Michigan Football: Why The Cincinnati Game Is Must-Watch TV

It doesn’t look like the most attractive thing on paper, but Michigan football’s game against Cincinnati does have some interesting storylines.

Michigan is a 31 1/2-point favorite going into Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Bearcats, and, based on the Cats’ so-so performance in their opener with Austin Peay, 31 points may have been a generous assessment of the Cincinnati defense.

Related Story: The biggest issue after beating Florida

So, why turn to ABC at noon EST to catch that game when Iowa is at Iowa State, Northwestern’s at Duke, South Florida’s at Connecticut?

If I have to answer that question, you are on the wrong website.

But, in the interest of refining the fan’s appreciation of this season for Michigan, here are five storylines that are more than worth following:

1. Can Wilton Speight demonstrate the judgment and leadership to take this team all the way to the promised land?

Speight is a big guy with a big arm. He can take a lot of punishment and he’s kept his spot on the depth chart because Harbaugh thinks he’s the best guy to run the system he’s developed. Speight doesn’t move well out of the pocket, and he’s not going to provide breakaway excitement and any kind of running threat, but with three talented running backs, he doesn’t have to be the one to move the ball on the ground.

Speightdoes have to put the ball in the air from time to time, and the two interceptions in the Florida game reminded viewers that Speight has been inclined to overthrow over the middle, a dangerous tendency against any team with a respectable secondary.

We saw Harbaugh pull Speight, settle him down, and send him back into the fray, and we know Harbaugh does not want quarterback wars and quarterback controversy. That was made clear after the Florida game when he took the blame for Speight’s errors of judgment.

“I think sometimes quarterbacks want to show that they are the one, they are the guy,” Harbaugh said, according to Scout. “Sometimes that tends to lead to always trying to make a big play, always trying to make the big play that proves that. That’s another thing we talked about, you have to let that come to you. You operate through the system and in the reads, you’re a disciple to the mechanics and the big plays come to you. I always look at what I could’ve done better as a coach. Now we know and now we’re set on improving them.”

2. Which running back is going to be the go-to guy in a system that depends on using the ground game to propel the offense?

The answer lies with Jay Harbaugh, who now coaches the running backs. He’s got four strong options, each of which has a particular skill set. Based on what we’ve seen so far, chances are good that we’ll see something like platooning Ty Isaac with Chris Evans, who started against Florida and are most familiar with the system, a consistent player with good speed and good hands.

Karan Higdon is a workhorse, way tougher this season than last. He’s a good short-down, goal-line, take-three-tacklers-with-him kind of runner. Jay Harbaugh likes the edge Higdon brings.

“He’s done a great job picking up blitzes, putting his face in there. He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s very, very willing” Harbaugh said, according to Rivals. “He has natural leverage and can play with some violence. He’s always been able to carry the ball; now he’s doing it with a little more strength and power, too.”

There’s a lot to like with a guy who can play with some violence, but the big story in the Florida game was the finesse with which Isaac gained 114 yards on 11 carries, earning offensive player of the week honors and finally finding his place in the rotation as a fifth-year senior. With the ambition to make this a season worth waiting for, Isaac was more than humble in receiving the accolade from Jim Harbaugh.

“It’s exciting, because it’s one of the things I wanted to accomplish,” he said. “It shows that I did a lot for the team, and that’s what I’m happiest about.”

3. Is Donovan Peoples-Jones going to bust out a monster return this Saturday?

This five-star freshman has the size (6-foot-2, 199 pounds) to power through a tackle and the speed to go all the way. He’s taken the role of return man seriously with an intense desire to score on every opportunity. His longest return against Florida was a nice run of 18 yards—good, but not what he expects of himself.

The coaches see him as a real-deal return guy who needs to learn to protect the ball a bit more carefully. Despite his eagerness to go the distance on every kick, Peoples-Jones gets it.

“Ball security has been a big thing here,” DPJ said. “Ball security equals job security. So you got to protect the ball as a football team. … As a ball carrier you have to keep the ball high and tight.”

4. Is Khaleke Hudson the next legendary viper?

Jabrill Peppers is a tough act to follow, but linebackers coach Chris Partridge thinks Hudson has the attributes necessary to the task.

“Violence. Aggression. Hammerhead,” Partridge said recently of Hudson. “He’s a guy that just loves contact.”

Defensive coordinator Don Brown is not satisfied with simply coaching a tough defense; he wants to scare the bejeepers out of the offenses Michigan faces.

The key to Brown’s schemes is unrelenting pressure, individual pressure, aggressive, intense pressure, and as the viper against Florida, Hudson grabbed four tackles, a sack and forced a fumble.

Sounds systematically unrelenting, but Hudson is determined to up the voltage in order to put the fear of God in Cincinnati as fair warning to the rest of the teams bumping up against Michigan’s defense this year that this viper is going to strike at will, blitzing when they least expect it.

5. Yeah, but is Devin Bush the quickest linebacker to wear the maize (and blue)?

After the near-unanimity of reports that Michigan’s defense would be taking a huge step backward this season, there was sweet vindication in watching Brown’s troops push Florida around. Play at every position was impressive, but Devin  Bush was EVERYWHERE! Orin Sang in the Michigan Daily waxed rhapsodic in describing Bush’s sideline to sideline effectiveness:

“Bush, to put it simply, looked like a heat-seeking missile, if a heat-seeking missile could play middle linebacker. Time after time, he shot into the backfield on well-timed blitzes, or snuffed out the rare Florida ball carrier that got past his defensive line. He led the team in tackles with seven. He led the team with tackles-for-loss with three. He led the team in sacks with two.”

If Cincinnati has any chance of getting any traction on offense, it will depend on two returning receivers, Devin Gray and Khalil Lewis, each of whom will try to somehow avoid attracting Bush’s attention. So, actually, there is virtually no chance of Cincinnati getting any traction on offense.

6. Will Michigan score more than 50 points?

SB Nation’s Down the Drive used five simulation programs to guesstimate the outcome of the game, entitling their article, “How High Can Computers Count?”

The five outcomes vary somewhat according to WhatIfSports.com, ranging from their “worst case scenario”: Michigan 52, Cincinnati 6 to “if the football gods are napping” best case: Michigan 32, Cincinnati 17.

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What none of these simulations consider, however, are points scored by the Michigan defense.  Should the Blue fire on all cylinders, both offense and defense can put points on the board, making 50 likely and 60 entirely possible.

I guess you’ll have to skip Duke-Northwestern to find out.