The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1508023
32 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2023 BY JOHN BORTON S o, what's not to like about a 3-0 start, outscoring opponents 96-16, and having your quar- terback connect on 87 percent of his passes through the opening two games? A few items, as it turns out. Most of them cropped up during Game 3, a sloppy, turnover-filled 31-6 win over Bowling Green under the lights at Michi- gan Stadium. That's when a team with just 1 turn- over through two games coughed it up four times, three of them on interceptions from junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who looked like a Heisman frontrunner in the opening fortnight of the season. While one of them clearly wasn't all his fault — offensive coordinator and head coach-for-the-night Sherrone Moore referenced receiver spacing as a culprit — McCarthy stepped up in the postgame and said put it all on him. Nobody will, but the picks and a fumbled-away kick- off return left the night crowd a little less dazzled than anticipated. Even before the turnover gates opened, Michigan coaches and players noted early issues with … • The lack of a dominant rushing at- tack, regardless of the defensive deploy- ment. • A reconfigured offensive line still figuring things out through the first few games. • The necessity for Michigan's wide- outs to block better, leading to explosive plays. Ready or not, here comes the Big Ten season. The Wolverines aim to be ready, but that means a laundry list of clean-up items. "You live, you learn, you continue to progress," Moore said. "As long as you learn from it, you progress and get better. I think you've always got to be humble in everything. You're never going to play a perfect game, but obviously we've got some stuff to fix, and we will. We'll con- tinue to put our head down and work to get to where we want to be." Here's a quick look at the components seeking the upward arc. QUARTERBACK McCarthy drew Heisman buzz around Ann Arbor and beyond after he went 48- for-55 passing for 558 yards and 5 touch- downs in the opening two games. He drew major props from his head coach, whose approving assessment McCarthy covets most. "He is phenomenal," Jim Harbaugh said, following the win over UNLV. "So on fire, so on point. The throws that he is making from the pocket, doing se- vere damage when he leaves the pocket — keeps his eyes downfield — and is get- ting chunk plays and yardage. Receivers — the explosive plays, plus-15s, are just huge. The kind of throws he's making, too, are NFL-caliber throws into tight windows. The accuracy is off the charts." Then came the Bowling Green game, and McCarthy's urging regarding the picks: "I'll take all those on the chin. Put them all on me." OFFENSE ANALYSIS Game 3 Glitches Inject Concerns Amid The Roll Junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy averaged 238.7 yards passing in the first three games behind a sturdy offensive line that allowed just 1 sack. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL