Jim Harbaugh talks 'lights out' Michigan passing game, desire to have 'best front-seven in all of football'

Michigan Wolverines football is coming off back-to-back dominant victories, over East Carolina (30-3) and UNLV (35-7) heading into the third non-conference game of the season versus Bowling Green, and the story through two weeks on offense has been the passing game.

Junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy is 48-of-55 passing for 558 yards and 5 touchdowns. The 6-3, 202-pounder leads the nation in completion percentage (87.3), and that mark ranks fourth highest through two games in NCAA Division I history. On the run, in the pocket, play action, straight drop … McCarthy has done it all at a high level in the early going.

“The passing game is just lights out,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “J.J. McCarthy — phenomenal. Phenomenal game. The accuracy is off the charts. He’s so locked in. I mean, in practice, he’s seeing everything. It’s really slowed down for him. He’s making pro throws from the pocket.

“We tell him, ‘Give the guy a runner’s ball,’ who’s moving on a crossing route or a dig route. ‘J.J., we’d like it six inches in front of his front number.’ And, darn, if he doesn’t put it six inches right in front of his front number. And that throw to [senior wideout] Roman [Wilson], that must’ve been in the air for 30, 35 yards, hits him six inches in front of the front number, [Wilson] never broke stride and right up the sideline.

“Our receivers are doing a great job catching the balls. The tight ends — had a big improvement out of our tight ends. They had a tremendous game, and not just [sophomore] Colston Loveland. It was [senior] AJ Barner and [junior] Max Bredeson who had great games.”

Harbaugh added that the Michigan offensive line hasn’t allowed a sack yet either, one of seven teams in the nation to not have had their quarterback taken down for a loss. Harbaugh said later in the show that graduate center Drake Nugent has played the best among the group through two games.

McCarthy also had 3 rushes for 38 yards — a read-option keeper, a quarterback draw and a scramble. The Michigan coaches are stressing that they don’t want him to take unnecessary hits, though.

“He had a couple runs that were great,” Harbaugh said. “Now, he’s gotta get out of bounds. That’s what we’re coaching him. We need him to get out of bounds and not take some of those shots. But the damage he’s doing when he keeps his eyes downfield and hits [a receiver], those are going for big chunks and for touchdowns.

“Really excited about [sophomore wide receiver] Tyler Morris — 3 big catches all on third down.”

Michigan front-seven ‘balling’

The defense allowed just seven points late in the game (Michigan’s reserves were in) and 4 yards per play total. Through three quarters, before the Wolverines emptied the bench, UNLV had 106 total yards, including 6 rushing, 8 first downs, 2 third-down pickups and averaged 2.7 yards per play. The Michigan defensive front shined with 10 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

“The defense, again, it was another really lights out performance,” Harbaugh said. “I want to have the No. 1 front-seven in all of football. And I want to have the best team, as well. But our whole front-seven could’ve gotten a game ball. Anybody that participated in the front-seven had a tremendous game on defense. 

“It was a lot of fire zone in this game, and that created a lot of pressure and resulted in the 5 sacks,” Harbaugh noted. “And as good as that was, which was great. From KG [sophomore defensive tackles Kenneth Grant] to Mason Graham — tremendous games. D-Moore [sophomore EDGE Derrick Moore], [senior EDGE Braiden] McGregor had a great game. Great to give Braiden a game ball, and same with [senior EDGE] Jaylen Harrell, who was a real starter for us. He was really an igniter in the game. Everybody in the front-seven played really good. [Graduate defensive tackle] Cam Goode, bunch of the guys were balling.

“But also the coverage was pretty tight for a fire zone. It’s not like man, it’s not like match zone — that’s harder to cover. I thought guys like [graduate cornerback] Keshaun Harris played extremely well. [Graduate defensive back] Mike Sainristil, [graduate linebacker] Mike B[arrett] — all guys who were playing their zone and reacting quick and making tackles when the ball was able to be thrown.”

Harbaugh noted that the rest of the Michigan defensive backs have fared well, too, despite having some injuries in the secondary.

“[Graduate safety] Quinten Johnson is playing really good football. [Sophomore safety] Keon Sabb is playing really good. We’ve got guys out right now. [Sophomore cornerback] Will Johnson has been out. He got in for a series, and hopefully we can keep amping that up as we go. [Junior safety] Rod Moore hasn’t really played, [sophomore cornerback] Amorion Walker has been out and [senior safety] Makari Paige, too. Those guys that are in there playing right now are really playing at starter level, and that’s good.”

Harbaugh will miss Saturday’s game, the third of his three-game suspension, and will attend a former Stanford player’s funeral. Michigan and Bowling Green kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.