Michigan 29, Minnesota 26 – Recap

(Photo: Michigan Basketball on Twitter)

Well, that was certainly closer than we hoped, but Michigan won, possesses the Jug again, and is bowl eligible. So that’s good. They also didn’t put a clearly concussed player in the game and then spend far too long attempting to figure out how to spin it this time. So that’s very good. What a difference a year and a Harbaugh and a Hackett make.

Now for the bad news – we’ll have to wait and see if this becomes a pattern, but it looked like Minnesota figured out how to play Michigan. Michigan struggled with the read-option again and defensive backs not named Jourdan Lewis or Jabrill Peppers (Jeremy Clark was okay, but a step below Lewis and Peppers here) were very meh. On defense, Minnesota stacked the box, which teams are going to do until Michigan is able to throw downfield effectively (read: hopefully next year). It is worth noting that it took a great deal of luck for Minnesota to even come that close, so it you’re looking for something to feel good about here, that’s it.

Position Changes

Ross played a pretty good amount at Buck in this one. I’m still not sure why. Prior to reviewing the film, my initial hunch was that since Godin was out, Wormley had moved inside some, so they needed Charlton more at SDE and thus used Ross at Buck to spell Jenkins-Stone. But nope, they just put Ross there to put him there I guess. I suppose it’s possible they liked the idea of him at Buck more than the idea of Charlton there, or that Gedeon has passed Ross on the depth chart at LB (I would almost definitely put Gedeon ahead of Ross there) and the coaches were looking for a spot for Ross, but whatever the reason was, he got burned too many times for that experiment to continue. This really doesn’t seem to say good things about Lawrence Marshall right now; the biggest issue with him coming out of spring camp was that he was still a bit undersized and Ross is even more undersized and was playing while we didn’t see Marshall.

Zach Gentry is a QB “for now,” but the talks about him moving to TE may be coming to fruition. This seems like a good idea, since Gentry has plenty of size and even though Brandon Peters is still in high school, from what I’ve seen of him, I imagine he’ll be the starter by 2017 at the latest unless O’Korn really is a very good-to-great QB who was hindered last year by less-than-ideal coaching and a turnstile O-line (maybe) or Morris is redshirting because he and Coach Harbaugh really do believe that he can be the starter the next two years (doubtful, more on that later) or Victor Viramontes ends up being Denard with more size and accuracy (wouldn’t count on it) or Malzone really develops (also wouldn’t count on it). I guess we shouldn’t count out Speight next year, but while he stepped up against Minnesota, he looked pretty far away from being a real option to start considering the other option Michigan should have. As far as Gentry himself goes, given that a) his name hasn’t been brought up as someone who could be playing this year given what we’ve seen from Rudock and Speight and b) Michigan’s got what looks to be a very nice group of recruits coming in at QB, he’s probably a decent way away from being a factor at the position.

Freddy Canteen has been practicing at CB and will likely stay there. That seems like a good idea; he hasn’t played much at WR this year and Harbaugh’s system doesn’t really use a slot WR like Canteen all that much in the first place and Perry, Cole, and Chris Evans (should he remain committed to Michigan, which seems likely to me) all project as slot-types and the CB position consists of Jourdan Lewis and then a few guys among whom nobody has looked that much ahead of anyone else.

Speight vs. Morris

I posted this tweet from Brian Cook in the rapid reaction, but now I want to go further in depth on this.

After the game, Speight said he knew all week that he was the backup QB. Does that mean Harbaugh thinks he’s better than Morris? Dunno. My guess is yeah, but I’m not sure. What I do know for sure is that that means Harbaugh thinks he’s a better option than Morris. What’s the difference? Morris is a lefty, so that changes the dynamics of the offensive line. Putting Morris in the game would mean either moving guys on the line or counting on Magnuson, who has been very average as a whole and a little less than that in pass pro this year, to protect Morris’ blind side. See a good option there? Me neither. Now, it does seem like Morris is trying to redshirt and graduate early so he’ll have two full years to play somewhere else, however, I don’t know why he would be using his redshirt year at Michigan instead of spending this year learning the system wherever he wants to go. If the writing’s on the wall, I have a hard time imagining it got there yesterday.

Game Grades

(A “+” is awarded for a positive play, a “-” for a negative one. For big positive or negative plays, 2 “+” or “-“, respectively, may be given.)

(Note for this week: The first couple of drives were not graded because I couldn’t find video for them since the game started on ESPN3. Thanks, ESPN.)

How Excited Should You Be?

