Michigan 36, Cincinnati 14

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: September 16, 2017

It’s a win. It was ugly, and at times, it was too close for comfort, but it’s a win. Michigan may have been looking past this game. Maybe there were some growing pains here. I don’t know. Because this is a team Michigan should have walloped. Cincinnati struggled with Austin Peay. This should not have been a game in the second half, but alas, it was. To find out why, let’s look at the

Player Grades

The grading scale goes from -3 to +3 for each play. Penalties are counted in whatever phase they were committed. “Short” throws are 10 yards or less, “Medium” is 10-20, “Deep” is over 20. Everything else (scrambles, throwaways, etc.) is under “Miscellaneous.”

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So what happened?

Speight was bad. There’s no nice way to say it – he was bad. -1.5 is a really bad score for a QB; +6 or so would have been an average day given his workload. The botched handoff to Higdon was entirely on Speight, the botched transfer with Crawford was mostly on Speight. These silly mistakes keep happening and this time he didn’t really balance it out. He’s still the guy, but it’s looking like that’s by default.

Ty Isaac got the start and made the most of it, again showing why he was a 5* recruit coming out of high school. Kekoa Crawford and Grant Perry had excellent outings.

The right side of the offensive line was a problem. Ulizio was better, though still not good. Onwenu looked like a guy making his second career start.

The defense had a couple busts, but Cincinnati was really only able to move the ball on three of their drives. The only truly concerning thing there was the poor performance of Mike McCray. On the plus side, Brandon Watson looked excellent, which was a very welcome surprise.

Helmet Stickers

Up to 3 may be awarded per player. Not necessarily the highest-graded players since different grades mean different things to different players.

Offense

3: Ty Isaac, Kekoa Crawford, Grant Perry, Mason Cole

2: Zach Gentry, Ben Bredeson

1: Patrick Kugler

Defense

3: Maurice Hurst, Rashan Gary, Tyree Kinnel, Brandon Watson, Devin Bush, Khaleke Hudson

1: Chase Winovich

Helmet Sticker Count