Now that that is out of the way, yes I was wrong about O'Korn. It seems I'm in good company, however, because the staff didn't play him, either. But I was wrong. And thank goodness for that.
O'Korn still has happy feet and a team with a better pass rush than Purdue is going to be an issue. But of course all QBs have problems with pass rushes. And one of Speight's best attributes -- his ability to avoid the rush and keep his eye downfield -- is no longer such an asset. Yesterday he was so locked on to his first option that he didn't see free runners coming to tag him. And with our OL, that's a particularly big problem.
The biggest surprise (for me) about O'Korn's play was his accuracy. When his first option was open, the ball came out quickly. With only one or two exceptions, the throws were also accurate. I haven't watched the game again, but he seemed to hit his second or third option a few times -- again, something we're not seeing from Speight.
We will see what the future holds with our QBs. We all hope, of course, that Wilt's injury is not serious and that he can come back quickly. But I am very concerned that Speight's issues are now mental as much as they are physical. During his limited action yesterday, it seemed to me that he's just a wreck mentally. There were at least two plays I saw where we had guys open but he never got to them because he was locked on to his first receiver. So we might be in a situation where O'Korn is going to have to write a script for the ages because this team's fortunes largely rise and fall on him.
Other quick thoughts:
- Chase Winovich has improved as much as any Michigan player I can recall since perhaps Jordan Kovacs. You could show his tape to young DLs as a clinic in how to use leverage and your hands to separate from OLs at the right time on run plays. And to state the obvious, he's a terrific, instinctive pass rusher. I'm looking forward to seeing him and Gary for the next two years together.
- You never know about these things, but I continue to think that there's some creative friction within the offensive staff. It just doesn't seem like there's a clear, crisp idea of how the scheme fits together and how we're going to attack teams. And it wouldn't surprise me if O'Korn's entry into the game gave Pep a chance to wrest the conch shell away from Drevno as Harbaugh said "forget about man-ball, let's put JOK in a position to make plays."
- I'm gong to withhold comment on the OL until I watch the game again and @ch13ba & Skene weigh in.
- Again, to state the obvious, or D will keep us in every game and Nordin is a weapon. I'd feel a lot better if our kickoff return and punt teams were really dependable. We're close to having a team that can win tough games at night and on the road without doing much on offense. We would really be cooking with gas if we had Kenny Allen one more year.
- I still don't see any elite teams in the B1G. Some are still in love with Penn State but for all of Joe Moorhead's scheming their answer in tough situations is to hand Barkley the rock or to get him the ball in the passing game. But Iowa's D is a jeep compared to Don Brown's formula one racer. We can swarm Barkley, cover him with a LB not named McCray, and bottle him up. We will still have to find ways to score in a tough environment but there's a rumor we've got a good FG kicker.
- We're getting the TEs involved in the passing game. Let's keep it up. Same goes for the fullbacks. Let's find out which B1G coordinators want to cover our guys with LBs.
- This team's fortunes will be defined by the extent to which the OL is able to execute consistently and our QB can deliver throws accurately. I wouldn't bet my house on both of those occurring in big games at the same time, but it can happen. Mrs. Varnsen's assessment skills say "not this year." She also compared our offense to Brady Hoke's offenses. Send your hate mail to: myhusbandoutkickedhiscoverage@gmail.com.
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