3 things to watch for Michigan football vs. Rutgers

The play of J.J. McCarthy

Michigan football quarterback J.J. McCarthy will be under the microscope on Saturday after a career-high three interceptions last week against Bowling Green.

Despite the fact that McCarthy was off the charts in the first three weeks, I still expect Rutgers, which has a stellar run defense in its own right, allowing just 69.7 yards per game, as well as just 2.5 yards per attempt, to force McCarthy to beat them.

The Scarlet Knight are going to load the box — similar to what East Carolina and others have done so far this season. For one, Michgan hasn’t been as good at running the ball.

Blake Corum went over 100 yards and some changes along the offensive line could help, but we haven’t really heard if Myles Hinton will start again this week or not. LaDarius Henderson played well at left tackle, which allowed Karsen Barnhart to slide over to right tackle.

That was my predicted starting five in fall camp and we’ll see if that proves to be true. But McCarthy is going to have to play well which might not be that easy either. Rutgers is allowing 203 yards per game but just 52 percent completion percentage.

The Scarlet Knights have also allowed just three touchdown passes compared to picking off five passes, so if McCarthy is sloppy, this team is good enough to take advantage of it.