Doom and Gloomers, Don't rush to judge O'korn
I know we all want Speight to to play as he gives us the best shot of winning in C-bus next week, but stop burying O'korn based on that game. The weather was absolute shit in just his first start ant it's not as if Barret was lighting it up in similar conditions in East Lansing.
Of course Barret is a much bigger threat to run, but he is also a 3rd year starter that looked very average yesterday against a mediocre team. Sure, we're not sending Joe Montana or Tom Brady out there next week, but neither are they.
If we win the battle on both lines of scrimmage we will win the game. Not much separating these two stat lines from this past weekend for the two teams.
| C/ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | QBR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John O'Korn | 7/16 | 59 | 3.7 | 0 | 0 | 28.6 |
| TEAM | 7/16 | 59 | 3.7 | 0 | 0 | -- |
Ohio State Passing| C/ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | QBR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.T. Barrett | 10/22 | 86 | 3.9 | 1 | 0 | 37.3 |
| TEAM | 10/22 | 86 | 3.9 | 1 | 0 | -- |
November 20th, 2016 at 5:39 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 6:09 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 6:59 PM ^
Agree. The yackety sax run away 360 spin moves have nothing to do with weather. Looked like scared Devin Gardner on a few of those...
November 20th, 2016 at 4:43 PM ^
I think JOK is a moot point.
I believe Wilt will play - kid is traveling to Columbus with a whole lot of gravel in his craw.
November 20th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:00 PM ^
Then we'll go after Barret's knees
November 20th, 2016 at 5:19 PM ^
Let's go after your knees first, then see if you feel the same way.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:28 PM ^
November 21st, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^
Go for it. My comment was under the pretense that OSU players would be specifically going after Speight's left shoulder because it is injured. If they play that way, why can't we?
November 20th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^
The expression is "moooo point," dumbass...
November 20th, 2016 at 5:18 PM ^
only if this were State week
November 20th, 2016 at 5:32 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 4:47 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 4:53 PM ^
His unwillingness to stand and deliver while taking a hit was pretty concerning. A big contrast to Wilton when pressure came in. I saw this in the spring game -- O'Korn bails out on the play and starts scrambling way too early. Hope Wilton can show up. But if it's JoK, I'll be cheering for him.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:02 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:13 PM ^
The most troubling part was that he doesn't scramble forward or horizontally when he feels pressure, he goes backwards and then tries to dump it off or ground it. That's gotta be corrected because that might have worked at Houston against Memphis or Navy but it's going to result in an INT or a 20 yard sack against OSU. Gotta avoid huge negative plays. Felt more pronounced, probably because Speight is really good at that spin move and then exit the pocket quickly to the side and dump it.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:35 PM ^
+1 for the Crazy Ivan reference! Experience, or just movie?
November 20th, 2016 at 7:27 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 6:39 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 7:03 PM ^
70,000 truck drivers don't wake up that early. If we jump out to a lead, that place will be silent. So glad its a noon start!
November 20th, 2016 at 4:48 PM ^
My biggest thing while watching was, we'd all been told O'Korn was quicker and more mobile than Speight... theories about pin & pulls and RPOs becoming a thing abounded.
Well, aside from his long run he looked slower than Speight if anything! He couldn't get to the corner, didn't take off quickly enough when nothing was open, etc. Now on that long run, once past the front 7 he cerainly had another gear than Speight, maybe even faster than Rudock (although his many huge runs have largey been forgotten in his legend).
IF O'Korn is to play again vs osu the coaches really really need to utilize that element more, cuz weather or no weather, that level of play ain't gettin it done in Cbus.
And I know this is not just me, but haven't we all felt for several weeks now that the offensive game plan is holding back, saving something big for when we need it?
Well, now that extends through a loss and another terrible offensive slog, it has GOT to be time to take the wrapper off of those plays - if indeed they've got em?!
November 20th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^
I don't know if I'd go that far, but I agree that he looked far less dangerous with his feet than what I saw in his first year at Houston. I was pretty surprised, and not in a good way. Hopefully it was a combination of the cold and first-game-starting jitters.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
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November 20th, 2016 at 5:16 PM ^
You're confusing the issue. O'Korn was not as good at maneuvering in the pocket as Speight, at all. He didn't find the right moments to take off.
But that has nothing to do with his actual speed. When he did find a crease, he was able to cover serious ground that Wilton was not able to.
That's because you're talking about two different attributes. O'Korn would win a sprint race pretty handily; Wilton has a much better sense of how to manage the pocket and WHEN to take off running. It's like the difference between a running back who knows how and when to hit the hole and a running back who is faster but just charges into the back of his OL every play.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:23 PM ^
O'Korn is much faster than Wilton, to claim otherwise is idiotic.
However, Speight's footwork in the pocket is much better, which makes him more elusive to pass-rushers in the backfield. Part of that is practice and part of that is confidence.
