Michigan, McCarthy manhandle ECU

Michigan started its march to a championship season just as expected — dominant, defiant and determined to carry on business as if Jim Harbaugh himself stalked the sidelines bellowing: “WHO’S GOT IT BETTER THAN US?”

Harbaugh lurked somewhere else, his battered knees healing a bit with every completion by junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy, in the Wolverines’ 30-3 keelhauling of the East Carolina Pirates. The visitors walked the plank and McCarthy finished them off, throwing them overboard with a 26-for-30 passing performance, racking up 280 yards and 3 touchdown passes.

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Michigan’s defense saw its leader — defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — don the head coaching headset, responding with an inspired effort. They shut out the Pirates in the decisive 23-0 first half, then didn’t allow a point until Andrew Conrad’s 34-yard field goal as time expired.

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 6 passes for 73 yards and 3 touchdowns, putting in an early bid as McCarthy’s top target.

“He was on fire today,” Minter offered afterward of McCarthy. “He’s got a chance to be as good as he wants to be … I just couldn’t be more proud of him. The work he’s put in since January. I’m just proud to see it work out in the game.”

Grad defensive back Mike Sainristil sent an early message with an interception, while the defense as a whole surrendered a mere 235 yards of offense, more than half of those in clean-up time in the fourth quarter. They lost the shutout with 00:00 on the clock.

At the other end of the age spectrum, freshman wideout Frederick Moore made his first pair of catches in a Michigan uniform. Sophomore safety Keon Sabb — pressed into action by injuries in the secondary — executed a confidence-building pass breakup early on and tacked on 5 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Earnest Hausmann, a survivor from the sinking ship in Lincoln, Neb., got extensive run in the middle of a fired-up Michigan defense, leading U-M with a half-dozen stops.

A great script for an opener, harkening back to the Ten-Year War days when Bo Schembechler’s Wolverines tuned up by battering a host of lesser foes in anticipation of a year-end crescendo.

Don’t try to sell that to the anyone, anywhere, any time crowd. They’re the ones moping a little over in the corner, bemoaning the fact that it wasn’t Oklahoma, Notre Dame or Alabama on the other sideline for the lid-lifter.

For those who argue it from a dollars standpoint — I’m paying an exorbitant amount for THESE home games? — here’s a small concession. You have to decide what you want to do with your entertainment dollars. If a balmy September afternoon in Ann Arbor, a friend-filled tailgate, a rout by the home team, and building for the future through growing experience isn’t enough, so be it.

But the argument that a sub-par schedule will hurt the Wolverines down the road competitively or in the rankings just doesn’t wash. U-M made the playoffs last year with a worse nonconference slate. They started this season ranked as high as No. 2 nationally, and there are more than enough slugfests around the bend to prove any point they need to prove.

Road fights? Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan State aren’t gifts, despite the Cornhuskers’ determination to lose games late and the Spartans desperately dreaming of a victory over Central Michigan as a statement game. And of course, the Wolverines head for Overhyped Valley on Nov. 11. It could be Judgment Day II, with McCarthy & Co. seizing the gavel and using it as a weapon.

Then there’s the regular-season finale. Beat back the Buckeyes for a third straight time, and the College Football Playoff committee won’t be mumbling anything about ECU, UNLV and Bowling Green. The point is, there’s time to build, and Michigan will do just that.

Marcus Aurelius once said: “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

Michigan has plenty of reason. The Wolverines feature weapons galore. On this opening day, it’s more than enough.