Michigan wins!! (postgame discussion)

[hungry]

**** Ohio.

No shit! Can we just ignore the idiot named jwlcoh for a while?

 

[deathroh]

Throwing this out there for some perspective on Speight so far. I agree with the accuracy concerns and think he looks like...well, a sophomore getting his first real action, but let's take a step back.

Here are some numbers through 5 games.

Att Comp % Yards YPA TD Int
Rudock 148-89-60.1-956-6.46-5-6
Speight 146-92-63.0-1094-7.49-10-2

More accurate, more efficient, and much less turnover prone.

Sure there were a few throws from Speight that could have been picked, but that's true of all QB's. Plus his pick against Wisky was actually a pretty good throw IMO. You don't expect a LB to close like that and get a hand on it.

Of course Rudock turned the corner in a big way soon after this snapshot. While I don't expect Speight to quite match the trajectory since he doesn't have all of the tools that a 5th year senior has, there is room for improvement on these already solid numbers.

And while Michigan hasn't gotten into the meat of the Big Ten schedule yet, the passing efficiency defenses (PED shoutout for abcd) of their opponents so far is actually impressive outside of Hawaii.

Hawaii - 121
UCF - 27
Colorado - 3
PSU - 41
Wisc - 24

Too early in the season to read too much into that, but it's safe to say that he hasn't faced soft pass defenses. Rudock's initial 5 were much weaker, FWIW..

Utah - 33
OSU - 119
UNLV - 53
BYU - 19
MD - 105

All that said...I'm not saying that nobody has the right to complain about Speight so far. I'm not even talking about reasonable expectations and whether or not he has surpassed them. I get most of the complaints, and in general it's frustrating that the team is so ****ing loaded on defense and has such a great set of skill players...but QB play is somewhat middle of the road. I just think he's doing a better job that what he's getting credit for.

 

[dubbsco]

He is surprisingly elusive in the backfield for someone of his size and lack of real mobility. He's also pretty hard to bring down on first contact, he's shed a few tackles when it looked like he was buried.

Speight's numbers are pretty solid, they haven't asked him to do a whole lot and those numbers back that up. From memory, think he's at 10 TD/2 INT.

 

[UMRules06]

He has been good enough so far. Trouble is he needs to get even better for us to have success late in the year. You can bet OSU will put points up on us. Speight will have to be ready to match it. We can have fun with Spartan fans, but they will still be ready for a dogfight in EL too. Speight will need to be ready to lead some TD drives, and not settle for FGs.

 

[dubbsco]

No matter what people want to believe, that game in East Lansing is going to be a battle. Always is.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

Very little use of tight ends too

Offense needs to step up

I thought the offense was very vanilla. Did anyone else notice we never ran a hitch pass to either Chesson or Darboh when the defense was 10 yds off? I was waiting for it all game and it never happened. There were yards and points left on that field. Even though Speight kinda sucked, I thought the play calling was more than lacking.

 

[thewolverines24]

No matter what people want to believe, that game in East Lansing is going to be a battle. Always is.

Yep. Thankfully we have two tune-up games and a bye week to improve the offense before the game in East Lansing.

 

[Michchamp]

Throwing this out there for some perspective on Speight so far. I agree with the accuracy concerns and think he looks like...well, a sophomore getting his first real action, but let's take a step back.

Here are some numbers through 5 games.

Att Comp % Yards YPA TD Int
Rudock 148-89-60.1-956-6.46-5-6
Speight 146-92-63.0-1094-7.49-10-2

More accurate, more efficient, and much less turnover prone.

Sure there were a few throws from Speight that could have been picked, but that's true of all QB's. Plus his pick against Wisky was actually a pretty good throw IMO. You don't expect a LB to close like that and get a hand on it.

Of course Rudock turned the corner in a big way soon after this snapshot. While I don't expect Speight to quite match the trajectory since he doesn't have all of the tools that a 5th year senior has, there is room for improvement on these already solid numbers.

And while Michigan hasn't gotten into the meat of the Big Ten schedule yet, the passing efficiency defenses (PED shoutout for abcd) of their opponents so far is actually impressive outside of Hawaii.

Hawaii - 121
UCF - 27
Colorado - 3
PSU - 41
Wisc - 24

Too early in the season to read too much into that, but it's safe to say that he hasn't faced soft pass defenses. Rudock's initial 5 were much weaker, FWIW..

Utah - 33
OSU - 119
UNLV - 53
BYU - 19
MD - 105

All that said...I'm not saying that nobody has the right to complain about Speight so far. I'm not even talking about reasonable expectations and whether or not he has surpassed them. I get most of the complaints, and in general it's frustrating that the team is so ****ing loaded on defense and has such a great set of skill players...but QB play is somewhat middle of the road. I just think he's doing a better job that what he's getting credit for.

nice post. Only thing I'd add is that for what it's worth, when we have needed him to deliver, he has. he got the job done @ Minnesota last year, and the throw and go ahead TD against Wisconsin was pretty nice. it's just not often that a well-coached team is in a position where they have to rely on clutch performance from their QB to win games. why go pass heavy or show tendencies when you don't have to?

 

[deathroh]

nice post. Only thing I'd add is that for what it's worth, when we have needed him to deliver, he has. he got the job done @ Minnesota last year, and the throw and go ahead TD against Wisconsin was pretty nice. it's just not often that a well-coached team is in a position where they have to rely on clutch performance from their QB to win games. why go pass heavy or show tendencies when you don't have to?

Yep. Quite a few similarities with '97 when it comes to QB expectations and play, being the perceived weak point of the team. Personally, I thought Griese sucked balls coming in to the season. But he was solid throughout (very similar numbers through his first 5) and he came up with some really big plays when they needed them.

 

[Monster]

Honestly, Speight and Chesson need to work better together. He's way too good of a weapon to have the numbers he has this year. Does 13 catches and 0 tds sound like anything close to what he's capable of? And 5 of those catches were from this weekend alone. I'm also pretty sure none of those receptions were downfield.

Darboh has been excellent for the most part, but if Chesson ever gets back to form, this offense is going to catch fire.

The running backs (just the backs) averaged over 4 per carry against one of the best D's in the nation this weekend, so I see no reason to think that can't continue. Add in Chesson's 4-6 grabs for 100ish yards per game and a TD or two and there's nobody we can't beat.

 

[deathroh]

Odd stat, Chesson didn't top 58 receiving yards in a game until week 10 of last year. Of course he blew the **** up over his last 4 games.

 

[Monster]

Odd stat, Chesson didn't top 58 receiving yards in a game until week 10 of last year. Of course he blew the **** up over his last 4 games.

That's what I'm hoping for. It took some time for Rudock to be comfortable and build a chemistry with Chesson, so maybe that will happen this year. I just hope it happens sooner than later. Rutgers, bye week, home to Illinois, then in EL vs. Sparty. So there's time before our next real challenge.

 

[thewolverines24]

Chesson was injured during the spring and summer. I imagine Speight developed a rapport/trust with Darboh during that period.

Speight and Chesson had the same amount of time, fall camp, to develop timing and chemistry as Rudock and Chesson last year. We have to hope that they put it all together this season in the same fashion. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Chesson is far too good of a weapon to see him go games with one or zero catches.

 

[TheVictors]

I actually thought Darboh wasn't having a very good game until that TD.

 

[Monster]

I actually thought Darboh wasn't having a very good game until that TD.

He had a drop, but picked up a few first downs. Still wasn't a big stats day until then. 6 catches 87 yards