jj mccarthy is tom brady but fast

FORMATION NOTES: UNLV was highly multiple, with a slight tendency towards running the 404 tite stuff mentioned last week.

Note the safety at 15 yards; UNLV was less aggressive than ECU, also less weird.

UNLV also ran some stack fronts and regular old 4-3.

They rushed their three down linemen a bunch; the eighth guy in coverage did not help.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: OL and QB the same as last week. Michigan intended to give Jack Tuttle most of the fourth quarter but he got a cheap shot on his first play so Warren got the rest of that drive and then Jayden Denegal got in.

At TE, Loveland and Barner both got around 30 snaps with Bredeson picking up about a dozen. Jones got four snaps as bonus OL. Matt Hibner got scattered snaps before garbage time so he's likely back to full health. At WR, Johnson got 40 of the 50 snaps the first team offense was in for; Wilson and Morris were about ten back. Morris was much more prominent in this game after ceding third WR snaps to Fred Moore in the opener.

DIRECTOR NOTES: CBS gets a +2 for the copious replays.

[After THE JUMP: NBA jam time]

9/9/2023 – Michigan 35, UNLV 7 – 2-0

I thought about copying and pasting last week's column and seeing if anyone noticed. It would have various references to ECU instead of UNLV, but acronyms are acronyms and maybe it would slide by. The accounting of JJ McCarthy's incompletions would be off by one and factually inaccurate, sure. I was banking on the nuclear glow coming off of McCarthy's arm obliterating all detail and leaving nothing but a crater of Buddhism (but fun!). I could have gotten away with it, I'm sure.

The pattern of this game was the pattern of the other game: big long Michigan drives on which some disappointing run plays are washed away in a torrent of third and medium conversions. JJ McCarthy's eyes glow white and he starts levitating. The opposition can do nothing on the interior and cannot pass protect and is only able to eke out a first down or two. Michigan irritatingly turns it over on downs due to over-reliance on a dive play. They lose the shutout when the backups to the backups get in. The final score doesn't reflect the statistical bombing that has just occurred.

Same, game, same column. It could work. I could scurry off and sip a mai tai or something. Wave to Dan Aykroyd, who is on a boat. Sort of thing.

-------------------------------------------

But no. No, I shall not do that. I shall stand and deliver because there is another thing that is more or less JJ McCarthy-level that should be addressed, and that is what is happening on the interior of Michigan's defensive line. You may have caught this from John Duerr on Twitter:

UNLV is going for it on 4th & 5.

Mason Graham breaks out his superman cape.

This is next level stuff from a 20 year old sophomore in college. pic.twitter.com/00hDOiDWwt

— Due# (@JDue51) September 10, 2023

What the cropping somewhat obscures is that right next to Mason Graham, Kris Jenkins was doing the exact same thing to the tackle. Jenkins is not a 20-year-old sophomore but he does play for Michigan at this moment, so we've got that going for us. Meanwhile Kenneth Grant is rumbling around stunts like he's not 340 pounds, then impacting people like he is.

[Bryan Fuller]

This is a long way away from converting Ben Mason and Jess Speight to DT and then playing them. The turnaround here is incredible; I remember a distinct sense of relief when Michigan was able to land George Rooks, a bonafide four-star defensive tackle. Rooks is now at Boston College because he would be the #6 DT on this roster, tops.

And there is no more important position on defense to have both depth and dudes. Georgia's recent run was built on talent everywhere, yes, but the most talent was at DT. When Michigan brought their Joe Moore award OL up against the Bulldogs they got shown what "generational talent" meant. There is nothing more dispiriting than watching the middle of your offensive line get shredded, and nothing more bloodlust-inducing than watching the middle of their offensive line get shredded.

To be sure paragraph: to be sure, Michigan has to sustain this level of production against better opposition. But even this objection is fairly weak when we've already seen what Kris Jenkins and Mason Graham looked like against the Big Ten. In Jenkins's case that was 20 pounds ago; in Graham's case he was a true freshman. It is not at all unreasonable to project the big gap ups they've demonstrated this year into the season-ending gauntlet. Grant is more speculative, but only just. And the big issue we projected, conditioning, isn't that relevant when you are DT option #3 on a defense that immediately boots teams off the field.

