Michigan 28, Purdue 10
John O'Korn (#8) breathed life into the Michigan offense. [Patrick Barron]
While it certainly wasn't how they planned it, Michigan may have solved their passing problems.
The trip to Purdue couldn't have started off much worse. Facing a fired-up, trash-talking Boilermakers squad, the Wolverines looked ripe for an upset in the first half. For a while, the game seemed designed for maximum frustration; first the preceding baseball game went into extra innings, causing out-of-staters to scramble to find the Fox Business Channel. Then, more disconcertingly, the offense looked even more broken than before.
Karan Higdon rushed for a first down on Michigan's first offensive snap. They'd go three-and-out to follow; the next two drives ended in the same fashion. The offensive line couldn't protect Wilton Speight or open up holes for the backs, the playcalling felt predictable and conservative. Midway through the first quarter, the game was deadlocked in an ugly scoreless draw.
Then an awkward hit changed the course of the game, and perhaps Michigan's season. As Markus Bailey came through the line untouched to sack Speight, 295-pound defensive tackle Eddy Wilson delivered a second blow that crumpled Michigan's quarterback, who stayed down before eventually being taken for X-rays and further testing. This was disaster. Yes, Speight hadn't been good this season, but he'd won the job for the second straight year over John O'Korn, and O'Korn didn't inspire any confidence in his previous appearances in maize and blue.
Zach Gentry dives for the touchdown. [Eric Upchurch]
So, of course, O'Korn promptly led the offense on a 13-play, 84-yard touchdown drive, completing all five of his passes, including a 12-yard scoring toss to Zach Gentry. Michigan had finally broken through. Two questions loomed. First, could Purdue counter? Second, could O'Korn keep it going?
The early returns weren't good in either regard. The Boilermakers hit back on the very next drive, covering 75 yards in only five plays after switching from David Blough to Elijah Sindelar at quarterback. O'Korn followed that with an interception after he threw a ball well behind Kekoa Crawford. Purdue cashed in with a field goal and entered halftime with a 10-7 lead. The Boilermakers had outgained Michigan 179 yards to 131. With Michigan's offense primed to struggle, the game would likely come down to a battle of wits between Purdue mad scientist Jeff Brohm and Don Brown.
Purdue would finish the game with 189 yards. Winner: Brown.
The total dominance by the defense would've been enough to avoid the upset. The offense, to everyone's considerable relief, did much more than rely on that to carry the day. After a punt and a lost fumble by Higdon, Michigan mounted an 11-play, 86-yard drive that calmed a lot of nerves. The coaches seemed to simplify the playbook for O'Korn, who looked to his tight ends and Grant Perry to catch and run with short passes. The drive only got going in the first place when O'Korn improbably spun out of a sack, reset, and hit Perry to covert a third down. It ended on a gorgeous playcall when M lined up showing a crack sweep look but instead had Chris Evans hit an interior hole off the pitch; the unexpected constraint play allowed him to waltz in from ten yards out.
Chase Winovich, with three sacks, had another dominant game. [Bryan Fuller]
O'Korn's next drive featured more creating outside the pocket, more big plays to Sean McKeon and Zach Gentry, and a targeting penalty on Purdue's Jawhaun Bentley. Ty Isaac finished that one off from a yard out, squeezing through a tackle off the right side and bursting into the end zone.
At this point, Purdue was desperately flipping quarterbacks, but had no answer for Michigan's ferocious defense. Blough re-entered in the fourth quarter only to be pummeled into the turf. After the eighth of nine three-and-outs forced by the Wolverines, Evans broke the game wide open with a 49-yard slice through the gut of the defense. Up 28-10 against a team that couldn't move the ball, Michigan went into clock-killing mode. The final six minutes and change passed in a hurry, helped along when Mike Wroblewski knocked the ball out of Terry Wright's hands for a Noah Furbush fumble recovery.
After averaging a woeful 3.7 yards per play in the first half, Michigan hummed along at a 7.3-yard clip in the second. O'Korn, despite a couple hiccups, looked like a completely different player from the one who underwhelmed when Speight was hurt last year. The defense, meanwhile, amassed five sacks, three of them by Chase Winovich, and took the run away from the Boilermakers entirely.
After the game, Jim Harbaugh said Speight suffered a "soft tissue" injury and declined to give a timeline for how long he'd be out. With a bye week ahead to work with the first-team offense, however, it's hard to imagine O'Korn hasn't earned his shot to lead this team against Michigan State. At the very least, Michigan heads into their week off at 4-0 and finally carrying some momentum on offense.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
He certainly does. He's gonna give OC's nightmares for a while.
September 24th, 2017 at 12:16 AM ^
he's too short, NFL!
