mike mccray
wilton speight
chase winovich
rashan gary
donovan peoples-jones
karan higdon
devin bush
quinn nordin
2017 air force

Michigan 29, Air Force 13 Comment Count

Ace


Quinn Nordin got his second school record in three games. [Eric Upchurch]

Michigan had their J. Walter Weatherman game today.

You could practically hear "...and that's why you don't schedule Air Force" echoing through the stadium as early as the first quarter, when the Falcons somehow used 6:13 of game clock to drive 24 yards in 12 plays for a field goal to knot the game at three apiece.

While Michigan's defense played up to their lofty standard, Air Force lingered in a contracted game that featured only 11 full drives from each team. The Wolverines could only move the ball in fits and spurts, generally going in the right direction until they hit the red zone, where all-too-familiar problems from the season's first two games cropped up again. Whether it was blown blocks, conservative playcalling, or missed opportunities, those problems forced Michigan to settle for field goals on all four of their trips to the red zone.

"They were doing a really good of disguising coverages, disguising blitzes," quarterback Wilton Speight said, noting Air Force did a particularly good job in the red zone.

"They had a better call than we had most of the time down there in the red zone," said Jim Harbaugh. "We'd like to score more touchdowns in the red zone. I think that'll come. We're moving the ball."

Speight finished an underwhelming 14-of-23 for 169 yards in what's become a typically uneven performance. He had a few excellent throws and lost some yardage to drops—most notably on a third-down pass that clanged off Kekoa Crawford's hands in the fourth quarter—but also missed a couple open receivers and couldn't lead the offense to a touchdown until the game's waning minutes.


DPJ couldn't be stopped once he got his eyes on the end zone. [Upchurch]

Fortunately for Michigan, while the offense found their footing, the other two units were rock solid. Quinn Nordin tied a program record with five field goals in five attempts, including a 49-yarder with room to spare to give Michigan a 9-6 halftime lead.

After the defense forced a three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, it looked like Michigan would finally break the game open. Donovan Peoples-Jones fielded a Charlie Scott punt that outdistanced the coverage, sprinted past the first wave, reversed field, and then tightroped the sideline for a 79-yard touchdown, the first of his Michigan career.

"My punt return team did a great job of blocking," Peoples-Jones said. "It made my job very easy. It just opened up like the Red Sea."

"I feel like great things are going to happen for Donovan Peoples-Jones," said Harbaugh.

Air Force countered with a rare explosive play, however, as receiver Ronald Cleveland got a step on Tyree Kinnel and took at third-down slant 64 yards to the house only four plays later.

That proved to be Air Force's only completion of the afternoon.


Somewhere in there is Air Force's quarterback. [Upchurch]

The defense, and the defensive line in particular, controlled this game. Against an offense that avoids negative plays at all costs, Michigan recorded nine tackles for loss and had three sacks on just 12 Air Force dropbacks. The three-man line of Rashan Gary, Mo Hurst, and Chase Winovich controlled the A- and B-gaps, allowing the back seven—led by Devin Bush and Mike McCray, who both finished with a team-high 11 tackles—to flow to the ball unencumbered.

By the second half, they were kicking the Falcons off the field with ruthless efficiency. Gary damn near beheaded quarterback Arion Worthman while forcing a third-quarter fumble the Falcons were fortunate to recover, inducing a roar of bloodlust from a previously stagnant crowd.

Their dominance meant two more field goal drives, plus a miss from Air Force's kicker, were enough to all but put the game away. Michigan was in clock-killing mode when Karan Higdon broke down the left sideline for a 36-yard touchdown with 1:02 to play.

"They play a brand of football that I really like, which is keep jabbing away," Harbaugh said. "They make you go beat them. They don't beat themselves."

That held true in this game. Frustratingly, it took the offense far too long to put the game away and still have fans feel comfortable heading into Big Ten play. Next week's trip to Purdue, a reinvigorated program under first-year coach Jeff Brohm, is looking far more perilous than it did a few weeks ago.

"We'll keep forging ahead, keep making improvements," said Harbaugh. "I like where this team is at right now."

Comments

mgoblue98

September 17th, 2017 at 12:09 AM ^

could just not watch.  That would save us from having to read your hyperbolic feelings ball comments.  You sound like Colin Cowherd in that your comments are not based in facts or what is actually occuring on the field.  

