The Michigan Wolverines are the eternal threat to the north and the only enemy that matters, so it's important to know exactly how much you should freak out about them from week to week. Threat Level: Michigan is here to help.
Wilton Speight can make all the throws. Sure he may not be developing as fast as we'd like, but he's obviously our best option at this point
— Go Blue (@GoBlue195) September 10, 2017
You know what? This is true. Wilton Speight absolutely can make "all of the throws." The larger question of whether or not any of those throws will be in the vicinity of a Michigan wide receiver remains an unknown.
Anyway, we'll get to Speight in a second. While Michigan watched their gloating stock depreciate in value as they struggled offensively in a 36-14 win against a decidedly mediocre Cincinnati team, their old friend Sugar Shane Morris was out there funslinging the ball up and down the field for Central Michigan as they kicked the crap out of Kansas.
Morris, a senior transfer from Michigan, lit up the KU secondary in the second period with touchdown passes to Mark Chapman, Lane Hessbrook and Corey Willis. Willis’ TD reception capped a 90-yard drive in the final 66 seconds to give CMU a 24-6 lead at halftime.
Morris completed 28 of 37 passes.
Morris, who was stuck at third in the depth chart behind Speight and O'Korn before he transferred, has almost 700 yards passing in two games with the Chippewas. Because he's good. And Jim Harbaugh screwed up.
THREAT LEVEL
At quarterback, Wilton Speight brings exactly the same hopes and lamentations for Michigan fans that J.T. Barrett gives to Ohio State fans. It's easy to imagine a universe in which he is a consistently great player that turns the game on its head and creates victories through sheer force of will. But alas, that's not the universe that we live in. Speight is now completing just over half of his passes on the year, and while he didn't throw a pick against the Bearcats, he probably really, really wanted to.
The running game is less conflicted. Senior Ty Isaac is legitimately pretty good (he ran for 114 yards against Florida and 133 against Cincy), and could progress toward something like "great" by the end of the season. Another advantage he has is a head coach who seems to realize that he's the most/only functional part of the offense, and therefore has decided that Isaac is going to carry a pretty significant load.
The defense is still the defense, and defensive coordinator Don Brown clearly knows what the hell he's doing. But that's nothing new.
So while this is more or less the same Michigan team that we saw last week against Florida, warts and all, the real change has come in how we see the Buckeyes, who suddenly look a lot like their nemesis from Up North, with the exception of a lights out defense and a consistent running game and coaches willing to tak- aw hell, is Jim Harbaugh dropping insane non-sequiturs again?
"I'm dead in here," he said, gesturing toward his stomach. "I'm burnt wood."
Yeah, the Threat Level has just been upgraded. Let's hope for a positive result in the Army game to avoid this getting out of hand.