November 20th, 2016 at 7:00 PM ^
Yeah, I can't say how many times this year I thought for sure Speight was going to down for a sack, and he managed to evade the pressure. I remember in one game--maybe MSU?--it looked like he was definitely going to get dropped for a big loss, but he evaded pressure just enough to free himself to make a throw. It was incomplete, but the result was 2nd and 10 insteand of 2nd and 18 or something. The announcers made kind of a bid deal about how even an incompletion can be a good play.
November 20th, 2016 at 7:05 PM ^
Exactly... Speight is much quicker to reestablish his feet after scrambling allowing him to properly deliver the ball where he wants it to go. O'Korn scrambles, throws off one foot and behind his receiver or into the dirt. The game is moving fast for him. If he starts from day 1, these issues are not there.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:51 PM ^
Agreed. Speight's dropback & pocket footwork as well as his ability to anticipate where pressure is going to come from are far superior to what O'Korn showed yesterday. Those factors seemed to be bigger contributors to his poor play than arm strength and accuracy.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:51 PM ^
I hope JOK is used in designed run plays more- lets go spread tif needed
November 20th, 2016 at 10:52 PM ^
in the IU game, saw O'Korn barely able to get back to the line of scrimmage. I wouldn't mind seeing a QB draw or 2, but when they tried to get O'Korn to the edge against IU, they got nothing.
If O'Korn is playing, OSU will almost assuredly stack the box and make UM win the game with O'Korn's arm.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:28 PM ^
We are forgetting that it was Morris that looked like the running QB in the Spring Game, not O'Korn.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:48 PM ^
This is a blanket reply to the previous few posts:
O'Korn was SLOW getting to the edge on planned runs - not what we'd been told.
O'Korn was slow eluding pressure, not just the very clever sidesteps Speight is very good at, but actually running away from pursuers.
O'Korn was ctiticized following the Spring game for tucking and running too soon and too often. He looked quick then. Wha happen't?
November 20th, 2016 at 5:57 PM ^
Mixed OL and DL lines.
Any movement looks good and causes pandemonium.
But that's not going to work against a decent P5 defense in November.
November 20th, 2016 at 6:11 PM ^
JOK is faster. He runs faster. But Speight's pocket awareness and escapability are generally better.
I don't think Speight makes it 30 yards downfield on the key JOK scramble play. JOK showed good escapability on that particular play, but I think Speight would've stepped up in the pocket even sooner under a similar situation.
JOK is faster. Speight moves around the pocket better.
#MYHOTTAKES
November 20th, 2016 at 9:26 PM ^
With either QB, my concern is that Ohio State's DL is probably a little faster and more athletic than most of of the others they have faced. What may have been an escape and a nice gain can turn into a sack if you get too overconfident in one's own "escapability" playing inferior opponents. Sometime, especially on first and second down, throwing the ball away to avoid the sack is the best option.
November 20th, 2016 at 4:48 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 4:48 PM ^
It was also his first start at Michigan. He didn't get the benefit of starting with a noncon cupcake, he had to play a Big Ten team with a legit defense (still hard to believe we're saying that about Indiana now). I know he has over a year's worth of experience at Houston, but the Big Ten is a big step up in competition from what he faced there. If JOK does play, I trust we'll see much improvement from yesterday. Always big to get that first start out of the way.
November 20th, 2016 at 4:56 PM ^
I'm gona add 1 more criticism of the staff's handling of the QB situation, one many mentioned during the week leading up to Indiana - there was all sorts of opportunites to get O'Korn more snaps in our many blowouts before the leads had reached 40 pts.
We all watched Jabrill, Taco, Darboh, Speight etc still out there in 45-3 games and I know I was thinking "WHY"?!?
And now I'm really thinking it........
November 20th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^
That's a fair criticism, and I agree. Not sure why Shane Morris was getting more snaps than JOK, not even in garbage time but just random packages in competitive games, when JOK is our backup and the guy we'd need if Speight went out. Although, I'm not sure getting a lot of garbage time reps would have sufficiently prepared JOK to start a game at 0-0, only way to do that is to get that first start out of the way.
November 20th, 2016 at 6:46 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 4:53 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:13 PM ^
This is exactly why those games that we firmly had, JOK should have been in after halftime,and speight resting
But hindsight is always 20/20
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November 20th, 2016 at 5:22 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:46 PM ^
feet along with a season of practicing with Michigan.
I want O'Korn to come out and kick ass, but if it happens I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Harbaugh was working on things with his young inexperienced quarterback. In hindsight we may be able to see why he didn't have O'Korn in more.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:53 PM ^
Well it's NOT hindsight, I said it and said it until my fellow M watchers at the sports bar told me to shut the F up, watch the game and enjoy the blowouts!
They may have also said something along the lines of "HARBAUGH!"
November 20th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^
Oh My God - How do I downvote you 1,000,000 times Joe07?!?!
Dude, when I tell you that you're NEVER funny I know that'll just make you smile inside - you got a reaction, the only thing in this world you really seem to care about.
But to reach this point in the season and try to get THAT reaction, man why are you always on here posting your pathetic attempts at humor? You do not give a shit about Michigan football, just getting attention. I know, I know, I'm giving you exactly that, but I just gotta.....
No, 10-2 will not be alright with me, kay?