Michigan 51, UCF 14
Tyree Kinnel got his hand on not one, but two punts. [Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog]
I can't sum it up any better than this guy did:
@AceAnbender @mgoblog
— Mike Wint (@gbMWint) September 10, 2016
my wife: "hey they punted and it didn't get blocked"
Me: "that was a throw"
Tyree Kinnel deflected two UCF punts, Chris Wormley blocked two field goals, and Khaleke Hudson demolished a kick returner who appeared to be going out for a light jog. The Knights took an illegal block penalty on a kickoff touchback, sent out 12 players for a punt return, and muffed a short kickoff for a Jordan Glasgow recovery.
So that covers the special teams.
Wilton Speight took advantage of a UCF defense intent on loading the box against the run with several pinpoint throws downfield, finishing 25-for-37 for 312 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. The usual suspects led the way among the receivers; Jake Butt had two touchdowns among his seven catches, Amara Darboh cross the goal line twice and broke the hundred-yard mark, and Jehu Chesson needed only four receptions to tally 84 yards. That more than made up for the running game, which couldn't get much going agianst eight- and nine-man boxes; even with sacks and a punt gone wrong removed, Michigan averaged only 3.7 yards per carry. Fullback Khalid Hill plunged in for two touchdowns, at least, so it wasn't all bad on the ground.
Upchurch
The defense, meanwhile, limited quarterbacks Justin Holman—who exited the game in the first half with an apparent injury—and Nick Patti to a combined 6-for-22, 56-yard performance. A few errors—one of which may have been on the officials—led to an 87-yard touchdown run for Adrian Killins, and the Knights were able to rack up 275 yards on the ground, with a healthy chunk of that coming when the QBs broke contain.
While many fans were concerned about the line play, one Jim Harbaugh didn't share that worry.
"I thought the lines really took care of business today," said Harbaugh. "Both the offensive and defensive lines did a very good job."
Quarterback contain, he admitted, was an issue, but one that he believed Don Brown made the proper adjustments for in the second half.
Rashan Gary had his first big game as a Wolverine, tearing off the edge for his first career half-sack (Ben Gedeon arrived simultaneously) and had two more tackles for loss. Seven different Michigan defenders tallied tackles in the backfield, and Jabrill Peppers was everywhere—he led the team with eight tackles (two for loss), had two QB hurries, and returned a line-drive punt 35 yards deep into UCF territory to set up Butt's second score.
If there's any indication that Michigan has returned to form, it's that the crowd didn't seem satisfied with a 37-point win. Against an overmatched opponent that couldn't even reliably get a kick in the air untouched, the coaches had no need to utilize much of the playbook, which led to some ugly plays but won't reveal anything to Colorado, next week's opponent and Michigan's first that appears to have a pulse.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:18 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 9:48 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 11:06 PM ^
never played two worse teams twice in a row. Hawaii was 122nd last year, UCF was 128th (last in FBS). The defense did not look great against a bad team that runs an offense that we need to be able to stop. Not too worried about it given the new scheme and injuries, but glad we get a couple of bad opponents that run this offense to work on it.
September 11th, 2016 at 12:09 AM ^
Both teams will be better than that this year. Raback it.
September 11th, 2016 at 12:17 AM ^
they might even get into double digits, but the point still remains: we've never played two worse opponents in a row. Probably not even close. So, context.
September 11th, 2016 at 8:30 PM ^
And last year doesn't count for this year. If the previous year counted for the current year, then explain how Michigan won 10 games last year after going 5-7 the previous year?
But anyway, I'm guessing Case, Albion, Beloit, and Ohio Northern, would challenge for worst in a row. If you want just two, perhaps Kalamazoo and Physicians & Surgeons? Or maybe American Medical and West Virginia (Michigan put up more than 200 points against those two).
September 10th, 2016 at 4:18 PM ^
And they tried to Punt on 3rd down.....