QB: 3/10. Rudock was injured in this one, and while it looks like he’ll play against Rutgers, the injury is worth keeping an eye on especially since it was to his throwing shoulder and he didn’t look so great throwing the ball in the first place. Speight made some throws when he had to and helped Michigan pull this one out, but if he has to become the starter, Michigan’s at trouble. Harbaugh really wasn’t kidding when he said Rudock was far-and-away the best QB on the roster. *shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke*

RB: 7.5/10. De’Veon Smith was back to missing holes and not cutting when he needed to. Derrick Green was just a guy, Ty Isaac is not playing due to an internal matter, and we didn’t see Karan Higdon. Drake Johnson was very good, though. Well, as a runner he was, and here’s where the “maybe Drake should be the feature back” talks kind of go off the rails: he is not particularly good in the passing game. Two of his minuses were missed blocks. The third was getting Magnuson’s way momentarily on a play that resulted in a sack. Magnuson was minused as well on that one, because he did his matador impression again, but Johnson didn’t help matters. For now, I think I’d stick with Smith as the feature back, just because he’s better in the pass game. His problems running should be alleviated once Michigan is able to throw downfield and opposing teams no longer feel comfortable sticking ten guy within seven yards of the line of scrimmage (again, read: hopefully next year.) *shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke again*

WR: 7/10. Chesson and Darboh were good. Depth’s still an issue. Perry was mostly used as a blocker and wasn’t particularly good. I’d take a look at Bunting in his spot. But, oh look, another position where some less than spectacularness is caused by a deficiency at the QB position. * shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke again*

TE: 9/10. Jake Butt was very good. Everyone else was at least okay. And you guessed it, *shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke again*.

OL: 7/10. Some of the issues in run blocking seemed like a result of just being outnumbered. When there are 10 guys within 7 yards of the line and only 9 people at most available to block, yards are probably going to be hard to come by. And of course we know why Minnesota was able to put 10 guys that close to the line…* shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke again*. Kalis was bad, Glasgow was bad by Glasgow standards, and Magnuson wasn’t very good. Braden was solid, though, and Cole was great. Grant Newsome was fine in his debut. I still kind of wish he still had a redshirt available, but at least when this staff burns redshirts, it is because those guys are going to contribute in a meaningful capacity. *shakes fist angrily at Brady Hoke again* Yes, I’m shaking my fist at him twice in one position.

DL: 9/10. *does not shake fist angrily at Brady Hoke* Ross at Buck was discussed earlier. That shouldn’t be done again. Jenkins-Stone was kind of meh when he played, but meh was an improvement over Ross. Every other defensive lineman was very good-to-great.

LB: 6/10. Morgan was very un-Morganlike. Bolden had a nice game. Gedeon didn’t see a ton of action. Gant got in on the final play.

CB: 8/10. Lewis didn’t grade out well, but that far more to do with how grading works than with how Lewis actually played. Corners are really only be plussed or minused when they’re targeted. A +2 -2 =0 line from a guy who plays as much as Lewis does means teams know better than to throw at him. One minus was a facemask penalty. The other was for the two passes he let his guy catch late. Solid performance by him. Stribling wasn’t great and caught a -2 on the pass that took Minnesota down to the one late. Clark was okay.

S: 9/10. Minuses here were either for coverage biffs or in Hill’s case, for not containing runs. Peppers is the man.

K: 9/10. Three extra points. No FGs attempted.

P: 9.5/10. O’Neill was very good. Thomas let him down on one that would have been downed inside the three.

ST: 10/10. Peppers is the man.

Helmet Stickers

(Generally the 3 players on offense and defense I have graded the highest, plus the best special teams performer, but I reserve the right to award as many or as few stickers as I see fit.)

Offense

Mason Cole, OT

Jake Butt, TE

Jehu Chesson, WR

Joe Kerridge, FB

Wilton Speight, QB

Jabrill Peppers, WR

Ben Braden, OG

Drake Johnson, RB

Defense

Ryan Glasgow, NT

Willie Henry, DE/DT

Chris Wormley, DE/DT

Maurice Hurst, NT

Joe Bolden, LB

Jabrill Peppers, S

Special Teams

Jabrill Peppers, KR/PR

Helmet Sticker Count

Jabrill Peppers, S, KR, PR, WR – 12

Chris Wormley, DE/DT – 8

Jourdan Lewis, CB – 6

Desmond Morgan, LB – 6

Willie Henry, DE/DT – 6

Graham Glasgow, C – 5

De’Veon Smith, RB – 5

Jake Butt, TE – 5

Maurice Hurst, NT – 5

Ryan Glasgow, NT – 5

Blake O’Neill, P – 4

Kyle Kalis, OG – 4

Amara Darboh, WR – 4

Jehu Chesson, WR, KR – 4

Sione Houma, FB – 4

Mason Cole, OT – 4

Joe Kerridge, FB – 4

Ben Braden, OG – 3

Erik Magnuson, OT – 2

Taco Charlton, DE – 2

A.J. Williams, TE – 2

Ben Gedeon, LB – 2

Royce Jenkins-Stone, DE – 2

Joe Bolden, LB – 2

Drake Johnson, RB – 2

Brian Cole, WR – 1

Matt Godin, DT – 1

Ty Isaac, RB – 1

Khalid Hill, TE-H – 1

Channing Stribling, CB – 1

Jeremy Clark, CB – 1

Jake Rudock, QB – 1

Kenny Allen, K – 1

Wilton Speight, QB – 1

 

Go Blue!

 

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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