What they're saying after Michigan football's season opener
The Michigan Wolverines moved to 1-0 on the season after a 30-3 win over East Carolina in the first game of the new season. Head coach Jim Harbaugh was out to serve the first game of his three-Saturday suspension, joined by offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore.
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter took his turn as U-M’s interim head coach for the Week 1 effort, which was businesslike, if not a bit boring by some people’s standards.
The local and national media had plenty to say about the Week 1 effort and what Michigan showed in its 2023 debut. Here is what they are saying about the season-opening victory.
Chris Balas, The Wolverine
Michigan 30, ECU 3: Notes, quotes, and observations
Yes, not having [Sherrone] Moore there hurt. He’s one of the best offensive line coaches in the country, having proven it with back-to-back Joe Moore Awards. He’s been critical to their success, and he’s their mentor. Add that they were playing new starters at three positions (Karsen Barnhart has started, never at left tackle, and then center Drake Nugent and right tackle Myles Hinton), there were going to be some growing pains.
As much as anything, though, ECU had a great game plan, and quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell did a great job adjusting as the play caller. And for all the talk about the “new O.C.” calling plays and how he’d do, etc., keep in mind that the first 15 plays of each half are scripted … with one exception. If there are down and distance issues or a team is backed up against its own end zone, for example, that will change, and it did … and it’s also proof that the tenor of a game change on one special teams play.
John Borton, The Wolverine
Michigan, McCarthy, manhandle ECU
A crowd of 109,480 got almost all it wanted out of the opener — blue sky, maize sun and those same colors reflected on the field, the Wolverines turning opponent No. 1 into shattered stuffing for Davy Jones’ locker. For this day, at least, nobody worried that East Carolina — a team that won at BYU last year and came within a point of knocking off North Carolina State — wasn’t Ohio State or Penn State.
Those games will come soon enough. In the meantime, Michigan gets to build toward those showdowns. Some will come away grumbling, Yeah, but it was just East Carolina. That’s fine. The Wolverines took care of who they had to on this day. If they do that 14 more times over the next four-plus months, everybody gets what they want.
In the meantime, this game represented just what the doctor — and perhaps the trainers, coaches and players — ordered. The team expected to be there at the end of the college football season in a big way didn’t stumble in its first stride. It got a ton of players on the field, served up invaluable first-game action for freshmen and others who hadn’t played a meaningful snap, and rested nicked up secondary starters. They also demonstrated the stars will, in fact shine.
McCarthy looked like the Heisman Trophy candidate he’s billed to be. He carved up the Pirates’ secondary like Bluebeard armed with the Sword of Triton. He hit a host of targets, but none more often and effectively than wideout Roman Wilson. The speedy senior, wearing coveted jersey No. 1, played like he owned it. Wilson pulled down six passes for 73 yards and three touchdowns, putting in an early bid as McCarthy’s top target.
Ryan Van Bergen, The Wolverine Postgame Show
Wolverine TV podcast: Breaking down the win over East Carolina
“It seems like [J.J. McCarthy] has all eight cylinders of the engine figured out,” Van Bergen said. “I honestly think, if we look at his complete game, the one thing we didn’t see was his legs and him running the ball. There were opportunities that he had there where he could have taken off and got what he could as opposed to continuing to look downfield. That’s getting nitpicky. He had 15 straight completions leading into halftime, so he’s making great decisions with the ball. The ball comes out nice. It looks awesome. The offensive line is giving him tons of time.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the offensive line, especially in a home opener because you might have seen what they did in Week 12 or Week 13 last year as far as watching East Carolina, but you don’t know what they’re coming into the Big House with. It’s a big game for them and they’re going to have all sorts of new packages and things you haven’t seen. I thought they kept him really clean, and he has some opportunities to make plays down the field. He threw some really good balls and his last touchdown to Roman Wilson, he made a very veteran move by freezing the corner with a look to the flat and laid in a nice throw to the back of the endzone.
“I just feel like he’s got a few extra nuances and a few more details that he understands of this offense and it just makes him that much more dangerous.”
Austin Meek, The Athletic
Michigan without Jim Harbaugh: The good and bad of a drama-free win, and what’s next
Before the season, Harbaugh approached [Roman] Wilson about switching from No. 14 to No. 1, the number worn by Braylon Edwards, Anthony Carter and other Michigan greats. That showed what Michigan’s coaches think Wilson can do this season, and Wilson backed it up with three touchdown catches, one shy of his season total from last year.
