Tag: Purdue

Michigan vs. Purdue Awards

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Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . John O’Korn. You don’t want to see anyone get injured, but O’Korn did a pretty good job in place of the banged up Wilton Speight. O’Korn was 18/26 for 270 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception, and he put up the best quarterback performance of the season. He also led Michigan on its two longest drives of the season (84 and 86 yards), including going 3-for-3 in the red zone. O’Korn also passed the eye test with some very good throws, quick decisions, and scrambling ability. O’Korn should be the starter moving forward.

Hit the jump for the rest of the awards.

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Highlights: Michigan 28, Purdue 10

Michigan 28, Purdue 10

John O’Korn (image via Sporting News)

Hopefully Wilton Speight is okay. It sucks when your starting quarterback gets hurt, especially a high-quality character like Speight. It happened early in the game, and Speight was 2/4 for 10 yards, while also taking 2 sacks. He was crushed on a play that looked like it could have been flagged for targeting, since he was already in the grasp of another defender and got hit forcefully to the head. Jim Harbaugh says it’s a “soft tissue” injury, so that leaves something to the imagination.

Hit the jump for more on Saturday’s win.

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Preview: Michigan at Purdue

RUSH OFFENSE vs. PURDUE RUSH DEFENSE

Michigan is #42 with just over 199 yards/game on the ground and #48 in rushing average (4.67). That’s the good news. There’s some bad news, though, and plenty of it. First is that starting running back Ty Isaac (112 yards/game, 7.1 yards/carry) left last week’s game with some sort of rib/abdominal injury, and while Jim Harbaugh says he should be fine and ready to go, a rib injury won’t just disappear in a week. Backups Chris Evans and Karan Higdon have combined for 228 yards on 56 carries, which is just barely over 4.0 yards/carry. The other bad news is that Michigan’s offensive line has struggled, particularly on the right side where sophomore Michael Onwenu and redshirt sophomore Nolan Ulizio reside. Purdue is #54 with just under 130 yards allowed per game and #80 in rushing yards allowed per carry (4.09). The Boilermakers’ leading tackler is middle linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (6’2″, 250 lbs.), followed by strong safety Jacob Jacob Thieneman (6’1″, 210) and weakside linebacker T.J. McCollum (6’3″, 235). Fifth year senior outside linebacker Danny Ezechukwu (6’2″, 242) leads the squad with 3 tackles for loss, and Bentley has 2. Michigan will probably mostly see a 3-4 defense, and the defensive linemen aren’t very good. If they can get a hat on Bentley, the Wolverines should be in decent shape.
Advantage: Michigan if Isaac plays; otherwise, Purdue

Hit the jump for the rest of the preview.

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Recruiting Snapshot: Purdue

Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy RB Jack Wegher

2016 Team Ranking: #73. Purdue has eleven 3-stars and four 2-stars committed.

Cream of 2016 Crop: Purdue has taken the route of signing three JUCO players to prop up their recruiting efforts, so arguably the best two players in the class are San Francisco (CA) City College DE Austin Larkin (3-star, #8 WDE, #114 JUCO) and Rochester (NY) Monroe Community College CB Kamal Hardy (3-star, #12 CB, #117 JUCO). The highest-rated high school player is Lewis Center (OH) Olentangy OT Luke Campbell (3-star, #106 OT), so you can see why they have to raid junior colleges. A couple other notable players are Houston (TX) St. Thomas DT Lorenzo Neal, the son of the former NFL fullback with the same name, and Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy RB Jack Wegher (see below), the brother of former Iowa running back Brandon Wegher.

2017 Team Ranking: Unranked. Purdue has zero commits for 2017.