Speight's first pass vs. Illinois

Submitted by maybaum on

I'm not so sure that it was really a bad pass. On replay I noticed that a linebacker was moving into the passing lane just before the throw, and I think that Speight might have intentionally thrown it a bit more to the outside (slightly behind the receiver) because of that.

EDIT:

See 0:40 mark

http://mgovideo.com/football-in-48-michigan-vs-illinois/

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1989 UM GRAD

October 24th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^

Obligatory comment about increasing the point amount necessary to have posting privileges.

I'd be good with anyone having 1,000,000 or more points being able to post original content.

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schreibee

October 24th, 2016 at 2:49 PM ^

Holy Crap, I never look at people's points usually unless they say something so moranic I have to see how long they've been around -

HOW do you even get a million points?

I mean uncovering the Brandon email flap deserves that (I know others will auto-disagree, don't care), but what the Hell did you do '89?!?!?!?

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Fieldy'sNuts

October 24th, 2016 at 1:56 PM ^

Since we're posting random observations, has anyone else noticed Harbaugh's tendency to call long passes DESIGNED to be downed around the 5-10 yardline? He's done it in every game this year and he did it again against Illinois with that long throw to Darboh into triple coverage (LOS was 35 yard line, ball was caught/downed at the 7 yard line). This might go unnoticed but its an ingenious little wrinkle to his offense. Normally if your WRs are running routes that take them to the area around the 5-10 yardline, youre looking for the endzone, and consequently defenders are usually defending the goal line since they're EXPECTING you to be shooting for the endzone on that type of throw. But Harbaugh tries to PLACE the ball around the 5-10 yardline, then punch it in with a Smith/Hill run combo, which has an extremely high success rate. This effectively makes the endzone 20 yards deep for us: if we can place the ball anywhere between the back of the endzone and the 10 yard line, then its basically a TD. 

 

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Fieldy'sNuts

October 24th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^

It isn't. The long throw to Darboh was just one example. They've done it mostly on throws where they target the WR 10-20 yards through the air. I can't remember which game it was but there was one specifically designed to be caught and downed by Butt on the 4-5 yard line underneath two defenders who were defending the goal line. 

Edit: here's one such play that went to Perry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ldr-tJLjs&feature=youtu.be&t=5m13s

 

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BrokenRhino

October 24th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^

That is how I saw it live. I thought it was a nice last moment adjustment. Then you read Brian saying they all were good except the first throw. I think it was the right read with a good safe adjument.

Speight is a very safe QB. It is a little wierd seeing a Michigan QB with a TD to Int ratio of something like 12 to 2. It is adjustment like the one the OP metntioned that keep his ratio nice but throw off his accuracy numbers.

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mgobaran

October 24th, 2016 at 2:32 PM ^

I thought live that it was a back shoulder throw to a receiver not on the same page. Really, I was just mad they threw the ball. Two rushes for 15 yards, then 2nd and ten. Yuck.

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UM Fan from Sydney

October 24th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^

LOL

What is the point of this thread? Michigan won 41-8 and got two more victories later that night.

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sdono158

October 24th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^

Just looked up total QBR, too complicated for me to understand, but Speight is coming in at 12th right now and his game against Illinois was number 1 for the week in college football. For comparison sake Jake Rudock ended up 10th with a QBR of 82 and Speight is 12th at 79. So he is close to full season Rudock which seems right and hopefuly on an upward trajectory.

http://www.espn.com/ncf/qbr

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bamf16

October 24th, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^

You made the mistake of starting a new thread related to football on a Michigan sports board.  Time for the lifers who spend their days commenting non sports related nonsense to pile up on you for not writing about sports in their approved ways.

 

As for your point, it's a good one and an astute observation.  Watching live from high atop the other side of the stadium, it looked like a horrid pass and/or a communication breakdown between he and the receiver.  You very well may be right; he may have read the linebacker and by that point was committed to that throw and threw it where he did to avoid a pick.

 

 

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The Blue Barracuda

October 25th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^

I've noticed that Speight seems to not throw/make a great deciion on slant routes. There have been times that he has forced it to Darboh and while it worked, against better teams it wouldve been picked. I believe Speight read the lineback on this one and the throw was off because he was trying to keep the ball away from the LB. The times I have seem Speight, particularly from the left side. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just being paranoid? 

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