Michigan Football shows signs of weakness in close win over Maryland

Michigan football hadn’t been tested heading into their week four game against Maryland, but they were tested early and often against the Terrapins.

A win is a win. Michigan football is 4-0 and that is all that matters. But looking back on the 3-427 victory over Maryland, the Wolverines have some weaknesses that the whole country now knows about.

Signs of weakness for Michigan football show against Maryland

Michigan had questions heading into the season and their first three games told us nothing about those questions even though we thought they did.

The Michigan pass rush failed to get into the backfield at times against the Terrapins and it allowed Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovaila to be 20-30 through the air for 207 yards and one touchdown. The Terrapins threw for a total of 269 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Tagovaila simply had too much time to throw at times. I think Michigan is still trying to settle in as far as the rotations go on the defensive line. Mike Morris and Mazi Smith are the leaders on that line, but adding more snaps to Derrick Moore and Eyabi Okie could potentially help the Wolverines get a better pass rush.

The Maize and Blue have talent on the defensive line, but they need to figure out the right combinations for the situations to make sure they are disrupting the opposing team’s quarterback.

Another sign of weakness that showed in the close win over Maryland was the inexperience of J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy, although still good, wasn’t his normal comfortable self on Saturday.

McCarthy finished the game having gone 18-26 for 220 yards and two touchdowns. It is hard to look at that stat line and say he needs to be better, but he admitted he needs to be in the postgame press conference.

McCarthy had to run around in the backfield and times, fumbling twice and taking a sack another time, losing lots of yardage. Here’s what McCarthy said afterward. 

"“I mean, the one fumble that I had, it was just — I was seatbelting it like I always was told to and I was just squeezing too hard. And one little budge happened, the ball came out. So that’s always a huge priority for us, as far as ball security, and I’ve just got to do a better job.And the other one: That’s one of those plays where I want back, where I just got to get rid of the ball, make sure I don’t get myself in a situation like that. And I kind of knew I was down just because the ball hit the ground when I was trying to stay up. And yeah, that’s two plays where I really want back.”"

He also talked about the multiple overthrows that could’ve helped the Wolverines pull away for the Terrapins.

"“My arm was feeling like 110% today, and it’s been a while since it’s felt like that. So just being able to go through the practices this week and be able to adjust and dial it back a little bit more is gonna be huge.”"

Although it seems like an easy fix for McCarthy, it’s worth noting them because J.J. has always been a player who wants to extend the play as long as possible. But he needs to learn that sometimes, the best option is to throw the ball away.

McCarthy is still maturing as a quarterback and I don’t expect him to be a problem going forward, but those kinds of mistakes could prove costly against a better opponent.

The Wolverines will be tested again next Saturday as they make their first road trip of the season. They’ll take on Iowa for a noon kickoff on FOX.