Michigan 51, Central Florida 14

(image via PCH)

Wilton Speight is the real deal? I still don’t know. Speight went 25/37 for 312 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions while taking 2 sacks. He spent much of the day hitting crossing routes or checkdowns; his deep balls included a couple misses, a 35-yard gainer to Jehu Chesson, and a touchdown to Amara Darboh. Central Florida got more of a pass rush than they should have and made things tough at times. Perhaps Speight’s best play of the day was when he was in the hands of a blitzing UCF safety, but the 6’6″, 243 lb. QB spun around to find wide-open fullback Henry Poggi in the flat, who then rumbled through a couple tackles for an 8-yard gain. Speight was also more efficient than the numbers suggest, because normally sure-handed tight end Jake Butt dropped a couple passes. It was a very good day for Speight, but I thought Jedd Fisch’s passing game created some nice windows to throw the ball.

Hit the jump for more thoughts on Michigan vs. Central Florida.

The offensive line remains unproven. I didn’t see many standouts in Central Florida’s front, but they consistently found cracks in Michigan’s protection with their 3-4 blitz packages. They were short or otherwise undersized, and they didn’t have a great deal of athleticism. However, they do have a fair amount of experience, and maybe that meant they were a little more prepared to unleash an array of blitzes. Starting left guard Ben Braden returned for this game after missing last week due to an injury, but I thought he made some mistakes early, and he was eventually replaced by Ben Bredeson. Furthermore, Michigan struggled mightily to run the football. It took oodles of broken tackle for starting running back De’Veon Smith to reach 3.8 yards/carry. The team finished with 38 carries for 142 yards (not including the 2 sacks and Kenny Allen’s botched punt), which is about 3.5 yards/carry. It was a pretty poor effort by a line that has enough experience to do better.

Forget the concerns about Khalid Hill as a runner. At about 263 lbs., Hill just barrels through people if the line gets any push at all. He now has 3 rushing touchdowns this season. Not bad for a converted tight end.

Central Florida isn’t terrible. I think some people were underrating Central Florida going into this game. I predicted a 41-10 win for Michigan, and the responses seemed to be “We think that’s too close of a score” or “Michigan will shut them out.” The pace of UCF’s offense alone presents an issue for any defense, let alone one that is hampered by missing multiple guys in the two-deep. Adrian Killins broke off an 87-yard touchdown run, and Dontravious Wilson had a 34-yard score right up the gut. I wasn’t impressed with backup quarterback Nick Patti’s abilities in the passing game, but he made some decent choices in the run game. Starting QB Justin Holman and Patti each went 3/11 for 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, but Holman looked like the more capable of the two before appearing to pull his hamstring. I think UCF head coach Scott Frost has the team going in a decent direction, but they don’t have a ton of weapons right now.

Tempo creates problems. I think the 34-yard touchdown might not have happened if not for the pace UCF was running their offense. It seemed like Rashan Gary and Matt Godin weren’t quite on the same page regarding the line stunt they were running, and that left the A-gap unfilled on Wilson’s 34-yard touchdown. For the most part, Michigan was very solid up the middle all game, except for that run.

Michigan needs to be full strength. Obviously, any team wants to avoid injuries, suspensions, etc., but Michigan doesn’t have the depth to play teams like this regularly. If further injuries occur or if Michigan plays teams with better talent who can keep up their pace, then that will be problematic. Right now the Wolverines are missing All-America cornerback Jourdan Lewis, potential early draft pick Taco Charlton, and backup SAM linebacker Noah Furbush, along with freshman corner David Long for at least this week (for undisclosed reasons). I think the defensive line did okay because of their depth, but the linebacker corps is the thinnest I have ever seen it at Michigan. The coaching staff doesn’t seem to trust freshman Devin Bush, Jr. just yet, so the defense goes almost wire-to-wire with Ben Gedeon, Mike McCray, and Jabrill Peppers. At some point that’s going to come back and bite them, because when Gedeon or McCray twists an ankle or injures a shoulder, the guy who steps in won’t have experience.

Rashan Gary had his breakout game. For those wondering when Gary would break out, I guess this was it. Central Florida’s offensive line was pretty bad, and that helped lead to 6 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and half a sack for Gary in just his second college game. He finished second on the team in tackles, right behind fellow Paramus (NJ) Catholic grad Jabrill Peppers.

Yes, it was targeting. In the third quarter, UCF linebacker Demeitre Brim made an arguably normal tackle. After scrambling around for a second, Speight found freshman receiver Eddie McDoom for a short gain of 5 yards. McDoom started to turn left, saw a defender, and spun back right, at which point Brim nailed him. Brim was flagged for targeting, the officials reviewed, and it was upheld. Immediately, Twitter started rumbling about how it wasn’t targeting and it was just a normal football play back in the day and officials don’t know the rule and blah blah blah. It was targeting. I don’t think Brim was trying to end McDoom’s career, but the bottom line is that he hit with his shoulder the facemask of McDoom. You can see in the replay that McDoom’s helmet/head get bent forward by the impact of the shoulder to the facemask. You may not like the rule, but it was properly enforced.

Redshirt Blowtorch, Part Deux. Tight end Nick Eubanks saw his first game action, so that leaves the following class of 2016 players as redshirts:

• LB Devin Gil
• WR Nate Johnson
• DE Ron Johnson, Jr.
• DE Carlo Kemp
• LB Elysee Mbem-Bosse
• K Quinn Nordin
• QB Brandon Peters
• OG Stephen Spanellis
• RB Kareem Walker

That’s just 9 of the 26 freshmen who remain (Dytarious Johnson, Brad Hawkins, and Ahmir Mitchell are not part of the program anymore).

Tight End Blowtorch. Michigan has used Jake Butt, Ian Bunting, Devin Asiasi, Tyrone Wheatley Jr., Sean McKeon, Nick Eubanks, Michael Jocz, and now Zach Gentry. That’s seven pure tight ends used over two games, along with Gentry, who has been practicing some with the wideouts.

I think Jim Harbaugh left the offensive starters in the game to pad their stats. The game was well in hand in the second half, albeit perhaps not as dominating as Michigan wanted. Broadcasters Steve Levy and Brian Griese kept lamenting that Speight (and, to a lesser extent, Jake Butt) were still in the game, but you’re not going to become an All-American at tight end, a 1st round draft pick, or a household name at QB by playing half of a game in a ball-control offense. When it comes time to recruit elite players or convince teams to draft your players, they can’t be throwing for 150 yards/game or making 2 or 3 catches per game. People look at production. If Jim Harbaugh wants the next Jacob Eason or Isaac Nauta to commit in 2017, 2018, and beyond, then those players need to be showcased. Once it comes to the meat of the schedule, Jake Butt might not be able to make 7 catches for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns. Better defenses might double-cover him where he ends up with just 1 or 2 catches, and you can’t count on him to be open enough to dominate Ohio State, Michigan State, etc.

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