Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from a quirky win over Bowling Green

Ugly wins count and that’s the way it was at times during the 14th night game in Michigan Stadium history since 2011.

Bowling Green was unfazed from the first play of the night. They threw a controversial deep ball down the field and the refs confirmed the call.

Nothing came out of it and Michigan football got the rock for their initial touch of the contest and went four plays all on the ground to score six. Blake Corum scored and got the momentum rolling with a 54-yard scamper on the first offensive snap.

Then J.J. McCarthy made some very uncharacteristic mistakes. He threw an interception in the endzone and a second one not to far afterward. The Falcons got a pair of field goals before McCarthy found Roman Wilson for the sixth hookup of the year. Scott Loeffler’s bunch kept it much too close for comfort following the first 30 minutes.

It didn’t take long to open up the margin in the third with Kris Jenkins taking away a screen pass and returning it to the one-yard line. Corum hit paydirt on the next play from scrimmage. Jaylen Harrell’s pressure off the edge caused another turnover on the ensuing series. Moments later Sherrone Moore went for the kill with a flea flicker that Cornelius Johnson snagged out of the air.

McCarthy passed it away to Bowling Green one more time at the end of the third quarter on what should have been a clear throwaway. Michigan football gears up for Big Ten play now and can’t afford to execute like they did for parts of Saturday night.

Greg Schiano and Rutgers won’t be as accommodating and dating back to 2020, when he returned to Piscataway, have been within a touchdown or less, besides the second half of the 2022 meeting.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. J.J. McCarthy came crashing back to earth with three picks

The first drive of the night for Michigan football was a statement, but after that McCarthy had his issues. He missed Roman Wilson on a crossing route in the back of the endzone by throwing it short for an easy giveaway. Next time out he underthrew a ball downfield to Cornelius Johnson that went the other way.

Late in the third, he was picked for a third time. He was trying to make a play and instead forced it into the defender’s hands, who somehow got his feet down in bounds.

McCarthy only had five incompletions on the night, but three of them went to the other team. He did add two more touchdown passes to his resume, one of which Johnson made a circus catch over a falling defender.

In contrast to that, Blake Corum surpassed the 100-yard mark for the first time in 2023. He averaged eight and a half yards a crack with 54 coming on one run alone.

Donovan Edwards had his highest outburst of the season, while he is still trying to break one that will get the crowd off their feet.

2. The offense only attempted 13 passes

Three quarterbacks saw action on Saturday night, but only one was on the stat sheet. Alex Orji and Jayden Denegal were the other two guys who lined up in the backfield for the Wolverines.

No Jack Tuttle as he was recovering from last week’s late hit out of bounds. On the starting quarterback front, J.J. McCarthy did appear to limp after a hit he took on a scramble, but did not leave the contest due to it.

Roman Wilson, Cornelius Johnson, and Colston Loveland were the only Wolverines who caught a pass from McCarthy on Saturday night, compared to eight, in each of the first two weeks. Wilson is setting new standards for wearing the number one jersey with the touchdowns, while Johnson is quietly having a nice season thus far.

The offensive line also gave up its first sack of the season on Saturday night. It was a straight blitz up the A gap as Jake Butt mentioned during the broadcast. The protection was blatantly missed and McCarthy had no choice but to eat it. McCarthy was in the negative, rushing-wise, because of the loss of yardage.

3. The new lights were a fan-favorite

Blake Corum said in the postgame interview that “it was nice having these new lights too.” He took time throughout the night to see everyone flashing their lights from their phones. He made his thoughts known that the Big House is the “best stadium in college football and legendary.” The newest additions confirm it to him.

There were shows after touchdowns and timeouts from the broadcast too. The new scoreboards were in full effect as well. The 109,000-plus people in the stands seemed to enjoy it and that was the same for those on social media. Plus it is a tool Michigan football can use in recruiting whenever they schedule a night matchup or maize out.

There are no more scheduled night games on the docket as of yet, but that can change on a week-to-week basis.

Imagining what the atmosphere would be like for Ohio State at night or next year with Texas, UCLA, and Michigan State coming to town would be groundbreaking for the entire program.