Michigan might have three first-round picks at DT out of no top-100 guys. That's a confluence of luck, development, and scouting that doesn't come together very often, and it's got Michigan pointed towards the biggest goals.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

the same [Barron]

you're the man now, dog

#1 JJ McCarthy. While I did not copy and paste last week's column I absolutely could have. 22/25 a week after 26/30 is crazy cuckoo banana nuts, as were a healthy subset of McCarthy's throws in this game. Drop eight? Don't care, eat this dig. Lift the coverage? Here is Donovan Edwards. Single coverage? Catch and run to Roman Wilson. Also, Jay Harbaugh took his head coaching opportunity to run the guy twice. Elite. LFG.

#2(T) Kris Jenkins, Mason Graham, and Kenneth Grant. Naturally. 14 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 4.5 TFLs between the three in limited snaps. See above about the rest. 4 points each.

#3(T) Braiden McGregor and Derrick Moore. 2.5 TFLs and a sack between them, with both guys playing excellent run defense while providing organic pass rush.

Honorable mention: Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson both had good days catching the ball but got slid down here because of blocking issues. Tyler Morris emerged into that chain mover he was projected to be and had what's likely to be a +2 block. Jaylen Harrell cleaned up a couple of blitzes for sacks; Mike Barrett's blitzes created one of those and he was otherwise solid. Blake Corum did average 5.3 YPC despite getting a bunch of wedges.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

16: JJ McCarthy (#1 ECU, #1 UNLV)
6: Kenneth Grant (T3 ECU, T2 UNLV)
5: Mason Graham (HM ECU, T2 UNLV), Kris Jenkins (HM ECU, T2 UNLV), Roman Wilson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV), Cornelius Johnson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV)
2: Ernest Hausmann (T3 ECU), Mike Sainristil (T3 ECU), Josh Wallace (T3 ECU), Blake Corum (HM ECU, HM UNLV), Braiden McGregor(T3 UNLV), Derrick Moore (T3 UNLV)
1: Tommy Doman (HM ECU), Donovan Edwards (HM ECU), Tyler Morris (HM UNLV), Jaylen Harrell (HM UNLV), Mike Barrett (HM UNLV)

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

McCarthy hits Wilson with a strike that turns into a 47-yard touchdown just as the broadcast is talking about the reason McCarthy has 47 on his hand.

Honorable mention: Derrick Moore gets a pure edge rush sack; McCarthy does just about anything; play above where Graham and Jenkins simultaneously teleport into the backfield; Myles Hinton obliterates a guy.

MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Fourth and two wedge is stuffed.

Honorable mention: McCarthy gets up a little gimpy after a QB draw ends with a helmet to his thigh; Colston Loveland jet sweep gets crushed as Johnson whiffs a block; Tommy Doman puts a kickoff out of bounds?

9/2/2023– Michigan 30, East Carolina 3 – 1-0

Well, here we go.

The best kind of thing to take from a game against a solid G5 program that's just turned over the vast majority of their personnel is one that is opponent-invariant, and the most opponent-invariant thing in football is quarterbacks dropping dimes. This space has long maintained that if the offensive executes perfectly, they just get to win. Via that lens the most important development from the opener is the prevalence of "nice try, I win" plays. ECU had some moments of excellent coverage that just did not matter.

McCarthy started out hot, casually dropping in an NFL-level 15-yard out to the field on Michigan's first drive that featured passes:

In addition to the Here Look At My Arm Talent plays he also moved opponents with the power of his mind. Folks have already pointed out the little pump fake on the third Wilson touchdown but this one is probably even better. Wilson isn't open until McCarthy focuses on Loveland:

ECU CB to bottom

Live I thought that was a weird coverage bust; no, it was just McCarthy manipulating the defense. This is something he did last year, particularly early, but it was an occasional thing. That felt like promise; here it felt more like a preview.

There is a warm blanket of a feeling you get when you are suddenly a fan of a football team with a quarterback who is obviously an NFL dude. The ability to drop back and rifle in lasers to guys who are sort of open changes the feeling of third and seven from "yikes" to "you have insulted my family by creating this third and medium situation and now I will exact my vengeance."

