Michigan 36, Cincinnati 14
[Bryan Fuller]
Michigan's home opener was supposed to look a lot like last year's Rutgers game. Instead, it more closely resembled last week's Florida game. While that was perfectly fine against a talented UF squad, it was far less so against an overmatched Cincinnati team that barely squeaked by Austin Peay last week.
The game began as expected. Ty Isaac churned out yards with ease, setting up a 43-yard Wilton Speight touchdown bomb to a wide open Kekoa Crawford on the opening drive. The defense held up its end, booting Cincinnati off the field in three plays. While the Wolverines went three-and-out on their ensuing drive, Tyree Kinnel got them back on track, picking off an overthrow from UC's Hayden Moore and diving into the end zone for a 28-yard pick-six.
Then things started going sideways. A short punt by the Bearcats bounced off Nate Johnson's leg, giving Cincinnati a first down on the Michigan 38-yard line. After a penalty kept the drive alive, Mike Boone squeezed his way in from a yard out for the first touchdown scored against the M defense this season. The next Wolverine drive stalled in the red zone, and Quinn Nordin's 28-yard field goal opened one of the uglier quarters Michigan has played under Jim Harbaugh.
Seemingly nothing could go right on offense in the second quarter. Speight fumbled a jet sweep handoff to Crawford to kill a promising drive. Tarik Black ran what, on review, turned out to be an 11-yard route on third-and-12 to end the next one. Speight winged a couple passes high, evoking bad memories of last week's second quarter.
Michigan didn't get a first-half point after Nordin's field goal with 14:03 left. The defense didn't give up any, either, but only after an interminable final drive by Cincinnati resulted in a 51-yard field goal sailing wide right. As the team ran into the tunnel, the fans were audibly displeased with the 17-7 halftime lead.
[Eric Upchurch]
The grumbling continued into the third quarter as Cincinnati took the kickoff and marched 85 yards in ten plays to cut the lead to three points. Michigan's next two drives went nowhere. What had been an annoyingly close game was becoming a potential nightmare.
Thankfully, Michigan woke up. With 3:01 left in the third quarter, Speight hit Grant Perry in stride on a crossing route, and Perry jetted through the Bearcats secondary and dove in for a 33-yard touchdown. Cincinnati could only threaten to score after that. Michigan's offense, meanwhile, piggybacked off some excellent running by Isaac to drive for a short Quinn Nordin field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
Luke Fickell handled the rest. On fourth-and-two from the Cincinnati 33, down two scores with seven minutes remaining, he called for the punt team. One yakety snap later, Michigan had a safety and the ball back, and the potential nightmare was over. The next UC drive ended after one play when Lavert Hill cut off a Moore pass, reversed field, and slipped inside the pylon for M's second defensive touchdown of the afternoon.
By pure box score standards, this game turned out well. Michigan outgained Cincinnati 414-200, dominated the ground game, and kept Moore under constant pressure. Speight, for all the complaining, completed 17-of-29 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. Isaac seemingly cemented himself as the lead back with a 20-carry, 137-yard performance.
Still, it's difficult to shake the feeling of the middle two quarters, which were indisputably ugly. The offense has some issues to work out, especially in the red zone, where they haven't scored a touchdown since the wrongfully negated Crawford catch to open the Florida game. Next week, Air Force presents another overmatched opponent, but one that's tricky to prepare for because of their unusual schemes on both sides of the ball. If Michigan doesn't bounce back with a more authoratative win, the good feeling from the Florida game won't carry over to Big Ten play.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
As a fan are you good with 1-12 against OSU in the last 13 games? That irritant goes back "fuckall" farther than Toledo. Cumulative trauma matters. Just ask my knees.
September 11th, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^
of fucking course not, which is why i didn't say that, dummy.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:49 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:53 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:50 AM ^
However you feel about the guy, the "sp8" thing is awful.
September 10th, 2017 at 3:45 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 2:08 PM ^
Sp8ers gonna Sp8
September 9th, 2017 at 9:12 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 10:06 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 7:52 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:08 PM ^
in Year 3.
Neg away, but you know it's true.
Well, mostly true. They may finish FOURTH in the Big Ten East.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:12 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^
If Harbaugh were to ever bring up Hoke as to why this team won't do better than 3rd place in the Big Ten East in Harbaugh's third year, there'd be a long line outside Bo's offices demanding he be fired.
September 9th, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
Hoke's inability to recruit a solid QB is exactly why we're in this situation right now.
September 9th, 2017 at 11:17 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
Three years ago this weekend, Brady Hoke's squad was getting shut out by Notre Dame.
Harbaugh's first real quarterback recruit is, as we all know, Brandon Peters, who is two games into his second year in the program. How in the world is it completely baffling that Peters is playing behind a fourth-year player who turns 23 later this year? The "problem" is that Speight is our best option amongst upperclassmen QBs. And it's not Wilton Speight's own fault that he is that best option and that junior-year Chad Henne is not currently on the roster.
I don't mean to criticize you in particular but I'm getting a bit tired of Michigan's own fans getting sucked into this "year three" of Harbaugh talk without acknowledging that Hoke's fourth recruiting class was not particularly strong and the transition class in 2015 was only top 40. Moreover, we are all painfully aware of the fact that OL recruiting under Hoke was either poor or unlucky, and the QB recruiting was imprudent, to say the least. I know that "time in the system" is a mitigating factor--and I'm not trying to blame Hoke--but people seem to be overlooking pretty obvious shortcomings in our current roster.
September 10th, 2017 at 11:59 AM ^
You seem to have a lot of time on your hands to post the same thing over and over.
Also, your statements read like nonsense.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:09 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:09 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:20 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^
Yep. O'Korn, Peters, and McCaffrey all brought in by Harbaugh and we're starting Speight. Ponderous man, really ponderous.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:35 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 2:06 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 7:25 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:18 PM ^
Seriously, it's one game. Look at Washington vs. Rutgers, Indiana vs. Ohio State, etc. Just look. I was looking for this team to make mistakes and come away with a win. I guess I got what I expected. A lot of coaching to do will fix the mistakes and this will humble the team significantly. Seriously, I want this win to pump some humility into this team before MSU, Ped State, Wisky, or C*CK**CKER pumps that humility into our team in an ugly fashion.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:30 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
Did you catch JT last night? Not a perfect game, eh?
Give me Speight any day of the week.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
The Speight data set is a lot more than one game. And, despite a litpany of excuses, it's pretty consistent.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:41 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^
I live in Seattle. Russell Wilson is legit. He just doesn't have to do everything ala Lamar Jackson. Wilson:Seattle is NOT Speight:Michigan.
September 9th, 2017 at 9:36 PM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 2:03 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 11:05 AM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:20 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 10:03 PM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 10:10 PM ^
September 11th, 2017 at 5:59 AM ^
September 11th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
DAMNIT double post.
September 10th, 2017 at 12:22 AM ^
September 10th, 2017 at 12:53 AM ^
have been 2 INT's.
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