Michigan Football: One big reason why offense still won’t be elite

What’s holding Michigan football from being elite on offense? 

I have gone on record numerous times now and have said that I think Cade McNamara can be a really good QB for Michigan football this season.

No, he’s never going to have the ceiling of J.J. McCarthy, but Cade’s ceiling is underrated as well. I keep comparing him to Mac Jones because they’re both kinda short, lanky quarterbacks that can’t really run, but make up for that with their attention to detail and accuracy. They both take care of the football, and both were underrated entering college.

Mac Jones has a better arm than McNamara, but that’s ok because as we saw with Joe Milton, an arm without accuracy doesn’t mean squat in college football. As long as Cade plays under control, limits his mistakes, and makes the right reads, Michigan football can go far this year, right?

Michigan’s ceiling is capped in this offense

When I say “far”, I mean with realistic expectations. Let’s face it. Michigan will probably not beat OSU this season, but there’s a chance they can at least make it a good game like Minnesota did last weekend.

I’d say if everything, and I mean everything else plays out the way it should, Michigan can win 10+ games this season. Michigan’s hardest road games this season are at Wisconsin and at MSU in my opinion. I’m still not that high on Penn State this season. U-M hasn’t beaten Wisconsin at their field since 2001, and MSU is a rivalry game, so the game will be scrappy and probably close.

Anyways, in order for Michigan football to scrape to 10+ wins (including the bowl win) this season, the offense really needs to open up.

I understand that the season is still early, and nobody should be opening or having to use up their entire playbook against a MAC school in Week 1 like WMU, but Michigan is not going to get to 10 wins this season if they don’t unleash their QB.

It is Year 7 in the Harbaugh era and only Year 3 of the Gattis experiment and, frankly, I have grown sick and tired of Gattis already. Every season, he promises a “speed in space” mantra, where the ball gets thrown to receivers in space one-on-one so they can get huge YAC, but the actual on-field product always underwhelms.

Maybe I am overreacting to one game, a game Michigan dominated against WMU, and I really shouldn’t be complaining this much, but even though Michigan dominated, Cade McNamara could’ve done even MORE in his limited snaps.

McNamara is not a “game-manager”. He’s better than that. He won Gatorade Player of the Year in Nevada in 2017 and 2018 while in high school. I don’t think a “game-manager” typically wins Gatorade Player of the Year unless they were better than a “game-manager”.

That’s the issue with the offense. It’s great that Gattis wants to emphasize running the ball more, as they should since this is their best stable of backs they’ve had under Harbaugh, but when they aren’t running the ball, Cade is relegated to his “game-manager” self.

That’s the problem that I have had throughout Jim Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan. It almost never seems like the QBs get to just ball in the offense. They never get to truly take chances and sling the ball around. Then, I look at Bryce Young and Alabama’s offense, and even OSU’s offense, and I see their QBs are always taking chances, always making plays, just balling.

It just looks like Michigan’s offensive play calling is restricting Cade’s ceiling. I guarantee if Cade was the quarterback at OSU or Alabama, he would be a Heisman candidate. Yes, a lot of it has to do with the talent surrounding the QBs at OSU and Bama, but still.

The skill position players get all of those yards because of the offense they are put in. They aren’t restricted to short-to-intermediate passes 9/10 times a game. No, their QBs throw the ball downfield (which is still speed in space if the WR can get open downfield) quite often, testing the defense, and still have a healthy mix of the run to keep the defense honest.

Michigan football may not have the recruiting classes that the Alabama’s Clemson’s, OSU’s, or Oklahoma’s of the world have, but their WR room is still the second-most talented in the Big-10, with almost all four-star guys.

These players need to be given the ball more often.

All of the best teams in college football have an elite offense. Every single one. They all have one thing in common. They have non-conservative playcalling that allows their QBs the chance to play freely, make some mistakes, but also put up huge numbers game-to-game.

I just wish Michigan would have noticed this by now and actually not restrict its QBs. Cade is a really good QB at his peak. He could be borderline elite if he was not relegated to “game manager” and trusted to really just play freely and ball out.

Michigan would’ve had first-round receivers taken in the NFL Draft by now had a QB gotten the chance to actually put up huge numbers in the offense for once. This is a big reason why Michigan has failed to make a playoff under Harbaugh.

It is beyond time for Gattis and Harbaugh to allow Michigan’s quarterbacks to take chances and try to put up big numbers, but unfortunately, that may never happen.

The playcalling is often far too conservative at times, and if we anticipate the defense struggling in at least a few games this season, the offense will need to step up, but, can it? Can we see the running game AND the passing game truly shred a quality Big-10 team? We shall see.