McCarthy did a version of this early last year as well, turning in 100% downfield success rate performances against Hawaii and UConn. This was different, though. ECU might not be good but this did not feel like the rote walkovers from last year. ECU asked McCarthy some questions, and he answered them. In addition to the two plays embedded above there was the throw to Loveland where ECU sent the house; McCarthy backpedaled to the left a bit to buy another half-second of time, then formed up and delivered a dart. This was not the McCarthy who went on a couple endless sojourns against Maryland last year. He was decisive. He was confident. He was in command.

He was locked in to the point where we can individually consider his incompletions:

• Wilson has the ball punched out early.
• McCarthy throws behind Johnson on a quick out during the one-minute drill.
• A linebacker with freaky long arms gets his hand on a ball that's arcing towards an AJ Barner touchdown in the back corner of the endzone.
• McCarthy breaks the pocket and can't quite get it to Wilson.

I don't think 1 and 3 are negatives, but just good plays from the defense, and 4 was a difficult proposition. I did think he'd broken the pocket enough that he did not need to pull the trigger immediately and could have run closer to the LOS. At that point the throws are easier and you can just run if necessary. So that is my complaint from this game. He's going to come in for a silly UFR grade.

The season preview said that if Michigan was going to Beat Georgia the McCarthy training wheels needed to come off, and they did. After the first drive 11/16 McCarthy first downs were passes. Michigan ran all the play action we begged for over the offseason, because ECU came in with an aggressive, OSU/TCU game plan.

Michigan said no, that's not going to work anymore. Try another idea.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

schwangle! [Barron]

you're the man now, dog

#1 JJ McCarthy. See above.

#2(T) Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson. Wilson was more prominent in TDs but Johnson had the best catch of the day, a leaping stab of a ball a bit behind him to pick up a first down. Between them they caught everything that could be caught and seemed to be on the same page as McCarthy in a Jeremy Gallon sort of way.

#3(T) Ernest Haussmann, Kenneth Grant, Mike Sainristil, and Josh Wallace. It is extremely difficult to come up with a defensive player for this game because of the huge amount of rotation. Only Keon Sabb and Keshaun Harris had more than 36 snaps and 25 different players had at least 10. But also ECU was held to three points so lets sprinkle some holy water on the D, too.

Haussman led Michigan in solo tackles and had a couple of legit sticks; Sainristil had a pick and shut off the outside; Grant induced the Sainristil pick; Wallace almost had a stunning INT of his own but for the vagaries of fate and gave up zero completions on his two targets. Two points each to distinguish them from the clawing pack.

Honorable mention: Tommy Doman blasts some balls, including a That's Bait Kickoff. Kris Jenkins and Mason Graham delete all interior runs at them. Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards both flash their ability in mercifully limited opportunities.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

8: JJ McCarthy (#1 ECU)
4: Roman Wilson (T2 ECU), Cornelius Johnson (T2 ECU)
2: Ernest Hausmann (T3 ECU), Kenneth Grant (T3 ECU), Mike Sainristil (T3 ECU), Josh Wallace (T3 ECU)
1: Tommy Doman (HM ECU), Kris Jenkins (HM ECU), Mason Graham (HM ECU), Blake Corum (HM ECU), Donovan Edwards (HM ECU).

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

JJ McCarthy looks off a flat defender and lays in a gorgeous touchdown to Roman Wilson in the corner of the endzone. 

Honorable mention: Replay official has the over and lets the first Wilson TD stand. Blake Corum bursts off the left side, giving us some of them good Blake Corum feelings. Mike Sainristil picks off a pass that's a duck because the quarterback is trying not to be flattened by Kenneth Grant.

MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Michigan runs dive after dive in an attempt to get Edwards a touchdown, resulting in a goal line stand after a fumbled exchange on fourth down.

Honorable mention: Michigan's first drive is three runs under the shadow of their own goal line that gets stuffed. ECU's punter is annoyingly good at dropping in line drives just inside the sideline that roll forever. XP is missed.