Offense notes: Play-action passes rule the day for Michigan in UNLV win

For a second straight week, Michigan Wolverines football opened up the passing attack with junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy and dominated in a win, this time 35-7 over UNLV after beating ECU 30-3 to open the season. McCarthy completed 15 passes in a row in the opener and hit his first 13 versus the Rebels, finishing 22-of-25 for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns.

McCarthy’s connection with senior wide receiver Roman Wilson continued, with the pair hooking up for 2 touchdowns after scoring 3 the prior week. The highlight of the day came on a 47-yarder in the third quarter to give the Maize and Blue a 28-0 lead. McCarthy play-faked to senior running back Blake Corum, sucking the defense in, went through his progressions, stepped up in the pocket and fired a bullet to Wilson, who beat his man along the sideline.

“I was gonna throw it back across the field to 6 [senior wide receiver Cornelius Johnson], but I was like, ‘Not today. Those days are kinda over,'” McCarthy said with a smile. “But I saw Roman get a little bit of separation, stepped up and just gave it to him.”

Wilson did the rest, zooming down the sideline and flashing a peace sign to the defender as he crossed the goal line.

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Forty-seven was fitting. McCarthy wore the number on his hand, instead of his usual smiley face, in honor of his former high school teammate and friend, Ryan Keeler, a UNLV player who wore the digits and passed away from a heart complication this past winter.

“I was like, ‘Damn.’ If that’s not God, I don’t know what is,” the Michigan quarterback said.

The play-action passes were big for Michigan all afternoon long, and the Wolverines have placed more of an emphasis on them this season under offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who was back on the sideline after missing the first game with a suspension. McCarthy is a perfect 12-for-12 on play-action passes this season, per Pro Football Focus, including 6-for-6 with 138 yards and the 1 touchdown this week.

“It’s great how Coach Moore mixes everything up,” Corum said. “With the play fake, we try to grab the defense. Just throw shots so the defense backs up, run the ball once they back up. Just messing with their minds.”

McCarthy completed passes to eight different receivers, including five who had 3 or more receptions. New into the mix this week was sophomore wideout Tyler Morris, who was limited and didn’t have any targets in the opener. He hauled in a trio of passes for 40 yards, including a 16-yarder over the middle on a ball thrown on a rope from McCarthy.

“I expected that out of him,” McCarthy said of his former high school teammate at La Grange Park (Ill.) Nazareth Academy. “I was just waiting for the opportunity that he was going to have, to capitalize on. I was just happy to see him out there. It brought back some old times, so it was great.”

McCarthy is now 48-of-55 passing for 558 yards and 5 touchdowns through two weeks, after averaging 194.2 yards and 1.6 scores through the air per contest a year ago, showing the strides he’s made.

“It’s definitely night and day,” McCarthy said of the difference between last season at this time and now. “With every rep, with every practice, with every game, I just get more and more comfortable — and it’s still going up. There’s still a big gap for me to improve, and I’m striving to fill that gap as much as possible every day.”

“The development you see is the development of J.J. McCarthy and of the receivers being on the same bandwidth and getting things done together, and having confidence,” Michigan run game coordinator and interim head coach Mike Hart said. “J.J. is a confident kid right now. He knows where he’s throwing the ball.”

After the game, the Michigan signal-caller was compared to former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and his 2019 Heisman Trophy-winning season by CBS Sports analyst Rick Neuheisel. McCarthy revealed that he’s looked up to Burrow for some time.

“Yeah, it’s Joe all the way,” McCarthy said of who he attempts to model his game after. “Yeah, he’s been my guy since he got to LSU. When he had that year I knew he was going to have, it proved me right. Joe’s definitely my guy, then and now.”

Blake Corum, Michigan run game getting closer to breaking out

The longest rush from a Michigan running back was 19 yards by Corum. The bell cow carried 15 times for 80 yards and 3 touchdowns — a very productive day — but junior Donovan Edwards was much less effective with 6 carries for 9 yards. The Maize and Blue ran for 179 yards on 33 carries, but 38 came from McCarthy, 26 from Johnson and 14 from graduate quarterback Jack Tuttle. The traditional run game still lagged behind the aerial attack.

“We’re growing, getting better every week,” Hart said. “You break off two of those long runs no one’s saying that [the run game struggled]. We’re one block away, one missed tackle away. When we turn on film, I think that’s what we’re going to see.

“Whether it’s a receiver getting a block to the safety, whether it’s a backside cutoff on the defensive line, whether it’s a  linebacker we didn’t get all the way up to or a back making the wrong cut … we’re leaving a lot of yards out there on the field right now. But I think we’re in the correct plays … guys are blocking really hard, moving guys. We just have to put it all together, and we will.”

Coming off a season-ending knee injury at the end of the 2022 campaign, while Corum is 100 percent healthy, he’s still getting back into the groove of things — closer this week than last and improving.

“I just told him he’s just thinking too much. Just run,” Hart said. “You can’t always look for the big play; just go, and they will happen.”

“Definitely not satisfied with my performance today,” the Michigan running back added. “I feel like I could’ve done more with what I was given. It’s part of the process [of] coming back. … Those runs y’all saw me do last year, those tackles you saw me break last year, it’s almost there. It’s coming.”

For now, Michigan is content producing through the passing game, knowing defenses have to pick their poison.

“No, I’m not surprised,” McCarthy said when asked about defenses not adjusting to stop the pass. “And when they do, I guarantee you that it won’t surprise us, and we’ll be ready to attack it every which way.”

Miscellaneous Michigan offense notes

• Hart, who was Michigan’s interim head coach for the second half, became the first African American head coach in program history. Hart called it a “great honor” in his postgame press conference.

• Michigan has yet to allow a sack this season.

• McCarthy was 5-for-5 throwing, with completions to five different receivers, on Michigan’s first drive, which resulted in a touchdown.

• Corum rushed for 3 touchdowns for the fourth time in his career. His career high is 5 against UConn last season, and he’s had a trio of rushing scores in two other games — versus Northern Illinois and Washington in 2021.

• Corum now has 35 career rushing touchdowns, vaulting him to No. 6 on Michigan’s all-time list, passing former quarterback Rick Leach (34). Corum is 4 away from tying No. 5 Chris Perry (39), 6 from tying Hart (41) and 20 from tying No. 1 Anthony Thomas (55).

• Senior tight end AJ Barner caught his first pass as a Michigan player on the team’s second possession, going for 12 yards, after transferring in from Indiana. He also started for the first time at U-M and 10th time as a college football player.

• McCarthy’s 13 consecutive completed passes to open the game is a record under head coach Jim Harbaugh (to begin a contest).

• According to the CBS broadcast, McCarthy has the fourth-highest completion percentage through two games in NCAA Division I history. His 66.5 percent career completion percentage leads U-M all-time (290-for-436) and his 88 percent completion percentage against UNLV ranks second in Michigan history.

• Wilson posted his second straight and fifth overall multi-touchdown game. He had 4 receiving touchdowns in 2022 and 3 in 2021, and already has 5 through two contests this year.