Clearly Michigan's offense is struggling.  Speight has struggled at times as well.  However, posting negative and denigrating comments about the players and coaches is pretty lame.   

Joined: 11/10/2013

MGoPoints: 9356

MGoStrength

September 16th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^

I'm not sure why we continued to run a 3-man defensive line in this game.  AF got a frustratingly high number of 5-8 yard runs.  The minute we put in Mone beside Hurst they typically went backwards.  AF only threw the ball a handfull of times.  Why not have a 4 man front the whole game, and while we at it, throw in a 3rd safety like a Watson or Woods over a Hill or Long to help in the box when so few WRs are in the formation.  Don Brown is the man, but I'm not sure why we did what we did.  Sorry, still happy for the W.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 20002

mgoblue98

September 17th, 2017 at 7:54 PM ^

thought the three man line worked out quite well.  AFA is going to get a frustrating number of  5-8 yard runs on most teams.  Remember that one of the most important aspects in stopping the triple option is taking away the fullback dive.  So, they took away the dive and made AFA go outside against 8 defenders.  Please also remember that AFA went backwards on a number of drives that Michigan played a three man line.  In Don Brown's defense, Michigan defensive backs have to be able to execute both CB and Safety responsibilities, so I don't think it matters if they had 2 CB's. 

Joined: 11/10/2013

MGoPoints: 9356

BlueMk1690

September 16th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^

especially if they win by 2 TDs but let's face it..this would have been a fine way to look at the game if we had played this type of game vs Wisconsin or even a team like Iowa.

But it's a service academy and they are also extremely inexperienced defensively..(this was only the 2nd start for most of their D and their 1st one was vs a pretty bad FCS team). If he doesn't have alarm bells ringing in his head, I feel bad for him because his October will be one of many bad surprises.

Joined: 02/04/2011

MGoPoints: 12933

Amaznbluedoc

September 16th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^

Keep saying how we were playing a "disciplined" team or make any excuses you want.  But 2016:

1) M 63 v. Hawaii 3 

First Downs 16 26
Rush-Yds-TDs 37-81-0 39-306-4
Cmp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 12-23-151-0-2 17-20-206-3-1
Total Yards 232 512
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0
Turnovers 2 1
Penalties-Yards 8-60
 

2) M 51 v. UCF 14 

Stat UCF MICH
First Downs 15 23
Rush-Yds-TDs 46-275-2 41-119-2
Cmp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 6-22-56-0-0 27-41-328-4-0
Total Yards 331 447
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-0
Turnovers 2 0
Penalties-Yards 9-

3) M 45 v. Colo. 28 
Stat COLO MICH
First Downs 15 20
Rush-Yds-TDs 33-64-0 41-168-3
Cmp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 18-34-261-3-0 16-30-229-1-0
Total Yards 325 397
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Turnovers 0 1
Penalties-Yards 7-46
 

I could continue to make my point but why?  Compare the stats/results of our first three games last year against our production this year and if you think we've made progress, please educate me as to why I am wrong other than we're playing slightly better opponents.  We went on to smash PSU and came away with a tough win against Wisky after that.

Joined: 09/27/2015

MGoPoints: 2240

Michigan Arrogance

September 16th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^

we have an entirely new WR corps, save 1 slot receiver. the guy wearing #1 can;t catch. 2 VERY green OLmen, at least one of which is on the field partly b/c his back up is (insert that ascii shrugging guy]. no more Jake Butt. Evens had a fumble today.

I don't think a lot of people were having reasonable expectations about the performance of the passing game. WRs (and Butt) getting gutted by graduation will have a big effect on passing efficiency. This ain't pick up street ball 3 on 3 counting 7 mississippis with one blitz per set of downs. WRs don't just run a button hook/square in/post/go deep and if they are open Speight throws it. They have to know where to line up see the defenders and get to the right spot with a precision down to the half yard and half second. an extra step, a cut not so sharp, a bad angle on a route and they aren't where they need to be, not just to get open mind you, but to be in the spot speight needs to throw to. some of the accuracy issues are on the WRs not running great routes, some on speight overthrowing and some on the OL letting in pressure. not to mention the drops. that's 4 things only one of which is on speight.

