Michigan quarterback Tommy Carr was tabbed as the starter for the second week in a row for the Wolverines, even after a troubling performance against the Indiana Hoosiers. Now, that first start can't be held against Carr too much looking at that Hoosiers defense, so let's take a look at his performance against Rutgers as a better measuring stick.
Carr looked pretty good against the Scarlet Knights. As a true freshman who was also dealing with the flu all week and probably into the game, Carr looked comfortable in the pocket, going 22-for-27 for 266 yards and a touchdown. The biggest part of Carr's game was the fact that he took care of the football.
His legs were a major factor in the matchup against Rutgers, running the ball 12 times for 54 yards and two key touchdowns. Those touchdowns were the difference in the game for the Wolverines' offense, with Michigan struggling in the red zone.
Carr's game wasn't perfect, and there was a clear downfall in his performance: the long ball. Carr is great at actually taking the checkdown when getting through his progressions, something Bryce Underwood struggled with. When actually throwing the long ball, he consistently underthrew his receiver on passes that would have been touchdowns.
While Carr looked better, he still has work to do as Michigan's quarterback
For the first season in a long time, Michigan has the receiving corps to be able to throw the ball down the field. The speed of Andrew Marsh and JJ Buchanan is fantastic, and on multiple occasions, Marsh was able to get good separation from the Rutgers defenders.
However, when Marsh got the separation and Carr saw Marsh open, he would underthrow the ball, causing Marsh to have to slow down and the defender to catch up. Luckily, on both of those throws, the defender had to sell out on not allowing Marsh to catch the pass, and it was a pass interference penalty, but if Carr had thrown the ball on the money, it would have been at least two more touchdowns for the Wolverines.
Perfecting the long ball will definitely take time for Carr to get down, especially since he just started playing consistently for Michigan as the starter. Some of it is creating the connection with his receivers and just getting those reps in practice.
If Carr is going to be the starter going forward, it feels certain that his game will continue to improve, especially after seeing the night-and-day difference in his performances against Indiana and Rutgers. Granted, those are two very different defenses, but this feels like Carr's starting job to lose now, so if he wants to keep it, he has to continue improving with each game.
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