Michigan was able to move to 2-1 on the season with a 28-7 victory over the now 0-3 UNLV Rebels, but it was not a pretty game. But, as the old adage goes, a win is a win.
It is tough to gauge a performance when the team on the other end just is not very good. With that being said, we'll give it a shot.
Here are some of the takeaways from today's game:
Michigan Has a Quarterback Problem
Jake Rudock is going to start throughout this season. That much is certain, but through three games he has been below-average. He had five turnovers all of last season at Iowa and already has six in the first few weeks of 2015. He was touted as a passer that did not take many chances and was able to take care of the football.
Outside of turnovers, Rudock has missed a handful easy throws. Against UNLV, he had Jake Butt wide open in the endzone from five yards out and couldn't hit him as well as a play where Drake Johnson was wide open in the flat with nothing but green grass in front of him. Two easy touchdowns gone because he was unable to make a fairly easy throw with pretty good protection.
In any other scenario, Rudock's job would be in jeopardy, but he is all they have at the position right now. Shane Morris is going to redshirt unless an injury takes place and he has not shown he is good enough. Wilton Speight was the mop-up quarterback on Saturday, but he still has a ton of room to grow.
It may come across as piling on, but Rudock has not shown a lot through three games this season. It's still early, but this is a definite concern moving forward.
Jim Harbaugh says the criteria for his quarterbacks is to move the ball down the field and win games. This is a fair assessment, but there's more to it. Michigan has to be able to throw the football.
Timing with Wide Receivers is Still Off
Harbaugh would not admit this in his post-game press conference, but Jehu Chesson himself said after the game that things are still a work in progress in this regard and put the blame on the wide receiving corps to start coming up with big plays downfield. Rudock and Speight had a few good throws that could have been caught.
Game-to-game, we are seeing Michigan's wideouts get open more and more down the field, which is a positive. Progress is being made on their end, it appears.
Lots of Options at Running Back
Michigan has a three-headed attack at the running back position in De'Veon Smith, Drake Johnson and Ty Isaac. All have shown positive things and will continue to get carries. I expect the Wolverines to ride the hot hand in the run game instead of a lead back emerging this year.
Derrick Green keeps falling down the depth chart and it does not appear he is in the mix for a large percentage of carries right now.
The Defense Continues to do Its Job
Michigan's defense will carry the load this season, and they will have to. The offense will continue to work things out every week, but it's the other side of the ball that is going to have to keep them in games. There was no reason that UNLV should have mustered much of anything offensively, and they did not outside of a touchdown late in the game. Mario Ojemudia said after the game that this was due to them relaxing and not playing quite as hard on that drive and that it will not happen again.
Jeremy Clark and Channing Stribling had interceptions for the Wolverines today and Jourdan Lewis played very well, too.