Michigan Thursday: Asks A Question About Peppers on Offense

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Chris Evans seems to be freshman that is going to make a significant impact on offense this year.   His playmaking ability and speed is a great change of pace to Smith and Isaac power running style.    We all know that Peppers wouldn't play offense in the pre-Big Ten season, but with Evans now available, it bring us to one big question:  Does Peppers need to play offense this year?

I think the answer is no (but he probably will later in the year).   Peppers is a great athlete no doubt, right now he is playing LB, CB, Nickel, and Safety on defense.   That is a lot of assignments on the defensive side of the ball.   Let's not forget he is returning punts and kickoffs as well.   With all that said, I think Peppers will have some offensive packages later in the season but right now Jimmy seems very happy with Evans and his role on offense. 

I was a little concerned how long Peppers was in the game on Saturday after the score got out of hand.  I know the defense wanted a shut out but it's not worth a Peppers injury in garbage time.   Please send out other player if Michigan gets up big against UCF this weekend.

Another Freshman hat tip goes to Michael Onwenu who played on both lines (offense and defense) on Saturday.  With Mone out a couple of weeks, Big Mike will probably see more time on defense now.  

Big Ten Week 2 Big Games

In the past, I have previewed every Big Ten game on Thursdays during the season.   Some games are so bad they aren't even worth a preview.  So this year, I will take a look at some of the bigger Big Ten games coming up this weekend.

Penn State at Pitt:  This is an old rivalry game that has been dormant for some time.   I'm not sold on Penn State yet as they seemed to struggle week one.  We know Narduzzi would love to have a win over a Big Ten team.  Pitt -5 in this game.   Pitt 24 PSU 14

Cincinnati at Purdue:  Does Cincy still have Gunnar Kiel that 5 star QB that signed with ND and then transferred to the Bearcats?  He had some serious concussions and injury issues last year.   Cincy loves to throw the ball and doesn't play a lot of defense.  On a fun side note, Cincy has a Safety named Mike Tyson.   I think this combined score could get over a 100 points.   Cincy is -6 in this one.   UC 51  Purdue 48

North Carolina at Illinois:  This is an interesting game.  NC was a pretty good team at the end of the year and almost beat Clemson in the ACC Championship.  Illinois hasn't been a good team for awhile but Lovie Smith is there now and trying to change the culture.   UNC is -9.   I like UNC in this game but wouldn't be surprised if Illinois gives them a good close game.   UNC 28 Illinois 24

Iowa State at Iowa:  This is another rivalry game and they play for some corn trophy.  Iowa State lost to North Iowa last week and now will hit the road for another instate game.   Iowa is a solid team and won't lose this one at home.   Iowa -15.  Iowa 31  ISU 10

Weird game of the week:  Maryland travels to Florida International on Friday night.  Maryland -10.

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/09/michigan-thursday-asks-question-about.html