We all should have known the guy with the odds-on shot at the job to be Michigan’s starting quarterback would be a Jim Harbaugh doppelganger.
All joking aside, junior quarterback Wilton Speight getting the nod for a team expected to make a playoff run is noteworthy in a game that otherwise was only noteworthy in the sense that it seems like the days of inferior opponents hanging in games in the Big House isn’t a tradition Harbaugh and staff is interested in carrying on.
Michigan smoked Hawaii 63-3 in a game where the Warriors couldn’t really get a meaningful yard it seemed, ushering in some form a validity to the massive expectations surrounding the Wolverines.
The most drama involved in this game revolved around who the heck would be the quarterback, which, under Harbaugh, is one of those positions like “CEO of Apple” where everyone sits around wondering who’s lucky enough to get it because it’s a guaranteed success.
Speight started out with a pick on his first pass, as if to be the guy that gets that job at Apple and immediately sees the stock price fall for a week. But things settled themselves out, in part because Hawaii is not good, in part because the schedule was brutal for them, in part because even with all of that … they’re still FBS athletes and Michigan clearly is good. Really good. Especially on defense.
Speight finished 10-13 for 145 yards and three touchdowns to that one interception. Chris Evans was a revelation in the backfield, trampling through Vermont-sized holes for 112 on eight carries resulting in two touchdowns.
Hawaii, on the other hand, looks like they have mountains to climb to get back to the Hawaii of our (assuming you’re about 25-40) youth, the Colt Brennan/Timmy Chang outfits that were a national treasure if only because they’d throw it 200 times a game (possibly over dramatized statistic) and win a lot.
The story will be Speight, though, regardless, because we all knew Michigan was going to be good on defense, it was more about who the heck would be the quarterback. If UM is to achieve their goals, they’ll need good quarterback play to lead them there in spots. Speight gets the coveted mantle to do so.
Elsewhere in the Big 10 early
Western Michigan notched their first win over a Big 10 team since 2008, kicking out the jams over Northwestern in Evanston. The Broncos of the MAC were 4-4 on fourth down … including a go-ahead touchdown … to knock off the Wildcats 22-21. While WMU is expected to be a favorite in the MAC, it’s a ghastly loss for Northwestern.
P.J. Fleck is getting into that rare air where he’s going to be able to name the job he wants because every big one that opens, he’s getting a call.
*********************
Purdue was underwhelming at best in clipping off Eastern Kentucky by 21, if only because they got up 21 quickly and EKU looked like they’d nearly won the game at the end of the first half after the Boilers missed a field goal and the game was a 10-point outfit. Coaches and players were jumping around like the upset was complete, which is great since you’re trying to get hyped for a second half run.
Purdue is in one of those years where they probably need to make a bowl game to avoid unrest, and even though it’s a win over a good FCS football team, they’ll obviously need to get a little better at putting teams away when they get up big, early.
