Adam: This two-throw sequence has it all:

The throw to Gentry is basically a fadeaway, but it's a boggingly accurate one considering Speight's footwork. Frequent pressure is forcing him to move around in the pocket, and once he's moving around said pressure prevents him from making technically sound throws. The next throw is one of those grating OOB throws that have become common in and around the end zone; despite this, I place little blame on Speight. He's under siege from the drop and looks like he's trying to let the receiver get into his route as long as possible while also bracing for impact, hence the bad throw.  

Being able to find a receiver at all is commendable when you're under that kind of duress. The first throw can't be stepped into lest he get crushed, and yeah, there's maybe a half second on the second throw that he could have used to set but there's also a blitzing, snarling serviceman closing in quickly. I rewatched the game a couple of times and didn't see throws that were flat-out bad when Speight wasn't pressured. He's looking to get through his reads, and by the time he's through two or three there's rarely time to do anything but chuck it and hope for the best.

---------------------------

Seth: Speight isn't the only problem—we're going to talk about the receivers—but he is the least solvable. A quick timeline:

• 2015: Dreadful except one magnificent Minnesota drive
• Early 2016: Starts atrocious, receives Harbaugh pounding, fine
• Colorado to bye 2016: Ear-holed, lost confidence
• Bye Week until Iowa 2016: Lethal
• Iowa: WTF
• Post-Iowa 2016: Injured, constantly under siege, smart
• 2017 to date: Smart but regularly targets tacopants

Since the Defenstratio Testudo game there was Jaleel Johnson, then Ohio State and Florida State turning Kalis into a turnstile, and three games behind this kid OL that still regularly screws up obvious twists. The narrative here is an all-too-familiar one: the less he can trust his pocket, the more Speight loses his footwork, and the crappier he gets. Devin Gardner's 2014, JT Barrett 2017, every NFL QB behind a bad OL: QED.

[After the JUMP: We wish we wish we wish]

---------------------------

Ace: Yeah, let’s get to those receivers. While the tight end group has held up well, the wideouts (other than Grant Perry) haven’t given Speight a ton of help. As it turns out, having a true sophomore as the de facto #1 receiver isn’t optimal. Kekoa Crawford hasn’t been reliable as the top option; the first Florida pick-six, not clearing out for Speight on the goal line scramble against Air Force, and the flat drop on third down later in the AF game are the first things that come to mind when thinking about how his season has gone.

It’s more than simply a matter of catching the ball, too. There have been more than a couple dropbacks this season in which Speight has surveyed the field and rightfully decided nobody was open. While Speight has certainly been scattershot, I have to imagine some of these off-target throws are due to freshmen running imprecise routes. It doesn’t seem like Speight fully trusts his receivers yet.

This should improve gradually over the course of the season, even with the Tarik Black injury, as the wideouts gain much-needed experience. I think we’re still going to notice the absence of two senior wideouts all year.

---------------------------

David: Other than Grant Perry, no one of the roster has much collegiate experience at all. Crawford and Bunting got some time last season...but not a ton.  Most everyone else is in their first season on the field. There have been drops, miscommunication, and lack of familiarity with how to ad lib play breakdowns (i.e. the Speight awkward pop pass attempt to Crawford...in which Kekoa should have conflicted the defender by releasing to the corner). These are definitely things that can and will be ironed out with more reps, time spent together, and just experience going through similar situations on the field. When will that happen? Ummmmm...hopefully soon?

---------------------------

Seth: It's a credit to Tarik Black that that injury is not nothing. He's a true freshmen when Michigan has plausible freshmen receivers coming out their ears, but this true freshman played like an upperclassman, and those are very precious indeed on this roster. Black already has a Darboh-as-a-junior-level feel for how a DB is playing him, and when he can cut off a route into a comeback. That's been a very valuable asset in our clunky, dodge-a-rusher-find-a-checkdown passing game. We hope DPJ is learning at double-time, and Oliver Martin's thing is healed soon. I think it was always going to be deep in the Big Ten season before either breaks out like Black has.

---------------------------

Ace: So this seems relevant, even though I’m a little skeptical of Bredeson’s grade:

Here's how Michigan's offensive line has fared in pass protection this season, based on our Pass Block Efficiency Rating pic.twitter.com/WMszBtimgy

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) September 18, 2017

Brian: I don't buy that at all. Cole has three pass pro minuses in UFR through three games, Bredeson has been fine, and I don't think the right side is pretty much the worst in college football. That site has failed basic sanity tests before. Michigan's pass pro has not been great, but if that was true there would be a blizzard of charted PRs. I have a reasonable number.

Ace: Yeah, Speight has seen a fair amount of pressure, but he hasn’t been constantly under siege like pre-Moorhead Penn State or the last couple Florida State squads.

BiSB: Those rankings seem qualitatively correct, but quantitatively nuts. Ulizio hasn't been fantastic, 0.5th percentile doesn't pass the smell test.

Brian: Yeah, if that was true Michigan would have three Paris Palmers.

BISB: Like, of the 260 starting tackles in college football, Ulizio is #259? Maybe #258 depending on how they math?

David: While Brian keeps alluding to Speight's lack of mental mistakes, Wilton has made his fare share of poor throws. There is plenty of talk about his mechanics/setting his feet/good-bad Speight...whatever. The point is that he has not been a Rescue QB. And that is basically what everyone had hoped he would be: a guy who could overcome the mistakes of the rest of his offense with good decisions and quality throws. Alas...not yet.

Seth: Speight hasn't faced Hackenberg pressure and also hasn't completely collapsed like Hackenberg. That clip Adam and I alluded to is notable because both are off his back foot with pressure coming. It's not like this is an every-throw occurrence. It's just a sometimes occurrence. The receivers dropping it is a sometimes thing too, as is the pressure. Four INs, four PRs and four drops a game and you've lit half the passing offense on fire.

Ace: Agreed. The passing offense has been bad via death by a thousand cuts.

Which… simultaneously makes me optimistic and pessimistic, I think? It seems like some of these issues should improve. It also seems unlikely they all will.

David: Yay Bye Week soon.

Seth: They still haven't passed to the backs much, and it's not like they haven't had the opportunity with Isaac and Evans out there so often. My optimism comes in visions of Speight learning to check to those guys and oodles of YAC.

Ace: Also, throw to the Ent.

[Eric Upchurch]

BiSB: How many have to improve, though? I feel like they can get by pretty well with RoboSpeight OR receivers helping out BorgeSpeight OR Speight and the receivers getting time to make something happen.

If they get two out of three, I'd feel fantastic.

David: Do we get to pick the 2?

Ace: Yeah, I’d feel the same way, especially since I’m more optimistic the running game will come together. But given some of the more optimistic preseason projections out there, mine included, even missing one phase might kill the higher hopes out there.

The Mathlete: The biggest reason for optimism is the youth/inexperience. Based on where the problems are, there is a very plausible path from Here to Much Better Than Here for the offense. It isn't guaranteed but all the fresh faces mean it's not just a pipe dream to think it's going to improve over the coming weeks.

Seth: Also if you've been watching our rivals, Michigan State's secondary is infested with open MAC receivers and Ohio State's isn't nearly as good as its last several.

The Mathlete: Based on listed starters through the first three weeks of the season, Michigan is 96th in average age for starting OL and last out of 130 teams in WR average age. Young and talented is still young.