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Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson gave an encore to his record-setting performance against Michigan State last week, entering the university’s history books as the first Wolverine to throw at least four touchdown passes in consecutive games.
On Saturday at Indiana, Patterson completed 20-of-32 passes for 366 yards with five touchdowns. The five touchdown passes were the most in a single game for a Michigan quarterback since 2015, when Jake Rudock threw six in an overtime win over the Hoosiers.
“Things Shea’s doing now haven’t been done by too many people,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “That speaks to his talent, speaks to the other players on the offense and the job that they’re doing as well.”
In his first 22 games in a Michigan uniform, Patterson never reached 300 passing yards. He’s eclipsed the mark in each of the last two games, and did it with impressive efficiency as well. Against the Spartans and Hoosiers, Patterson completed nearly 68 percent of his throws and averaged 11.5 yards per pass.
What’s been the key to Patterson’s recent uptick in efficiency, yards and touchdowns?
“From our standpoint, Shea’s just making all the right reads,” said left tackle Jon Runyan Jr. “He’s getting the ball out on time.”
Harbaugh agreed with Runyan Jr.’s assessment.
“[Shea’s] playing on-time with everything he does,” Harbaugh said. “His rhythm, his getting the ball out is all on time. Everything has become very precise with Shea. His precision in the passing game has been operating on time extremely well.
Patterson was quick to point to his teammates and coaches when asked about his success these past two weeks.
“From Sunday all the way leading up to game day, I’m with Coach McDaniels and Coach Gattis and we’re game-planning all week. So, I give credit to them,” Patterson said.
“All those guys out there tonight – Nico [Collins], Tarik [Black], Ronnie [Bell], Donovan [Peoples-Jones] – just give them a chance because they’re playmakers.”
Collins was one of Patterson’s favorite targets on Saturday, with the big wide out on the receiving end of three of the quarterback’s touchdown tosses. Following the game, Collins was highly complementary of his quarterback’s play.
“Credit to the offensive lineman for giving Shea time for him to go through his reads,” Collins said. “When Shea has time like that we know what he can do with the ball. …Shea’s going through his reads and finding all the receivers. He’s just going through his progressions, finds an open receiver and he gives us a chance.”
Patterson is playing the best football of his Michigan career. Like Rudock in 2015, Patterson is growing stronger as the season progresses. It somewhat ironic that the two former transfer quarterbacks had their highest single-game touchdown totals come against Indiana.
Michigan’s four-game winning streak has coincided with the offense averaging 41.5 points per game in that same span. Patterson has been a massive part of that, completing 63.6 percent of his throws for 1,001 yards and 12 touchdowns with just one interception – which came on Saturday in garbage time.
“We’re riding him,” Harbaugh said. “His play has just been outstanding. He’s really seeing the field well. He’s taking care of the football at all times. It’s rare that he’s even close to a turnover. He’s doing a great job in that regard, and really playing disciplined football. Doing a great job going through his reads.
“He’s a really good player, he’s a really talented player.”
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