The Wolverine

October 2017

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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OCTOBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 23 QUARTERBACK Speight produced a mixed bag in the first two games. The first interception against Florida involved a throw that came in high over the middle, but one that Crawford probably could have handled. Instead, he tipped it higher with both hands, and the Gators were off and running with pick-six number one. Number two just involved an ugly overthrow, getting Speight pulled temporarily. He also missed an uncovered re- ceiver later in the game for what would have been another touchdown. Harbaugh focused afterward on the fact that Speight rallied strongly from an unsettling stretch. "It really is a sign when a quarter- back can have something really bad happen and come back from it," Har- baugh said after the Florida game. "The touchdown drive at the begin- ning of the second half, I thought that was big. "Some can do it. Some can't. A lot of guys go into the tank. The really good ones can bounce back from it and start the second half and reset like that didn't happen in the first half. But sometimes it gets so horrifying that some guys just can't bounce back from it." It never got too horrifying, thanks to Speight unloading a 46-yard touch- down bomb to freshman wideout Tarik Black late in the first quarter, before the pair of pick-sixes. After the miscues, Speight successfully guided the Wol- verines to 13 second-half points, more than enough when combined with a defensive touchdown at the end. Once again, Harbaugh stressed how much resilience matters. "Sometimes, that breaks a guy," the coach said. "Sometimes they can bounce back from it the next game, sometimes they can bounce back from it in the same game, and sometimes they can't. "If you can't — if it affects you to the point that you can't go execute, or you're unwilling to take any chances or risk after that — that's the sign that you can't handle it real well. "He kept firing. It's like a golfer that hits one in the water, takes another one out of his pocket, drops it and is shooting for the flag again. I thought he showed that." During his brief cameo, fifth-year senior QB John O'Korn found Black on a 37-yard sideline throw, dropping the ball on the money to set up a 55-yard field goal. He got two series in that one and some mop-up time at the end of the Cincinnati contest. Speight threw the football better in the second game, finishing 17-of-29 passing for 221 yards and two touch- downs, including a 43-yard TD strike to Crawford. That effort became some- what overshadowed with the offense's overall struggles, including the fum- bles. "There were times when we maybe weren't all on the same page, and that fumbled exchange with Kekoa," Spei- ght said. "Those are simple fixes. We'll look at the film. I'll look at the film a couple of times tonight, watch it again tomorrow and get those things fixed. Overall, I thought it was a positive step forward from last week in Dallas." "We've got coaching fingerprints on the fly sweep," Harbaugh added. "We need to make a technique adjustment there, which we will make and be bet- ter for it going forward. It's a coaching correction, easily fixed." RUNNING BACKS U-M's deep stable of backs bolted out of the gate in the opener, going for 215 yards against the Florida defense. Isaac rose up for 114 yards on only 11 carries, breaking off a 36-yard gain on what Harbaugh called an "off-sched- ule run" in a third-and-long situation. Sophomore Chris Evans added 78 yards on 22 tries, and junior Karan Higdon managed 28 yards and a touchdown. That trio looks like it will battle for the long haul, teaming for 161 yards of Michigan's 193 rushing yards (Isaac 133, Evans 15, Higdon 13) ver- sus Cincinnati. Redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight hasn't been perfect through the first two games of 2017, but head coach Jim Harbaugh is adamant he's the best signal-caller on the roster. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN

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