The Wolverine

February 2016

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/629217

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 14 of 187

  INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan since Leach's season in 1978. The biggest difference between Ru- dock and other quarterbacks remains his number of attempts, 172, which stands 44 more than the next closest on the list (128, Devin Gardner in 2013). Since the passing efficiency cal- culation greatly e m p h a s i z e s yards and touch- downs relative to the number of passes, this s t r o n g l y d e - flated Rudock's h i g h n u m b e r s in comparison to quarterbacks with far less pass attempts. Nonetheless, it should be duly noted Rudock's 1,574 passing yards sits 190 yards better than any other player in a five- game segment and his 14 touchdown passes is tied atop the list with Elvis Grbac's 1991 midseason stretch Oct. 5 at Iowa through Nov. 2 versus Pur- due. Furthermore, many of the most efficient passing seasons came in earlier years with fewer passes at- tempted, thus Rudock's mark stands as the second-highest rating since 1993, trailing only Denard Robin- son's start to 2010 in which he com- pleted 67 of 96 passes for 1,008 yards with seven touchdowns and one in- terception. Rudock's 66.9 completion percent- age is also a high mark consider- ing his high volume of passes. The only four quarterbacks on the list to eclipse Rudock in completion per- centage — Todd Collins in 1993 (72.3 percent), Jim Harbaugh in 1985 (71.6 percent), Elvis Grbac in 1992 (70.0 percent) and Denard Robinson in 2010 (69.8 percent) — were all far be- low the Iowa import's totals in both completions and yards. Harbaugh's 1985 season may not have been overly impressive from a volume perspective, but his effi- ciency was nothing short of phenom- enal. At the end of the regular season from Oct. 26 versus Indiana through Nov. 23 against the Buckeyes, Har- baugh completed 68 of 95 passes for 1,131 yards with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions. The result is a pass- ing efficiency of 206.3, the only five- game stretch in Michigan history to eclipse 200. — Jeff Slade MICHIGAN'S BEST FIVE-GAME PASS EFFICIENCY PERFORMANCES Year Quarterback Comp. Pct. Yards TD-INT Rating 1985 Jim Harbaugh 71.6 1,131 10-0 206.3 1978 Rick Leach 58.8 685 11-0 196.8 1991 Elvis Grbac 66.7 885 14-0 188.4 1989 Michael Taylor 63.8 822 9-2 182.2 1992 Elvis Grbac 70.0 992 12-4 181.5 2010 Denard Robinson 69.8 1,008 7-1 180.0 1982 Steve Smith 57.8 848 10-2 178.6 1993 Todd Collins 71.6 1,007 7-3 171.3 2015 Jake Rudock 66.9 1,574 14-2 168.3 2013 Devin Gardner 66.3 1,384 7-3 167.5

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Wolverine - February 2016