Michigan 35, Rutgers 14
The first of many touchdowns, one hopes. [Patrick Barron]
Welcome to the future.
After four drives for each team, Michigan found itself deadlocked at seven with lowly Rutgers in front of a listless homecoming crowd. Embattled quarterback John O'Korn had completed 3/6 passes for 13 yards with an interception and two dropped snaps. On what turned out to be his final snap of the afternoon, he passed up multiple open receivers to roll out of a clean pocket and throw in the direction of a very well-covered Donovan Peoples-Jones.
When the defense booted Rutgers off the field with 7:01 to play in the first half, ballyhooed redshirt freshman Brandon Peters entered in O'Korn's stead.
"They just told me to get warmed up," said Peters. "When we got the ball I was just standing there next to Harbaugh and he said let's go, you're in."
The crowd instantly came to life. So did the offense. Two Karan Higdon runs picked up 20 yards to open the drive, then Peters got going, connecting on passes to Ty Wheatley Jr., Henry Poggi, and Nico Collins for first downs before Higdon capped the drive with a ten-yard touchdown.
"I wasn't that nervous," said Peters. "Honestly it was a great opportunity to get out there. I was more excited and confident than nervous."
Peters didn't seem nervous. When Michigan got the ball at midfield with 1:49 to go in the half, he marched the team right into the red zone. He had a freshman moment, nearly throwing an interception on a slant to Grant Perry, but that didn't rattle him one bit. On the very next snap, he tossed a near-perfect* lob to Chris Evans on a wheel route for a 20-yard score. With one change in personnel, Michigan went being in a dogfight at home against Rutgers to blowing them out.
"I saw man coverage, one-on-one with Chris," said Peters. "I wanted to give him a chance to make a play and he made a great play on the ball."
The wheel route remains undefeated. [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
Michigan had already made needed improvements elsewhere, and the insertion of Peters served to accentuate them. The offensive line had been opening holes in the running game, which featured a diverse array of powers, counters, outside zones, and crack sweeps. With opposition safeties finally forced to respect the pass, the backs found ample room to run. Higdon (158 yards on 18 carries) and Ty Isaac (109 on 14) both cracked the century mark; Michigan averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
The pass protection also looked vastly improved. O'Korn and Peters both consistently operated out of clean pockets; Peters did a better job of standing in and delivering. Michigan didn't take a sack.
Most importantly, Peters continued dealing. He finished 10/14 for 124 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers. He didn't lock on to a favorite target; ten different receivers caught passes for the Wolverines today. While Peters's stat line may not blow anyone away, he made it obvious he's the best option to run this team right now. His coach agreed.
"He really aquitted himself well," said Jim Harbaugh. "Moved the football team. Played very, very well. He did a lot. From the first time he went in there, just feeling the deep zone, feeling the linebackers drop, taking that extra half second to take a breath, take a checkdown. it was good ball. It was good."
Harbaugh probably didn't need to declare Peters the starter for next week's game against Minnesota, but he did so anyway.
Mo Hurst spearheaded another dominant defensive performance. [Campredon]
The defense needed no such fixing. Outside of a long Janarion Grant touchdown out of the wildcat and one drive in which Rutgers QB Giovanni Rescigno uncharacteristically connected on a couple NFL-level throws, they effectively held the Scarlet Knights to nothing. Rescigno dropped back to pass 21 times; he threw for 101 and took five sacks. Rutgers's pair of running backs combined for a mere 45 yards on 18 carries. Rutgers simply couldn't block Maurice Hurst, Rashan Gary, and Chase Winovich, and freshman DT Aubrey Solomon didn't look out of place on that line while getting the most extended playing time of his young career.
Higdon opened the fourth quarter with a 49-yard touchdown jaunt on a perfectly blocked power play to put Michigan up 35-14. A game that had already flown by didn't take long to wrap up from there. Rutgers wanted to get home. Michigan, one would like to think, was champing at the bit to get the Peters Era underway in earnest when he gets his first career start under the lights against Minnesota.
"It was time," said Harbaugh.
*Nitpickers will note it was a little short. Most Michigan fans, however, saw the skies part and heard angels sing.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
he came in a few games earlier. He gave everyone energy. What was it Harbaugh saw in JOK or not in Peters? I think everyone on here was saying Peters was bad in practice...clearly not.
October 28th, 2017 at 7:23 PM ^
JOK came in during the Purdue game and looked great as well. Why don't we let Peters play a few game before anointing him as the chosen one?
October 28th, 2017 at 7:44 PM ^
think I'm that close to the program though and have that much influence. All I said was he is better than JOK which I've said for weeks now and he is better than him. JOK was in for two drives, threw an int and had two dropped snaps. Even if Peters has a bad game next week against minny he is still the better starter and qb of the future.
