(№ 7) Michigan 29-13 Air Force
3-0, B1G 0-0
We have real problems on the offensive side of the football. Sophomore kicker Quinn Nordin tied a school record for most field goals made in a game, with five (improving to eleven of thirteen for the season). While it's great that we have as able & reliable a kicker as Nordin—reliable especially for the first-year player—it's troubling that so many Michigan drives stalled, requiring field-goal attempts. Fifth-year running back Ty Isaac had two long touchdown runs called back, one because he stepped out of bounds at the thirty yard line & the other due to a holding penalty; it wasn't until there was only a minute left in the game that the offense scored a touchdown, a thirty-six-yard run by junior Karan Higdon. Senior quarterback Wilton Speight was consistently inaccurate, overthrowing his receivers more often than not. Adding to our woes, on several occasions received dropped accurate Speight passes. Air Force's first score, a field goal, came as a result of a Michigan fumble in the first quarter, by sophomore running back Chris Evans, who wasn't seen again until the fourth quarter.
The valiant Wolverines held a three-point lead at halftime & the game remained uncomfortably close until early in the third quarter when freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones returned a punt seventy-nine yards for a touchdown. Just two minutes later, Uncle Don's Murder Machine allowed the epithetless Falcons' only completed pass of the day, a sixty-four yard touchdown. All in all, the Murder Machine did a solid job of containing Air Force's weird triple option offense, banding but not breaking, & the touchdown pass was the service academy's last points of the day. It's hard to judge the progress of this 2017 edition of the Murder Machine given the oddity of Air Force's offense & that no other opponent on the remaining schedule runs anything like it. The long touchdown pass was the result of a blown assignment & the offending defenseman, who shall remain nameless, was chastised on the sidelines by "Uncle Don," defensive coordinator Don Brown.
I'm naturally inclined to be pessimistic about the valiant Wolverines' chances as long as Speight remains our best option at quarterback. (Such is my confidence in the coaching staff that despite my many misgivings about Speight I have no doubt he is on fact the best option at quarterback.) So, what does that mean for the rest of the 2017 campaign as Team 138 heads into B1G play? I'm worried about what more talented quarterbacks & received can do to the Murder Machine's young & inexperienced cornerbacks & safeties. I'm worried about the valiant Wolverine's tendency to bog down in the "red zone" (inside the opponent's twenty yard line). I'm worried, essentially, that the offense's impotence will render for naught the defense's ferociousness. We must not forget that Speight is a Hoke recruit, & after Team 137's last-season collapse I am convinced that all Hoke recruits, however talented, are simply losers; on paper they may have all the skills & talents necessary for success, but when it comes to game day they can't cut the mustard. (See: Jourdan Lewis's career-worst game in last year's Orange Bowl against Florida State.)
Pay me no mind, I'm just a critic; it is the man in the arena who counts.
The A.P. poll has shown a hint of rationality in that after the less-than-impressive victory over Air Force Team 138 dropped from № 7 to № 8 in the Top 25 poll. The valiant Wolverines are still indefensibly overrated, but marginally less so. Four B1G clubs are ranked among the ten-best in the nation (№ 4 Penn State, № 8 Michigan, № 9 Wisconsin, & № 10 Ohio State), but they are the only B1G clubs in the Top 25.
Go Blue!
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