CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Temp430 on October 23, 2017, 09:28:23 AM
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Michigan's new found rival Rutgers is on a roll and looking to extract revenge for the 70 to something drubbing they received at home last year at the hands of the Wolverines. One of these two is going to get their third Big Ten win. Who cares?
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Yeah, they are currently tied for 4th/5th in the B1G East standings.
I suspect that Michigan will win handily at home on homecoming weekend.
But if the game were in Piscataway, then the Scarlet Knights might have a fighting chance.
(https://www.cfb51.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnj1015.com%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F10%2Frutgers-wins.jpg&hash=fb07034cb49c076843b4c7642293f1f6)
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Harbaugh sticking with O'Korn as his starter against Rutgers. Makes a lot of sense. Not.
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I'm going. Should be a weird crowd vibe
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This game will probably be closer than it should be. If nothing else, I hope the running game can get established, especially considering how dominant the RBs were in last year's game. If so, then there's no reason Michigan shouldn't be up by 20+ by half time, and then Peters should at least get all of the second half snaps.
I don't see the defense having any issues except possibly with Grant, their combo RB/WR, who was out last year.
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I'm going. Should be a weird crowd vibe
If O'Korn stinks up the joint the boos will come raining down.
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What's the over/under on the number of picks that O'Korn would have to throw in order for Rutgers to have a puncher's chance?
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You'd never know from fan base vibe that these teams are tied for 4th place in the division, and it's Michigan who at least has a bowl bid basically locked up, while Rutgers remains a longshot. But obviously expectations matter. The difference is Michigan is behind schedule in Harbaugh Year 3, and Rutgers, may somehow be ahead of schedule in Ash Year 2, if we believe that Ash Year 1 was the starting point, and not Ash Year 0. Last year Rutgers was 49-0 worse than the 2nd worst team in the conference. They weren't even close. A couple weeks ago, after a 56-0 loss to Ohio State, following a home loss to Eastern Michigan, it appeared nothing had changed. Then Rutgers went and did something they hadn't been doing in over two years, they won a Big Ten game. That was written off as beating an Illinois team that might be nearly as bad, and had seemingly given up. But they followed that by beating a Purdue team with all kinds of positive vibes, and feeling like their bowl drought was ending. Can they up the ante again? No. I'd be shocked to see anything close to what we saw last year, but while Michigan still struggles schmatically when they play equivalent or better teams, they still have way more power in the trenches than any lower tier team they are going to face. The one thing Rutgers will do to help neutralize Michigan's defensive line, is get the ball out quickly. The Scarlet Knights have only been sacked 3 times in 4 Big Ten games. Chris Ash saw Don Brown's unwillingness to come out of his base defense last week against Penn State, and will probably try and do the same. The one weapon on Rutgers' offense that is of Michigan's caliber is Janarion Grant. Ash is going to see if Michigan tries to cover him in the slot with a linebacker or a safety. He has been a shell of his pre injury self, but he's still shown a couple flashes. The difference is, while Trace McSorley was able to pick apart the matchup mismatches, I'm not sure the other Rutgers skill position players present any sort of mismatch, even against Mike McCray, and when they do, I'm not sure I trust Giovanni Rescigno to recognize it. Even in their win last week, Rutgers was outgained by 260 yards by Purdue, and had 17 fewer first downs. I'm not sure the Michigan offense has enough to blow anyone out of the water, but I don't expect Rutgers to pose any sort of threat.
MICHIGAN 34, RUTGERS 12
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We'll see if Peters is for real next week. I liked what I saw though. I still think he should've been given the reigns to start the season. Michigan was in rebuild year, they were never serious contenders. Might as well let the younger more talented guy take his lumps now and work out the kinks and improve and build for the future.
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As glad as I am that Peters finally played and should be the starter going forward, it's unfair to say that he deserved to play (much less start) at the beginning of the year. The offense looked better today also due to the improved OL play (no sacks allowed for the first time in awhile) and running game (334 yards on 51 carries). The receivers are still young, which will make whoever is at QB look worse than they would be otherwise, but Peters' play was definitely encouraging and facing Minnesota and Maryland before Wisconsin and Ohio State should help him get established.
Of course, preparing for next year is the main goal at this point with how many returning players we'll have.