Michigan football's pass attack plants the seeds for greatness later on
Free Press sports writer Rainer Sabin tackles the tough questions after No. 2 Michigan football defeated East Carolina, 30-3, on Saturday in Ann Arbor:
Business as usual without Harbaugh on the sideline?
When this week began, U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh was front and center, conducting his standard weekly news conference. But Saturday, he was nowhere to be found inside Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines’ coach began serving his school-imposed three-game suspension.
“This is uncharted waters for me,” he said Monday.
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That was also true for the team he leads. Running back Kalel Mullings called it an “unusual situation.”
After a few early hiccups Saturday, it seemed business as usual for the Wolverines. J.J. McCarthy looked like an experienced quarterback with the potential to take a great leap forward in his second season as the starter. He sent pinpoint throws into tight windows, extended plays with his legs and powered the offense as he pieced together an impressive stat line: A whopping 86.7% completion rate (26-for-30), 280 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The team’s vaunted rushing attack, meanwhile, overcame a sluggish start before gaining traction. After an offseason spent rehabilitating the left knee he injured last November, Blake Corum regained his form, ripping off runs of 21 and 37 yards. The defense, directed by acting head coach Jesse Minter, was aggressive and relentless despite missing two starters in the secondary. The interior tackles generated the kind of effective pass rush that Minter coveted, and defensive back Mike Sainristil, one of Michigan’s revelations last fall, picked up where he left off in 2022 with an interception on East Carolina’s sixth play from scrimmage. Throughout an afternoon when the Wolverines piled up 402 yards and conceded only three points, they rarely missed a beat.
What did the offense look like?
Harbaugh may not have been there, but his fingerprints were all over U-M’s plan of attack.
Throughout the offseason, he called for balance in an offense that was decidedly run-heavy each of the past two seasons.
“I want to be 50-50,” Harbaugh reiterated on the school’s in-house radio show earlier this week. “I really do.”
McCarthy echoed his head coach, saying that the growth of Michigan’s passing game could increase the team’s overall potency.
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The comments by both coach and quarterback hinted at what was to come after Michigan’s opening first series featured three consecutive runs that netted zero yards. From that point forward, McCarthy propelled the Wolverines, directing an offense that by halftime featured the inverse of the 60-40 run-pass ratio over the previous two seasons. In the first 30 minutes, U-M ran 12 times and McCarthy delivered 18 throws, completing 16 of them for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The new approach was obvious.
It became even more apparent when Michigan came out for the third quarter with a 23-point lead and still chose to travel by air, throwing at the same rate as they did before the break. On a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, McCarthy uncorked the ball eight times, completing seven passes for 63 yards. The final one landed in Roman Wilson’s arms in the back corner of the end zone as Michigan seized a 30-0 lead. It was Wilson’s third touchdown catch of the afternoon, and it provided the exclamation point during a season debut when Michigan showed it may strike a different balance this fall.
Did Michigan learn its lesson from last September?
Michigan’s nonconference schedule each of the past two season has been the subject of intense criticism. Some accused the Wolverines of ducking good opponents. Others have suggested that these lopsided matchups do little to prepare a championship-level team for the rigors of league play. But Michigan showed Saturday why these games can be beneficial if the right approach is taken.
This year, the Wolverines used the opener to expand the dimensions of their offense and improve an area — the passing game — that was underdeveloped last year.
It seemed as if Michigan learned its lesson after it squandered the same opportunity last year. Last September, the Wolverines simply chose to overpower Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn with their vaunted rushing attack. In that three-game stretch, U-M ran the ball on 116 plays and threw it 76 times.
By the time they got sucked into a shootout in the 51-45 loss to TCU in December's College Football Playoff semifinal, a case could be made that the Wolverines weren’t fully prepared to lean on a passing game that had been shoved to the back burner for much of the season.
That’s why it was an encouraging sign to see Michigan make a conscious effort to feature McCarthy’s right arm Saturday in a low-stakes game in which he and his receivers could easily build a rhythm. Down the road, the progress made in a rout of East Carolina could prove invaluable when the score is close, everything is on the line and Harbaugh needs McCarthy & Co. to deliver.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football airs it out in better practice for important games