 

 

 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 35518

myislanduniverse

September 16th, 2017 at 9:26 PM ^

Why are you comparing this team to last year's team at all? Who said this team was better, or that it's made "progress"?

  

This team is raw and young, but talented. What exactly were you expecting this season? Everybody, this site included, was tentative on this young team. Then the preseason AP poll came out and you lose your damn minds. It's not a continuation of last year at all.

Joined: 09/06/2016

MGoPoints: 2234

OhioisaSnakePit

September 16th, 2017 at 5:12 PM ^

This is sac-religious, but its true.

The worst 2 losses in the last 20 years (MSU two years ago and OSU last year) have come under JH, and they were largely on him.  And the playcalling in the Iowa game last year was horrific. The problem, ladies and gentleman, is coaching.  

Now, I'm not saying we can get a "better" coach, but the fact is that we are in JH Year 3, the playcalling is vanilla and predictable, and the QB and RBs are simply not good.  By this time, we theoretically should be worried about the defense, not the offense!

Something has to change. 

Joined: 09/16/2017

MGoPoints: -13

You Only Live Twice

September 16th, 2017 at 7:31 PM ^

What has to change is that your relentless comments using different accounts should be placed in moderation hell and never posted.  

There are so many trolling accounts here, I really think there should be a 6 month moratorium before new accounts are allowed to post.  Prior to creating an account here I read the blog for several years, and took some time to learn the traffic rhythms when posting.  

MSU fans would like nothing better than to see Peters start and us going to the Holiday Bowl, and oh next on the wish list is let's get rid of Harbaugh.  The fact that their "supporting" evidence is full of holes doesn't slow down the onslaught.

Please find other interests.  This is getting borderline psychotic.

 

Joined: 09/14/2013

MGoPoints: 9615

stephenrjking

September 16th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^

I'm inclined to agree that this is a troll account. The evidence is pretty clear:

1. Nobody who is a real Michigan fan could possibly consider the two losses he listed as the worst of the last 20 years by any standard.

2. Nobody who actually pays attention to, well, anything in the last three years can think that JH has a problem with vanilla playcalling or predictability, or really coaching at all. 

Real fans might complain about an issue with the coaches here or there, but only trolls (and, I suppose, a hypothetical category of fan with the intelligence of igneous rock) could actually hold these two positions.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143972

LDNfan

September 16th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^

I think this fanbase is way underselling AF. That is a well coached and disciplined team that rarely makes mistakes and is rarely blown out. Look at their record over the last few seasons and you see that they've done well and haven't lost many games by double digits. 

Plus they play such and unorthodox style on both sides so they are a tough draw. 

Personally, I'm just glad this one is over...and I hope they never return to AA. 

Joined: 09/28/2014

MGoPoints: 10470

BlueMk1690

September 16th, 2017 at 5:32 PM ^

their D not so much. Gave up 30+ points 5 times last year - vs Wyoming, vs Hawaii, vs New Mexico, vs Colorado State and vs San Jose State. Yes, they lost to Hawaii at home last year..the same Hawaii we destroyed.

I think some people are way overselling AF to justify the performance level shown today on offense. I will give all the credit to our D for taking the sting *mostly* out of their triple option offense, but the offense was just plain crap. There's no arguing around it.

 

 

 

Joined: 02/04/2011

MGoPoints: 12933

Fezzik

September 16th, 2017 at 11:29 PM ^

Our team speed on defense and the fact our rush D is stronger than our pass D matches up favorably to a triple option offense. People act like Air Force is secretly an elite team because they have an unorthadox offense. If people fear Air Force then Georgia Tech must be the God of football. They run the same style offense but with bigger, stronger, and faster guys.

Joined: 09/11/2015

MGoPoints: 5552

champswest

September 16th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^

Speight finished an underwhelming 14-of-23 for 169 yards in what's become a typically uneven performance.

He didn't play a great game, but it was a pretty solid game and his best this year. I think his numbers would have been much better, and the scoring much higher, if there would have been better pass protection and fewer dropped balls. The latter two problems get only a passing mention while the blame is heaped on Speight.  He can play better and I think he will, but there is room for improvement across the board. He isn't the one shanking punts out of bounds, fumbling the ball in our end of the field, comitting drive killing or drive extending penalities or dropping passes. 

Air Force is a pretty good team. Much better than Purdue.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 25921