Michigan took care of Indiana on Saturday, 31-10. The final score looks pretty lopsided in the Wolverines’ favor, but only because the second half was dominated by the maize and blue.
The first half was a dog fight.
Michigan went down the field on the opening drive. Blake Corum had a 50-yard run to the Hoosiers’ one-yard line, and he scored a touchdown the very next play. But the offense became stagnant the rest of the half.
The Wolverines came out of halftime scoring 21 points, and the offense gained 263 yards of offense in the second half. J.J. McCarthy said that things weren’t clicking for the offense in the first half, but once the second half began, the offense clicked on all cylinders, and it was over for Indiana.
“I mean, everything just started clicking for us,” said McCarthy. “It was just like, we felt like we can move the ball on them the whole game and especially the first half, but just it wasn’t clicking, we weren’t into a rhythm. And once we got into the rhythm of the second half, it was over.”
The Wolverines have been a run-first team the past few years, and Blake Corum has been the star of the team all year. Corum eclipsed 100 yards for the third straight game after rushing for 124 yards against Indiana. But 50 of those yards came on one play, so the Hoosiers did a good job stopping Corum and the Michigan rushing attack.
McCarthy threw for his career high on Saturday. The sophomore gunslinger surpassed 300 yards for the first time as a Michigan Wolverine, airing it out for 304 yards against the Hoosiers. McCarthy said Michigan is multi-dimensional. If a team keys on the passing attack, Michigan can run the ball, but if a team keys on the run game, the Wolverines can air it out. The former five-star recruit believes Michigan hasn’t even scratched the surface of the potential it possesses.
“For sure,” McCarthy said. “I mean, us as an offense, we’re multi-dimensional. If they’re stopping the run, then we’re gonna hit him through the air. If they stop the air game, we’re gonna hit him on the run. And I mean, it just goes out to our offense. And just, even today, I just feel like we haven’t even scratched the surface yet of our potential. Once this offense comes together, and once we play as a cohesive unit, and we are in rhythm, like naturally, and we’re very dangerous offense, but we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.”
A complaint about the Michigan offense in recent weeks has been not utilizing McCarthy’s legs. Against Indiana, he ran the ball four times for 26 yards and he helped the Wolverines move the chains. McCarthy said that he is becoming more and more comfortable each week. He is starting to understand when to pull the ball down and run for a first down and to not force anything. The sophomore said he knows there are things to improve on, like when he threw his first interception of the year on Saturday, and he’s just trying to improve on his consistency.
“Yeah, I feel right at home right now,” McCarthy said. “Just my comfortability, but just being able to utilize my legs more on those third downs whenever something’s not open, just being able to use that God-given ability. And, yeah, I mean, just consistently making the right decisions consistently putting the ball where it needs to be, and just commanding the field out there. So it’s just, like, there’s so many things that I can improve on. There’s so many things I’m gonna see on the film that I can improve on, but it’s just the consistency that I’m really striving to get towards.”
But why hasn’t he wanted to run more? McCarthy said he has so many playmakers on the outside that he is dying to get the ball into their hands. But he said that the game is starting to slow down for him, so he is becoming more aware of when to run the ball. McCarthy said he was slow in high school and running the football is a new adjustment for him. But when that part clicks, he said this offense is going to be scary.
“I’m dying to get the ball in these guys’ hands,” said McCarthy. “Just let my playmakers work and going through all the progressions and all that. It’s just like things start to slow down in a way when I’m looking out there and I’m not necessarily thinking of running because I mean in high school I was running four-nine, just not fast at all. So I’m still adjusting to being able to use my legs but yeah, it’s coming with time but like I said, that’s another part of my game in this offense that’s gonna be really scary when it starts clicking.”
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