In our final look back at the Michigan football win over UNLV, here are our grades and game balls from the Wolverines win.
Michigan football has gotten plenty of criticism for its non-conference schedule this season and back in 2022.
However, just like last season, Michigan football has dominated the competition. It’s not like the Wolverines are barely winning the game. The starters have been done by the time the fourth quarter started and the first-team defense hasn’t allowed a single point.
J.J. McCarthy has been spectacular. He was 22-of-25 for 278 and two touchdowns. McCarthy has five touchdowns total and is the highest-rated QB in the Big Ten according to Pro Football Focus.
We’ve had quite a few looks back at the Wolverines. Here’s a look at top performers, things we learned, and some takeaways.
Now, here are our grades and game balls from Michigan football’s win over UNLV.
Game balls: J.J. McCarthy, Roman Wilson, and Kenneth Grant
McCarthy was spectacular. Jim Harbaugh talked about it on Monday and said that McCarthy was making “NFL caliber throws”, which he was.
J.J. continues to move up NFL draft boards, just like I predicted he would. The game is slowing down for him and he’s now in complete control.
Wilson got a game ball last week, but when you catch two touchdowns and score on a 47-yard play, it’s hard to deny you. It’s true that McCarthy threw a perfect ball on the 47-yard touchdown, that Wilson got to the end zone.
The dude that took on the No. 1 has responded with two games of more than 75 yards receiving and two touchdowns. He’s also got a connection with McCarthy that’s special and valuable.
Mason Graham was also strongly considered, but I have to give Kenneth Grant the game ball for the defense. Grant had 1.5 sacks, two solo tackles, and two tackles for loss. Graham did force a fumble and both dominated.
Stars do matter in terms of building a winner, but those former three-star recruits show that sometimes, the stars aren’t right and each looks like they’d fit right at home in the SEC.
Offense: A
Jim Harbaugh talked about the running game needing to improve on Monday. It wasn’t perfect on Saturday, but it was a lot better.
The most promising thing to me was that Blake Corum looked more explosive than he did in Week 1, which is interesting because he had a 37-yard run against ECU.
Both backs still seemed to be pressing a little bit, but Michigan football rushed for 179 yards and got 5.4 per attempt. Harbaugh is right about there needing to be fewer runs of zero to three yards.
That will be a focus this week and will be important going into Big Ten play. It will also help to have Corum and Edwards playing the entire game. It seems like those guys are trying to hit big plays knowing their time could be limited in the game.
They’ll figure it out and in the meantime, the passing game has been stellar. Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson have been outstanding and the offense totaled 497 yards of offense, even though McCarthy only played about three quarters.
Defense: A
There are a couple of things I could nitpick about. Michigan football only forced one turnover, but man the defense was really dominant on Saturday.
Looking back at the last two seasons, this defense feels like the best to me. We’ll see how it looks when the Big Ten teams come calling and maybe others down the road, but it’s hard to find a weakness.
Grant, Graham, and Kris Jenkins have to be as good as any defensive tackle trio in the country. They are all going to be early-round picks. The EDGE players are good and interchangeable.
Will Johnson hasn’t played a ton, but he and Mike Sainristil are as good as it gets at their position, plus Josh Wallace is another solid starter.
Michigan has allowed 10 points total in two games and each score was in garbage time. Even so, seven points allowed and five sacks should always earn an A.
Coaching: A-
Not everything was perfect during the UNLV game, but Jay Harbaugh and Mike Hart did a really good job of running the show while Jim Harbaugh was suspended.
I thought Sherrone Moore made an impact in his return as the offensive coordinator this week. The running game wasn’t perfect. It was better though. There was also a better flow to things and the offensive line did do a better job of moving people.
There was another short-yardage failure which was frustrating. I really wish this staff would get McCarthy on the move and let their playmaker make a play.
Then again, this was UNLV and nothing was on the line.
Special teams: A
The kicking units didn’t give up any big returns and the coverage was pretty solid outside of one punt return. Jake Thaw had a 19-yard punt return but missed another catch that cost Michigan football some yardage.
That needs to be fixed but his other return was productive. James Turner made all of his extra points and the U-M kicking game was solid as usual.