36 days until Michigan football: The day J.J. McCarthy had to sling it
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Michigan football moved to 6-0 during the 2022 season with a 31-10 win at Indiana. In a game that looked like it would be a slugfest for a while, the Wolverine offense was humming while still leaving “meat on the bone,” as head coach Jim Harbaugh would say.
Michigan was tied with the Hoosiers 10-10 at the half before three unanswered second-half touchdowns. The comeback effort was led by the team’s starting quarterback. The team’s culture was also challenged by the loss of running backs coach Mike Hart, who had collapsed on the sideline earlier in the game.
The Wolverines finished the contest with 469 total yards of offense and 26 first downs, dominating the time of possession (37:53 to 22:07). Headling the performance was sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who went 28-for-36 passing for 304 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. It was his first 300-plus-yard passing game at Michigan.
“I think a lot of quarterbacks have been around and they get that first 300-yard game,” Harbaugh told the media after the game. “‘Oh, I can do this now. I can really do this.’ That usually bodes well and propels them onward.”
McCarthy’s abilities darn near single-handedly led to Michigan’s win over Ohio State later in the year, too. Then, his 395 (343 passing, 52 rushing) total yards and 3 touchdowns in the College Football Playoff loss to TCU was almost enough to flip U-M’s fortunes in that game.
The 36 pass attempts was his season high in 2022, but could more be asked of him this year?
“Well, it’s a really good question,” Harbaugh said this spring. “And something I’ve really thought about. I look at J.J.’s first whole first season as a starter and all the things he faced. Good, bad, cheered, booed. Hit run, throw — everything he did, it’s about as good as you could be. As a first-year starter, no question about it. I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything — I haven’t seen anything like that, first-year starting quarterback. 13-0 on Christmas and we’ve never been undefeated at Christmas. And then I call that a season for him.
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“The TCU game in itself I think was practically like a whole season of experience. Because of all the things that happened. Behind, come back, really behind, come back, really good. Every up-down hit. He was just in so many football situations in that game, it was almost like a whole season. So it was really good.
“This program has become like — good. OK, we lost that game, but it drives us, it makes us even more hungry. Something else comes up — good. We’ll work on that, we’ll fix that.”
McCarthy started the final 13 games of the season for Michigan, throwing for 2,719 yards with 22 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and 70 rushes for 306 yards and 5 scores. FanDuel lists his Heisman Trophy odds at +3000 for the 2023 season.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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