Matt Weiss hints how Michigan offense will approach Iowa

Michigan offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss isn’t about to give away the game plan for U-M’s contest with Iowa. At the same time, there’s a logical way to approach the contest with the Hawkeyes in Iowa City … and it’s probably not to let your young quarterback sling it in his first road start in a hostile environment.

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There are some who won’t agree, of course, and call it “conservative.” Weiss, however, sees an aggressive and opportunistic Iowa defense and understands how tough points can be to come by at Kinnick Stadium.

He agreed wholeheartedly at the suggestion that the opponent’s offense could have something to do with his own offense’s approach.

“It’s totally valid,” he said. “Iowa thrives off of turnovers. We know that we have to take care of the ball. We want to take care of it every week, but this week … I mean, that’s how they win games, right? They’ve scored four touchdowns on defense. So, we know that it’s one of our biggest goals in this game is to end every drive with a kick and take care of the football. And certainly, all those things factor into how aggressive you are in every situation.

“We’re going to take what they give us. If they give us an opportunity to throw the ball down the field, we’re going to throw the ball down the field. If they give us an opportunity to run the ball down the middle, we’ll run the ball in the middle — and if they give us an opportunity to go outside, we’ll go outside. But … the nature of the game. We want to play complementary football, and it’s about all three phases. We’re trying to complement the rest of our team.”

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy needs to bring his ‘A’ game

As head coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday, the Hawkeyes are so technically and fundamentally sound that you’d better be able to match it. It’s one of the toughest venues in the Big Ten, too.

As the Michigan coach also noted, “it’s where top five teams go to die,” and the Wolverines, of course, are No. 4 nationally.

Sophomore J.J. McCarthy completed 18 of 26 passes for 220 yards in the win over Maryland last week, his first Big Ten start. He also missed on all but one of his deep balls and nearly turned it over three or four times, putting the ball on the Michigan Stadium turf twice.

That can’t happen to Michigan in Iowa City, and Weiss and Co. have made it clear to him.

“Ball security is always an emphasis,” Weiss continued. “I think it’s really hard with quarterbacks, just because they don’t get the contact in practice that other guys do. We just have to do a better job as coaches providing that forum and controlled settings that are safe, where you’re not going to get injured.

[“But] for the first time playing a full football game, there are a lot of positives to take away from it. I think he did a good job. Certainly looking at the stat line, it’s really good for a guy playing his first football game. At the same time, I’m sure J.J. would tell you, there’s a lot of stuff that we could clean up.”

That will be the emphasis this week. Had he hit a couple of the deep balls, Weiss noted, he might have thrown for close to 400 yards in a blowout.

And he’ll get there. His arm is 100 percent, and the Michigan sophomore has only three starts under his belt. They’re focused on the “process,” Weiss said, and confident in their guy.

“We just love everything about J.J. and the way he goes about it, and there are so many things we can fix and work on,” Weiss said. “So we come away from it [that] even when he did make mistakes, we’re encouraged, because you can see it’s all fixable stuff.

“Really, it just comes down to coaching more than anything else. If he’s making mistakes, we’re not doing the right thing, and that’s on us as coaches. So, we’re really encouraged by his first full game … we were happy with it.”

And ready to see what he and his Michigan teammates can do the rest of the way.