September 10th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:29 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^
I think this week's UFRs will be particularly interesting. I'm anxious to see just how much the run game woes were due to stubborness by UCF (stacking the box and ignoring the pass even after Speight proved he could torch them), and how much was due to an off day for the offensive line. I also think the defense played better than people thought, but we will see soon I guess.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 8:35 PM ^
The first Q their front four were pushing our front five into the backfield. Maybe they had seven in the box, but many times they were using just four to disrupt the run. Jim might be happy, but it was ugly, and three years ago Funk and Hoke were this close from being crucified for an offensive line that looked little worse than did Michigan's yesterday.
September 12th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^
...the Offensive Line pretty well. That same line was protecting Speight pretty handily against that same 8-9 man stack. It was still UCF, and I'd still like to see them run the ball between the tackles to spite them, but why not take the wide open field they gave? There was similarly little reason to open the playbook to get the run-game moving on the outside.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-ucf-michigan-grades/
September 10th, 2016 at 5:09 PM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 12:39 AM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^
is almost certainly the best option, assuming he's at least as good or slightly better than last year. He's been hurt so hopefully just needs to shake off the rust. I agree that Kugler (57) looked better than Bredeson (74) so was very surprised not to see Kugler more in this one.
September 11th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^
And some were worried this game would be competitive
September 10th, 2016 at 4:22 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:24 PM ^
We covered the spread on a day where many (most?) top teams are looking like hot ass. Just a weird day. Run blocking and QB contain the only real concerns, Harbaugh says no new injuries...pretty nice afternoon
September 10th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
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September 10th, 2016 at 11:21 PM ^
of the top teams looked like hot ass? Clemson was the only legitimate playoff contender that didn't completely dominate today.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
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September 10th, 2016 at 11:23 PM ^
performance have to do with playing spread teams?
September 11th, 2016 at 12:34 AM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
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September 11th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^
The comment "see what Harbaugh can do" against spread teams along with the specific comment about offense implied a discussion about the offense, since that's what Harbaugh coaches. I was similarly eager to see what Don Brown can do against spread teams since he's the one running the defense and comes in with proven results. Jury certainly out a bit but I'm sure we'll be ready to go for the teams at the end of the schedule.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
Harbaugh will never put his players down - an admirable quality - but he was wrong about the line play and they have a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball if they expect to perform against whiskey, MSU, Iowa, and Ohio.
September 12th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
...About the O-Line. With the exception of Braden, the line was moving bodies 3-4 yards off the line of scrimmage nearly every play. With 9 guys in the box, though, you need the backs or receivers to pick up a block, and they were whiffing.
UCF stuck with their defensive plan all day, knowing full well that it would give up big pass numbers in blowout fashion, because they had no illusion of winning, and wanted to have a moral victory to point to, to build confidence off of.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^
What was the possible ref miss on the 87 yard TD run?
September 10th, 2016 at 4:28 PM ^
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September 10th, 2016 at 4:34 PM ^
and would have been there, but was held rather blatantly. Not as blatantly as Braden tackling that guy in the 1st quarter (also with no call), but still pretty easy to see.
September 10th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
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September 10th, 2016 at 5:13 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 10:04 PM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 12:20 AM ^
this had nothing to do with pressure. Thomas was in position and took a horrendous angle. With his speed and Peppers and Lewis on the field, I'd be disappointed if we give up any more plays of 80+ yards, which are rare.
Don Brown's defense at BC last year was #2 in the country in FOs IsoPPP metric which is a defenses ability to prevent explosive plays. This was better than Michigan's ranking last year (#18) so he's right that his is not a defense that is "high risk". Their aggressiveness is controlled and smart so the scheme isn't going to be responsible for a lot of big plays. Missed tackles and blown assignments will be to blame so gotta clean that up.
September 11th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
September 12th, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^
More like 12.
September 11th, 2016 at 12:12 AM ^
holding call was not the only holding call that was missed that went in Michigan's favor. There were at least three or four other egregious holding calls on Michigan that didn't get called.
I don't think the "block" on McCray was holding. Lawrence Marshall lost edge contain from the DE position. Then McCray failed to get off of the block and Thomas took a terrible angle and that was it.
September 11th, 2016 at 1:24 AM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^
September 10th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^
September 11th, 2016 at 8:52 PM ^
He was getting pummeled and it's a testament to his constitution that he never seemed to flinch.
September 10th, 2016 at 4:29 PM ^
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