Utah 24, Michigan 17 – Recap

Look, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It is clear, though, that something is actually being built. Like, an actual structure this time instead of a sand castle akin to the one built the last time Michigan had a coach going through his first season in Ann Arbor. That was a very nice sand castle. It was fun to watch it be built, but by the following year, it was clear that it was, in fact, made out of sand. Michigan is building something real this time. The good news is that they have laid a nice foundation despite what looked like a lack of building materials. The bad news is that they are quite a ways away from putting the finishing touches on the Pantheon.

They did some good things and some bad things. Some of the bad things were a result of the changes in coaches and schemes and will get better over time. That they did as many good things as they did should be seen as a good sign. The team never quit, despite multiple opportunities to do so. Every time things got tough, they fought harder. That is what great teams do. That was an encouraging sign.

How worried should you be?

QB: 6/10. Rudock threw three interceptions, two of which were absolutely atrocious. The first pick wasn’t Rudock’s fault. Grant Perry ran the wrong route. The second was a poor throw. On the third, Perry did not run a great route, but Rudock stared him down the whole time and then threw a pass he had no business throwing. At that point, Michigan went from having momentum on their side to being all but done. He did some good, too; outside of those bad decisions, he was pretty okay. Even so, I’d at least think about starting Morris against Oregon State.

RB: 3/10. De’Veon Smith missed a few holes, but all in all, he looked better than he did a year ago in that department. Going into the season, running back was probably the position most likely to see an “OR” on the depth chart. However, when the chart came out, Smith was the clear starter. Thursday night, he showed why. Many of his problems were the result of poor run blocking (More on that in the OL section.). Ty Isaac looked like a solid contributor, Derrick Green did not. Drake Johnson being healthy will help the situation here.

WR: 4/10. Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson exceeded expectations. Behind them…uh, well, hey how about Darboh and Chesson? Drake Harris didn’t see much action. Grant Perry looked like a freshman. Brian Cole did, too, in much more limited action.(The bright side here is that only freshmen looked like freshmen Thursday, instead of half of the team.)

TE: 1/10. Jake Butt was Michigan’s best offensive player. By a lot. He exceeded expectations, and did so by a pretty good amount, and these were pretty high expectations that he exceeded. Outside of Butt, though, things weren’t great. Henry Poggi looked green. A.J. Williams looked a little better than he has the rest of his career, but was still very meh. Khalid Hill didn’t see the field much. Ian Bunting looked good in the passing game, we’ll see what he can do for the run.

OL: 6/10 for now. The O-line was not very good. Run blocking was almost non-existent. Pass protection was good in the first half and then just serviceable later on. They didn’t give up any sacks, but Rudock was under some pressure. The poor run blocking is not tremendously shocking; Michigan is changing blocking schemes and this is a very good Utah defensive line. Things will get better here, but it will take some time. Michigan does need to explore other options at LG, whether it’s Dawson there or Glasgow sliding over and Kugler playing center. You can’t have one of your guards looking like Braden did in a power scheme.

DE: 4/10. This was a position of concern going into the season, but they were okay. They weren’t getting many sacks, but they were at least getting pressure.

DT: 2/10. Wormley was great. Everyone else was good, preventing Booker from running up the middle for much. Depth may be of some concern.

LB: 3/10. Joe Bolden missed some tackles, but James Ross stepped up. Royce Jenkins-Stone was solid in his LB/DE pass rusher spot.

CB: 5/10. Jourdan Lewis lived up to expectations, but it looks like Michigan will still be looking for someone to play opposite of him. Stribling wasn’t great, Clark was serviceable.

S: 3/10. Jarrod Wilson did not give up any big plays. Delano Hill whiffed on Wilson’s TD run, but was fine otherwise.

DW: 1/10. Expectations for Jabrill Peppers were sky high and he lived up to them. He gave up a couple receptions early, but was big in the run game and crashed screens.

Special teams: 3/10, because of kicking. This was the area where we saw the most improvement over last year. Baxter did a great job with this unit and put 11 guys on the field at all times, something his predecessor could not always be counted (no pun intended) on to do. Blake O’Neill was very good. Kenny Allen made the field goal he absolutely needed to make, but it would have been nice to see him make the longer one as well. Peppers had a nice kick return.

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

Jake Butt, TE

Amara Darboh, WR

De’Veon Smith, RB

Defense

Jabrill Peppers, DW

Chris Wormley, DT

Jourdan Lewis, CB

Desmond Morgan, LB

Special Teams

Blake O’Neill, P

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com