“It is a historic number, and it’s a lot of pressure,” Wilson said. “That’s what I want. I want a lot of pressure on me. This number represents big things, and that’s my goal this season.”
Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic
Auerbach’s Top 10: Georgia, Michigan start strong in first look at SEC, Big Ten front-runners
No Jim Harbaugh, no problem for the Wolverines. Michigan cruised to a 30-3 season-opening win over East Carolina without its head coach and offensive coordinator due to school-imposed suspensions, putting up 402 total yards of offense anyway. J.J. McCarthy may have found a new favorite target in Roman Wilson, who caught touchdowns in each of the first three quarters. The rushing attack took a while to get going, and Blake Corum is still working back from a season-ending injury. But the defense looked great, and the Wolverines took care of business the way they wanted. This is what a good team is supposed to do with a nonconference schedule like this.
David Hale, ESPN.com
College football Week 1 highlights: Top plays, games, takeaways
Michigan played its first of three games without head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is serving a self-imposed suspension, and his players let it be known they didn’t agree with it.
On the first offensive possession of the game, the players lined up in his infamous train formation and held up four fingers — Harbaugh’s jersey number as a player. J.J. McCarthy even donned a “Free Harbaugh” shirt before and after the game (despite the far more emphatic message that would’ve been sent by simply playing the game wearing a pair of Dockers khakis), then told reporters after the win that he was eager to support his coach.
But while Harbaugh was secluded from the action and (we assume) either calling recruits or researching crop circles on YouTube, his team thumped East Carolina 30-3 behind three passing TDs from McCarthy.
With UNLV and Bowling Green on the docket before Harbaugh returns to the sideline, there’s a good chance Michigan would start 3-0 even with a magic eight ball calling plays, but the high-profile show of support certainly keeps the suspension — and the long saga with the NCAA that preceded it — front and center.
Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News
Wojo: J.J. McCarthy and Wolverines miss Harbaugh, but don’t miss a beat
It wasn’t an ordinary day on the sideline for Michigan, with its head coach absent and interims present. It wasn’t exactly ordinary on the field either, as the Wolverines couldn’t run the ball with ease for a change.
But one unordinary element was somewhat extraordinary, and you wonder if we’ll see more of it. J.J. McCarthy’s passing was precise and prolific, and the Wolverines went ahead and won a different way. It had nothing to do with Jim Harbaugh’s absence due to suspension, and everything to do with Michigan’s reputation preceding it.
East Carolina was as subpar as advertised, but stacked its defense to stuff UM’s vaunted run, and the Wolverines wisely opted not to be stubborn. McCarthy completed 26 of 30 passes for 280 yards as they belted the Pirates 30-3 in the opener Saturday. Harbaugh wasn’t there but his message was, verbally delivered to interim Jesse Minter before the game — “Be you.”
The Wolverines took the message to the field, where McCarthy warmed up wearing a “Free Harbaugh” T-shirt, then passed with renewed verve. On UM’s second drive, the offense lined up in the “train” formation that Harbaugh used eight years ago, then held up four fingers for his No. 4 jersey as a player.
The humorous irony is, Harbaugh’s suspension was school-imposed, not NCAA-mandated (yet). But if it becomes a team-bonding cause, hey, go for it.
Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press
Free Jim Harbaugh? A quiet protest in Ann Arbor leads to victory.
He just wanted his coach back, he was saying, explaining the tape he’d affixed over his shirt that read:
“Free Harbaugh.”
J.J. McCarthy smiled as he said it, a mischievous grin, a grin of protest to match the message of protest that he, the starting quarterback at the University of Michigan, wanted to get across to … the NCAA? The athletic department? The president of the university?
After all, Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan football head coach, wouldn’t have been watching his team play Saturday afternoon from inside Sherrone Moore’s house — according to McCarthy — if the university hadn’t suspended Harbaugh for three games.
Was McCarthy protesting his own school?
Nah, he was protesting the absurdity of a system that forced his school to self-impose a suspension. Mostly, though, he just wanted his coach back.
“It’s as simple as that,” said McCarthy.
