Michigan Football: 3 keys for Wolverines to beat Illinois
By Josh LaFond
Let J.J. McCarthy build confidence
If you scrolled Twitter, read Michigan football forums, or perused the comment section on our site (or others), you’d think McCarthy had fallen off a cliff.
Spoiler alert: he hasn’t.
What he has done however is lose (albeit slightly) the confidence we saw the first of the year against cupcake opponents and even last year when he came in the game in the relief of Cade McNamara. Michigan needs to see McCarthy regain that confidence against Illinois.
The best way to do that?
Put him in positions to succeed.
Whether it’s route concepts that he understands, heavily targeting receivers he has a rapport with, or just letting JJ be JJ, this staff has to figure something out.
No, it’s not “the deep ball” that he needs to improve on — as fans would like to say. It’s everything. Much like a great 3-point shooter in basketball, when they get cold they need to see just one go through the net, and then everything comes back around.
If the Wolverines want to win on Saturday and even more importantly face the Buckeyes with a complete offense, then this is the last chance to rebuild the confidence in McCarthy that we’ve seen before.