3. Does Quinn Nordin take over at kicker?
One of the Wolverines blemishes against the Golden Gophers was on special teams, especially at kicker.
Jake Moody didn’t miss just one or two field goals; he missed all three of them. The third kick was a bad snap, so the blame can’t entirely be on him, but he struggled to put up points that weren’t chip shots. He made all seven extra-point attempts, but he couldn’t put it through the uprights when the kicks were farther than that.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game Quinn Nordin was going through something and that he would be fine. It’s good to hear that Nordin will be fine after suffering an injury, but how long will he be out? If Nordin will be out for some time, Moody needs to get back to his old ways of setting records at Michigan.
If Nordin is good to go, is he able to unseat Moody as the starter? If Moody outkicked Nordin during camp and won the job, how poor was Nordin doing? Certainly, Moody can be a fantastic kicker; we’ve seen him make big kicks for the Wolverines before, but something is off right now. If he can overcome that and return to his old self, Michigan will be fine. If he is still having issues, then Nordin should be given a chance to kick and try and win his job back.
Moody was lucky that those nine points weren’t necessary for the win over Minnesota, or there would be many more eyes directed at him. No matter who is the Wolverines’ kicker, the issues that both of them need to be hammered out and done with so the Wolverines don’t have to walk away with zero points if they can’t convert on fourth down.