Michigan Football: Grading the Wolverines against Colorado State
Michigan football beat Colorado State on Saturday and here’s the report card for the Wolverines on offense, defense, coaching, and special teams.
Looking back at the Michigan football win over Colorado State, it’s easy to feel good about the first performance and the Wolverines’ first win.
The offense could have been better at times, but it was the first game. Michigan football didn’t have a turnover and had just one penalty. The Wolverines also won by 44 points.
It wasn’t like Michigan opened against a juggernaut, so keep that in mind but here’s the first report card for the Wolverines in 2022.
Offense: A-
The Wolverines scored 44 points on offense and finished with 440 total yards of offense. It was hard to find much to complain about but if there is one thing I’ll nitpick about, it was the lack of downfield passes.
Cade McNamara didn’t impress in his start and maybe the pressure of the QB competition is getting to him. But that’s the way it is. Michigan football doesn’t owe anything to Cade and Jim Harbaugh owes it to the program to play the best players.
That might sound harsh but it’s true. This team can contend for a national championship and it can’t let Cade McNamara’s hurt feelings get in the way.
If he wanted to keep the job, he should have played better. He missed some easy throws and outside of the 61-yard pass to Roman Wilson, which was about a five-yard pass, McNamara averaged just 4.4 yards per attempt.
McCarthy didn’t really stretch the field either but he made good decisions and was dynamic. I think we are all excited to see what he’ll do Saturday night against Hawaii.
The reason for the minus is that I want to see the wide receivers given more opportunities. This could be the best pass offense Michigan has had in decades so give the guys a chance to make plays and that includes both quarterbacks.
We don’t know if the plays called were conservative or if Cade was. I also understand Michigan didn’t need to do anything special, but confidence is confidence and the passing game needs to be unleashed this week.