Michigan Football: It’s night and day at the quarterback spot
By Jacob Cox
It isn’t an overreaction, Michigan football has a quarterback that makes this team better and one that limits the offense.
In Michigan’s thumping of Colorado State on Saturday afternoon at the Big House, it was obvious the Wolverine offense looked better with one quarterback under center.
How did the quarterbacks play against Colorado State?
Cade McNamara started the game off on a bad note: his first two throws were ugly. He spiked the ball about 2 yards short of Cornelius Johnson, then on the next play, he threw it behind Johnson forcing Michigan football to go three-and-out.
McNamara did throw for a touchdown, but that was thanks to Roman Wilson. McNamara threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage and Wilson turned on the jets for a 61-yard touchdown.
McNamara finished the game with a stat line of 9-18 for 136 yards and one touchdown. But if you take away the 61-yard touchdown to Wilson, his state line becomes 8-17 for 75 yards, which isn’t good enough against Colorado State.
J.J. McCarthy didn’t get a lot of snaps today but he still finished with a good state line. McCarthy was 4-4 for 30 yards through the air and had three carries for 50 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
It’s night and day between McNamara and McCarthy
There is an obvious difference between the Michigan offense with McNamara and the offense with McCarthy.
With McNamara, the offense seems very one-dimensional. They have to pass in the pocket, not very many read-option plays, and a lot of running plays. Colorado State put eight in the box anticipating run almost every play. If McNamara somehow wins the starting job, Michigan football will struggle offensively like they did today in the first half.
Teams will play to the run. They won’t let Blake Corum or Donovan Edwards beat them and they will take their chances letting McNamara throw the ball which he is very average at.
But when McCarthy is in the game, defenses have to account for his legs. McCarthy has proved time and again that he has a great ability to run the ball. But he also has great arm strength.
With McCarthy in the game, the playbook seems to open up as they can run RPOs (run-pass option) and take more deep shots. Not to mention, with McCarthy, teams cannot put eight players in the box to stop the run every play which will allow the running game to be better and more consistent.
With what we all saw against Colorado State, it might’ve been McNamara’s last start as a Wolverine assuming McCarthy plays well against Hawaii and stays healthy all season.
JJ McCarthy will get his first collegiate start next Saturday against Hawaii. Kickoff is set for 8 pm in Ann Arbor.