Players of the game: Michigan football vs. Hawaii
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan is off to a 2-0 start to the 2022 season after its trashing of Hawaii on Saturday night. The Wolverines defeated the Rainbow Warriors, 56-10.
J.J. McCarthy had his first-career start on Saturday and the former five-star lived up to the hype. The Wolverines’ offense cruised to 588 yards of total offense. The maize and blue seemingly were able to do whatever they wanted on the offensive side of the ball. Blake Corum and the running backs had gaping wide holes and, thanks to great ball placement, the receivers created great separation and hauled in some long passes.
The Michigan defense was stifling against the porous Hawaii offense on Saturday. The Wolverines only generated one sack against the Rainbow Warriors but the Michigan defense only allowed 253 yards of offense. The Rainbow Warriors went just 7-for-19 on third downs and most of those third-down conversions came against the backups that the Wolverines had in during the second half.
Here are our players of the game.
List
Five takeaways: Michigan football defeats Hawaii
J.J. McCarthy
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
McCarthy had his first-career start on Saturday. The Wolverines had a quarterback competition between Cade McNamara and the former five-star recruit.
But Jim Harbaugh announced that McCarthy is the man that will get the nod the for foreseeable future in Ann Arbor.
McCarthy made his deep throws look easy on Saturday and he looked to have a great command of the offense.
McCarthy went 11-for-12 for 239 yards and three touchdowns. The only incomplete pass was a dropped ball by Ronnie Bell. Maybe the most incredible stat from McCarthy was that he had a 334.5 passer rating.
Blake Corum
WolverinesWire
Corum led the Michigan rushing attack once again.
The Wolverines mustered 268 yards on the ground. Corum was the high rusher with 88 yards on the ground.
He only carried the rock nine times and averaged 9.8 yards-per-carry. The junior back had nice help getting holes to run thru, but Corum really flashed his speed and shiftiness.
Ronnie Bell
Photo: Isaiah Hole
The senior captain had a couple of mishaps on Saturday: a drop and a fumble that was recovered.
But he led the Wolverines with six receptions for 74 yards and he found the endzone for the first time in 2022.
Roman Wilson
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
The Hawaii native only touched the ball two times on Saturday night.
Both of those touches led to touchdowns.
The first touchdown was a 42-yard pass from McCarthy to Wilson. The second score by Wilson came on a 21-yard receiver reverse.
Mike Morris
Photo: Isaiah Hole
Mike Morris didn’t show up much in the stat sheet but he recorded the only sack of the game for Michigan.
The Wolverines weren’t able to get to Joey Yellen, but that was largely because of the Hawaii game plan. Short, quick passes helped to keep the Wolverines’ edge defenders away from Yellen.
R.J. Moten
Photo: Isaiah Hole
Moten led the Michigan defense with four tackles.
Hawaii threw the ball 37 times on Saturday and Moten was part of the Wolverines’ secondary that shut down the Rainbow Warriors’ passing attack.
Moten did drop an interception on Saturday but overall, he had an outstanding game.
