Tag: Cincinnati Bearcats

Michigan 36, Cincinnati 14

Ty Isaac (image via USA Today)

The elephant in the room . . . could probably throw a football just as well as Wilton Speight. I kid, I kid, but those expecting a significantly better game against the lowly Cincinnati Bearcats should have been disappointed. Speight was 17/29 for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns, but there were a lot of bad misses, usually in the form of overthrows. Perhaps worse than the overthrows were the two fumbles, one when Speight mishandled a handoff to Ty Isaac and another when there was a botched jet sweep handoff to Kekoa Crawford. The handoff to Isaac was 100% on Speight, and the timing/mechanics of the Crawford handoff seemed to be off, though Crawford might deserve some blame there, too. Either way, the quarterback play wasn’t stellar. He did hit a long TD to Crawford and then hit Grant Perry over the middle for a 33-yard touchdown catch-and-run, but his footwork and mechanics on short and intermediate throws are all out of whack. How much can that be improved when the guy is an old redshirt junior in his third year in the system?

Hit the jump for more on Saturday’s win.

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Preview: Michigan vs. Cincinnati

RUSH OFFENSE vs. CINCINNATI RUSH DEFENSE

Michigan put up a respectable 215 yards in the season opener, tying them with none other than Michigan State for #49 in the country. The Wolverines are tied for #64 in rushing yards per carry after going against a solid run defense in Florida. Presumed third-stringer Ty Isaac broke out with 11 carries for 114 yards in the season opener, largely as a third down back. Meanwhile, starter Chris Evans had 22 carries for a mediocre 78 yards. Those carry totals are too high for Evans to sustain, and he should get a bit of a break against Cincinnati. Up front Michigan blocked fairly well in the run game, but the left side (LT Mason Cole, LG Ben Bredeson, C Patrick Kugler) is more reliable than the right. Cincinnati gave up 224 yards on the ground (#104) on 3.73 yards/carry (#75) against Austin Peay. Junior free safety Malik Clements leads the team in tackles with 18, and sophomore WILL Perry Young is right behind with 17. Young also leads the team with 3 tackles for loss. The defensive line goes 258, 297, 260, and 245, so they will be severely outsized. Last year Cincinnati was #75 in rushing yards allowed per game, and that probably won’t change much for the better this year.
Advantage: Michigan

Hit the jump for more on the game.

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