with vanilla O and D. It's possible that those who watch these guys every single day and have done so for months know them a bit better than we do.
September 9th, 2017 at 11:00 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:26 PM ^
I think you're agreeing with me!
September 9th, 2017 at 8:01 PM ^
Just to clarify, are you suggesting that every year will be year one for QBs in the Harbaugh system?
September 9th, 2017 at 6:17 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 10:57 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:57 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:19 AM ^
did so well that the Clemson band trolled them at half time by forming 31-0 on the field.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^
Limiting the game plan! Give me a break WW. What a lame comment. Maybe they have a whole new playbook for Wiscy and OSU why limit it to PSU. I remember such asinine comments like that last year only to see the same offense and their hidden plays against OSU. Thanks for adding nothing though.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
Quit drinking and go to bed.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
This is not about having a limited playbook. This was about the team looking awful today.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
He wasn't serious. We're just overreacting to his warm and fuzzy analaysis and grasping at straws. Carry on.
September 10th, 2017 at 10:22 PM ^
"Limiting the playbook does jackshit when you're in real danger of losing to fucking Cincinnati."
Because I was on the road I only saw the last couple of minutes of the 3rd and the entire 4th quarter. Given all the angst here, I was pretty concerned about Saturday's game. Tonight I was able to watch the entire game on BTN and while the game remains every bit as ugly, Michigan was NEVER in danger of losing to Cincinnati.
Folks here tend to measure the team's performance against their perfect ideal of how the game should have evolved and they apply that play by play. So. barring perfect execution in every play in every phase of the game there are always some number of ugly plays on which folks can focus their "concerns". Time to get a grip.
I was disappointed in Saturday's game and, IMHO, it clearly demonstrated that this team has many defects which need to be addressed. It was an ugly win. So what? The good news is that the team has received a wake up call and didn't have to lose the game to get it. It was a win and the coaches will address the revealed problems and we'll see how they do against Air Force this coming Satruday. It does not matter how any game compares to someone's ideal. All that matters is for them to find a way to win the game every week.
September 9th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
I seriously doubt that fumbles, overthrows, pick-sixes, and throws in the dirt are a strategy to "limit the game plan."
September 9th, 2017 at 5:59 PM ^
my /s meter might be off on your comment...Overthrowing and throwing behind receivers as your "go-to" play isn't limiting the game plan...unless this is a year long rope-a-dope
September 9th, 2017 at 10:01 PM ^
They may be limiting the game plan because Speight just can't seem to complete many passes required of a Power-5 QB. And more evidence is mounting that he fumbles at key times.
But as most have said, he must be the best we have when the position is graded as a whole. Sad that a program like Michigan can't have an adequate QB each and every year....
September 9th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
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