5 predictions for Michigan football vs. Iowa in Big Ten Championship Game

J.J. McCarthy wins the MVP award

One person that’s going to benefit from the return of Harbaugh is J.J. McCarthy. He only had four incompletions last week and had an incredible touchdown pass to Roman Wilson.

So it’s hard to say he could have played better. McCarthy threw two passes away intentionally, missed one pass to Cornelius Johnson, and the other miss to Roman Wilson, Roman just wasn’t able to keep his body in bounds, but there wasn’t an issue with the throw.

You wonder if McCarthy is closer to 100 percent this week because he still didn’t run much last week. He did have four scrambles, plus a key 15-yard run, but there were no designed runs for McCarthy.

I’m interested to see if that will happen this week. However, he was healthy enough to be on point throwing the ball, and Iowa’s defense as good as it is, has allowed some big days. Drew Allar threw four touchdowns but just 166 yards.

Chubba Purdy completed a 66-yard touchdown pass last week to Jaylen Lloyd, so big plays can be had against Iowa and I think McCarthy will hit a couple. I also see him taking over against a defense that will be tough to run against.