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:29 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:50 PM ^
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September 23rd, 2017 at 9:56 PM ^
Absodamnlutely. He was a beast, and a beast that showed up everywhere the ball was.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:57 PM ^
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September 23rd, 2017 at 11:46 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
Agreed. Two best linebackers in the big ten are Jewell and Bush and Both All-americans IMO. Bush's closing speed is rediculous and both have great instincts. Adding Singleton, Anthony and the kid from ST. Mary's. I like McCrae but he is slow compared to these guys. If Solomon can duplicate my man Hurst the defense next year will even be better. Wrap your mind around that. If we can grow on offense Michigan's future could be pretty special.
September 24th, 2017 at 1:13 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 2:04 AM ^
Yeah Cato June was a good player but never hit this level.
September 24th, 2017 at 2:36 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 2:54 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 2:57 AM ^
Penn State gained almost 600 yards of offense at 5.8 yards per play. I sincerely hope that Michigan can do much better than Iowa's defense or I give Michigan very little chance of winning, even against James Franklin.
September 24th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
they didn't give up 50, which is what those yardage totals usually translate to.
September 24th, 2017 at 11:39 PM ^
- They did not look good against Pitt. The score could have been different had pitt avoided the pic 6 on the first play of the game.
- Penn state consistently failed to identify the unbalanced line. It let Pitt run all over them and really kept the game as close as it was.
- I don't see Barkley running over our defense as much as Iowa's. PSU generated only 100 yards of offense in the first half.
- McSorley isn't one to sling it all over the field. I feel that a pocket passer who can carve up the secondary is the best way to beat out D.
- the receivers struggled to create separation despite getting a number of one on one matchups
- PSU front four rarely gave Pitt's QB any pressure. That will help either of our QB's.
- Penn state did control the special teams battle and had effective punts essentially ruining pitt's starting field position.
- PSU offensive line is mostly sophomores. They won't stand up to our front.
- Pitt sucks. I get that it's a rivarly game, but I felt that Penn State did not show the ingredients for a top 5 team. Is Iowa great? Idk, but the PSU team I saw did not have the ingredients to defeat Michigan.
September 25th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^
I got back to my friend's apartment in Indianapolis after the game and was able to catch the 2nd half of the Iowa and Penn St game. One thing that stook out to me was how much faster Michigan's Defense looked (after seeing them up close and personal for the 2nd time) than Iowa's defense. That is not a knock on Iowa's defense because I thought they did a heck of a job. I just think it is going to be very tough for PSU to run alot of their long developing run plays against the speed of our defense.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:04 PM ^
Devin Bush is a better defensive player than Jabril Peppers.
September 23rd, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^
And I agree.
September 23rd, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 2:46 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
Bush isn't a viper. He's a Will (sometimes Mike).
September 23rd, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
Remains to be seen. But maybe.
September 23rd, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
Remains to be seen. But maybe.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:06 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:06 PM ^
I did a lot of yelling and most of it was when the Brewers hit that HR in the 9th to tie that game. On a positive note, I have no desire to smoke thanks to the Fox Business channel.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:08 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 1:10 AM ^
"Ruddock" was when Jake played poorly. Rudock was the good version.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:10 PM ^
I think Harbaugh gave us an idea of the timeline for Speight's return when Peters went out there to burn his redshirt for a clock-killing final drive.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
Didn't Peters redshirt last year?
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
he did, and needs to get game experience now that he is the #2 QB.
why do so many people think Peters is a true freshman? he was not in the same class as McCaffery.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^
Well damn. I have lost an entire year of my life.
Getting old is stupid.
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^
Yeah.
My bad.
Getting old is a real treat.
September 24th, 2017 at 2:43 AM ^
is better than the alternative.
September 25th, 2017 at 9:16 AM ^
What is the alternative? Getting younger?
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:10 PM ^
Has Speight been "Wally Pipped" or "Kaepernicked"?
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
September 23rd, 2017 at 9:21 PM ^
Especially if JOK goes on to be the GOAT.
I guess the term would be "Smithed" and not "Kaepernicked," but for some reason the latter sounds catchier.
September 23rd, 2017 at 11:54 PM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 1:03 AM ^
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September 24th, 2017 at 1:26 AM ^
September 24th, 2017 at 2:08 AM ^
was apparently his nickname, and according to Wikipedia his favorite meal was milk toast, which like, wtf is that? And is it best served with Milk Steak?
September 24th, 2017 at 6:39 AM ^
One of my fathers favs as well. Not sure if there is an acual recipe for it but when my mother made it for him it went as follows.
She put around 1/2 qt of milk in a sauce pan and heat begin heating it. As that was going on she'd add bread to the milk, maybe a few slices. Once the milk was hot enough she dropped a few eggs in, poaching them more or less. Once the eggs were done she'd pour it in a bowl for my dad.
It's a depression recipe. My dad also ate oatmeal with butter on it. No milk or sugar, only butter. Milk was hard to come by when he was a kid according to his recollection.
September 24th, 2017 at 6:55 AM ^
+1 for learning something that I was not expecting from this thread.
September 24th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^
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