ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The debate inside Schembechler Hall has come to a screeching halt, now that we’ve seen what we have on the field.
Michigan’s quarterback competition — and controversy — is officially over, with sophomore J.J. McCarthy having made his first start. It was a stellar showing, with McCarthy having gone 11-for-12 for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Now, on the year, McCarthy is 15-for-16 for 259 yards — an incredible clip in terms of efficiency.
What’s more, the one incompletion was a dropped pass, meaning he was pretty close to perfect.
After the game, head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t waste any time, naming McCarthy the starter for the Week 3 game against UConn.
“Yeah, J.J., he had a near flawless performance,” Harbaugh said. “11-for-12, and then one was dropped. That was tough to do. It’s tough to do any day of the week in practice. I thought he had a great game. He was playing really well. We’ll start J.J. next week.
Harbaugh was immediately pressed whether McCarthy has officially earned the starting quarterback job. He conceded that, yes, he has. Of course, we’ll know more about whether or not that means he’ll run with it down the road, but by all indications, McCarthy is the new starting quarterback for the Wolverines.
“Yeah, by merit, he’s earned that,” Harbaugh said. “By performance. By merit.”
It wasn’t just that McCarthy was good, but incumbent starter Cade McNamara struggled again in this game.
After going 9-for-18 and 136 yards in Week 1, McNamara struggled to remain upright, getting sacked twice. He did go 4-for-6, but threw for merely 26 yards, and he also threw an interception. The offense stalled out when he was in, whereas McCarthy was slinging the ball around, hitting receivers downfield with pinpoint accuracy. Harbaugh noted that McCarthy started coming on the past two and a half weeks, particularly in the final scrimmage at the end of fall camp.
For now, and what seems to be the future, the job belongs to McCarthy. However, with it being a long season, assuredly McNamara will still see time in the future.
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