Despite a sluggish start, Michigan Football moved to 4-0 on the year and 1-0 in the Big Ten. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Wolverines’ win.
The Michigan Wolverines continued their hot start to the 2017 season as they defeated the Purdue Boilermakers in an early season Big Ten season test in West Lafayette by a score of 28-10.
Despite moving to 4-0 and an undefeated mark, there are still several question marks surrounding the Wolverines. Following an impressive victory to start the year against the Florida Gators, the Wolverines looked nonchalant in their wins against Cincinnati and Air Force.
In their first true road test against the Boilermakers the Wolverines again started slow, facing a 10-7 deficit at halftime. With just five returning starters total from a year ago, the Wolverines welcomed in a prestigious recruiting class, and thus a high-ranking from the college football pollsters. Currently sitting at the No. 8 team in the country, they don’t have a dominant win yet this year. Instead, the Wolverines have seen closer games than the final scores have indicated.
Michigan will enter a bye week 1-0 in the Big Ten and this comes at a perfect time with their arch-rival Michigan State looming in their next game. At first glance, Michigan’s Big Ten schedule showed a nice tune-up game before they entered the gauntlet that is their conference slate, but Purdue has surprised some people- taking Louisville down to the final possessions and blowing out SEC opponent Missouri on the road.
A 28-10 victory over the Boilermakers might not seem all that impressive, especially when trailing at the half, but the Wolverines now sit at 4-0 on the young year and have one of several challenging conference road games done and over with.
There are still a lot of coming questions surrounding both the Wolverines and Boilermakers, but the first Big Ten game of the year for each team might have cleared up a few things. Here are three takeaways from the Wolverines’ 28-10 victory in West Lafayette.
3. Uncertainty in the offense still a problem for Michigan
All followers of college football know that there is a difference between the numbers that come with the game and the “eye test.” According to the stat sheet, the Wolverines had a solid offensive output against the Boilermakers, putting up 423 total yards and over 38 minutes of time of possession. The Wolverines also posted 24 first downs to the Boilermakers’ nine.
Despite the great outing, there still seems to be something missing within Michigan’s offense- and all fingers point to the quarterback position. Through four games, the Wolverines have seen different starters at the quarterback position and multiple games with more than one player under center. In Saturday’s win at Purdue, three Michigan quarterbacks took the field- with senior John O’Korn taking the majority of the snaps.
Coach Jim Harbaugh saw great success with Wilton Speight at quarterback in last year’s two-loss season, but with the several new faces this year, Harbaugh is looking for that sense of camaraderie within the offensive group.
This was the first game that O’Korn saw more than one pass attempt and he performed rather well, completing 18 of 26 for 270 yards and a touchdown. Speight saw just four attempts, completing two for ten yards.
The good news for the Wolverines is that O’Korn proved to be a viable option moving forward if Speight does not get comfortable handling the offense. The unfortunate news is that the lack of consistency at the quarterback position could cause chemistry issues moving forward and the longer a true starter remains in question, the longer it can take for the offense to click.
2. The Boilermakers are getting better on defense
It is no secret that the Boilermakers have been bottom dwellers in the Big Ten for quite some time and that any team that sees them on their schedule can look forward to high offensive numbers and a lot of points scored.
Last year, the Boilermakers were last in scoring defense in the conference and second to last in total defense, only in front of Rutgers. During their 2016 season, Purdue allowed 445 years per game and an abysmal 38 points per contest.
Looking at their four games in 2017, the Boilermakers have played exceptional opponents thus far and have had their defense step up in big ways. While the team is still giving up the yards, they are limiting the big play and coming up with big stops when needed.
Sitting at 2-2 on the young season, the Boilermakers sit ninth in the conference in points allowed and tenth in total defense- a big improvement than last year’s mark. Not to mention, the team has faced some highly ranked opponents in Michigan and Louisville, as well as a team in Missouri that put up over 70 points in their Week 1 game. Purdue held Missouri to just seven points in their matchup.
There is no telling as to how the Boilermakers will finish the rest of the year or if their defense will keep up the intensity or regress to last season’s mean. One thing we do know for sure is that there will be no surprises if the Boilermakers pull off an upset or two in the Big Ten.
1. Receiver depth makes up for Tarik Black‘s injury
The Michigan Wolverines learned that budding star and freshman wide receiver, Tarik Black, would miss extended time due to a foot injury sustained last week against Air Force. With an already shaky offense, many were curious to see how the Wolverines’ offense would respond without their top receiver.
With a brand new starter at quarterback, Michigan’s receiving core stepped up big time as ten different players had at least one catch and three had three receptions or more.
Sophomore tight end Sean McKeon continued the importance of tight ends at Michigan, hauling in five catches for 82 yards in the team’s win over Purdue. McKeon had just five catches for 38 yards entering the game, doubling his season total in receptions in just one showing. Fellow tight end Zach Gentry also added three catches for 48 yards and a touchdown, while wide receiver Grant Perry continued his fast start to the year with three grabs for 39 yards.
Along with Black, Perry was the only player on the team to have more than 100 yards receiving through the first three games. While Perry should be the main focus of opponents’ secondaries, the tight end play of McKeon and Gentry will need to continue to step up and take pressure off whoever is under center, as well as the young receiving core.
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A lot will be told about the Michigan’s offense in the next couple of games. If they can weather the storm without Black for the time being, they will be in good shape once he returns as they head into two late season showdowns against Wisconsin and Ohio State.