October 28th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
I think it was likely Harbaugh's plan to wait until after the PSU game, intentionally, before playing Peters.
I mean, the atmosphere there, for your first ever game as a starter as a rs. freshman? QB psychology is everything, and that would have been a recipe for PTSD.
Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh essentially laid down certain with O'Korn (or whomever the QB is) as having a certain "prove it" period, with a performance quota and expectations, or at least a floor-level of performance.
Constantly swapping QBs is terrible for consistency, WR-rhythm, playcalling, O-line communication, etc.
Holding Peters out until Rutger's--and, even still not "starting" him--is actually an adept move, for instilling confidence and putting training wheels on your future-of-the-program Quarterback, with a very manageable scenario against a team that's named Rutgers as opposed to one named Penn State.
October 28th, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 2:48 AM ^
People said the same thing about JOK after the Purdue game. There is no way you can assert that Peters is better than JOK after a partial game. He might be, he might not be, you cannot possibly know that after a single game. Give it a rest.
October 29th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 8:20 AM ^
you've never seen play a game and never saw practice was better than JOK? Ok
October 28th, 2017 at 7:50 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
he came in a few games earlier. He gave everyone energy. What was it Harbaugh saw in JOK or not in Peters? I think everyone on here was saying Peters was bad in practice...clearly not.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
"I wasn't that nervous," said Peters. "Honestly it was a great opportunity to get out there. I was more excited and confident than nervous."
October 28th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
Timing looked about right to me, maybe one series sooner. And that's for the whole year.
There's a gray area between patient and stubborn, and I think Harbaugh managed the difference well. Next year will be interesting again.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
Probably, probably, 'but' man has JOK been bad, hard to understate. He was struggling against Rutgers ...
October 28th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
O'Korn's problem was unforced errors so this is a "man against himself" storyline here. Defenses can just kind of stand there and watched him roll nat-1s like he's a character in "Prometheus".
Just stopping the bleeding there is a win. Now the opposing defense might actually become relevant again instead of watching the offense trip on its own shoelaces.
October 28th, 2017 at 10:39 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
But that's where the Purdue game comes into play. Had JOK not lit it up after WS3 went down maybe Peters plays vs MSU. But after that performance vs Purdue and a bye week before State, hard to fault Harbaugh. And you could say, well he should have put him into the game vs State. True, but that damn monsoon. It really was the perfect storm. No pun intended.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
O'Korn had a good game when he came in against Purdue. And it's entirely possible that Peters needed a couple weeks as the primary backup to get his peformance up to snuff.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 2:14 AM ^
If Peters had a game like O'Korn did against State and Michigan lost after that performance by O'Korn against Purdue, people would have gone ballistic.
October 28th, 2017 at 9:21 PM ^
Peters might not have had as good of a game, against MSU, considering how our O line has stepped up since then.
Today, he executes, isn't injured, and builds confidence. Win win.
October 28th, 2017 at 5:54 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 6:28 PM ^
Right up there with breaking in against Purdue. We were fooled by JOKs performance against Purdue, I do hope we aren't being fooled by Peter's performance against Rutgers.
October 29th, 2017 at 1:28 AM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 2:16 AM ^
Probably a lot easier to be motivated and know you need to be ready when you're the backup instead of 3rd-string.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
Everyone has been talking like Peters is some delicate flower as if he will crumble the moment he faces a little pressure and be ruined if he goes into a game and it goes poorly. Good players crave adversity and challenges. They bounce backfrom failure. The only reason to not put the guy in is if you think he is worse than the starter.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:02 PM ^
Nice gamer Ace
October 28th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
*Nitpickers will also notice that "chomping" is the verb you were looking for.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
http://grammarist.com/usage/champing-chomping-at-the-bit/
October 28th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
I grew up around horse farms, and I have never heard someone use "champing" when talking about a bit.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
I grew up around writers*, and it's a writer's thing, at least.
*Not really, but yeah, they say "champing" in the books
October 28th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 10:31 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 6:04 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:13 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 9:52 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:08 PM ^
Good write up!
2 bad passes and it looked like he realized it immediately. Missed McKeon and prolly shouldn't have thrown that slant right before the half that was almost picked.
Young man has wisdom beyond his years.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^
Maybe he's packing for Bolivia.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 8:35 PM ^
I never saw anyone say that. There is an insider on here that said in the fall that Peters wasn't ready. That it took until game 8 for him to get a chance would indicate that he was right.
October 28th, 2017 at 8:54 PM ^
I'll give you a hint: his name was C. Balas. No wait, that's too obvious. Chris B. Yes, Chris B.
(There was a post on Balas' comment a week or two ago that garnered much response. I want to say that Maizen posted it. But, I could be wrong, and, well, I think you know why I might assume that he posted it.)
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