Michigan Football: Brandon Peters deserves to start the bowl game
Michigan football was forced to sit Brandon Peters against Ohio State because of injury, now if he’s healthy, he must start the bowl game.
After another painful loss to Ohio State, one in which Michigan football squandered a 14-point lead, the message is clear: The Wolverines need a quarterback. Now.
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Michigan football got a great effort from all its players Saturday, even from John O’Korn. But O’Korn missed open receivers, made bad reads and made a terrible mistake on the interception that ended any hopes of an upset.
His play should also serve as a reminder for what’s needed and that’s a quarterback, plain and simple.
Even before Ohio State, against teams like Penn State, Michigan State and even Wisconsin, the difference came at quarterback. Michigan has everything you need to win. A great defense, a respectable running game, a great coaching staff, what they don’t have right now is an elite quarterback. They don’t have a J.T. Barrett or a Trace McSorley and that’s what needs to change.
Cue Brandon Peters, the redshirt freshman that gave hope to so many Michigan football fans. He didn’t play great against Wisconsin, but it was 14-10 when he left. And you have to think, he would have hit the open guys, O’Korn so painfully missed.
But now, Michigan needs to find out what it has in Peters. So if healthy, he must start the bowl game. He must be given another chance to improve. Maybe he plays well enough to lock down the starting job. Even if he doesn’t, it will be a valuable learning experience and plenty of reps, neither of which should be wasted on Wilton Speight.
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I’m not trying to discount Speight. He’s just not the answer. If he wants to stick around for a fifth season, he will make a fine backup, one much better than O’Korn anyway. But the starter? No. He proved this season he’s not good enough for that, not if the Wolverines want to start beating Ohio State, Michigan State and the like.
With an 8-4 record and plenty of name recognition, Michigan will find its way into a decent bowl game, with a decent opponent. The Holiday Bowl against Stanford is intriguing for obvious reasons, but regardless of where it’s played and who it’s against, Peters, if healthy needs to start.
Until Michigan finds a quarterback, it can’t get where it wants to go. Peters and Dylan McCaffrey seem like the future, but the only way to find out, is to play them.
Obviously, McCaffrey will have to wait his turn, his redshirt won’t be wasted. But Peters, as long as he clears the concussion protocol, needs to play. The Wolverines need a win and some momentum, but most of all, they need to find out what they have at quarterback.
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Playing Peters in the bowl game, will give them that opportunity. It won’t mean a lot going forward, cause every day is a competition to Harbaugh. But it can be a growth experience and right now, that’s the best Michigan football can hope for.