JARED GREENSPAN
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan obliterates Hawaii in J.J. McCarthy’s first start
J
.J. McCarthy waited years
to walk through the Big
House tunnel as the starting
quarterback of the Michigan
football team. So perhaps it’s
fitting that, on the day of his first
collegiate start, he had to wait a
little while longer.
At 8:18 pm — 13 minutes
after the originally scheduled
kickoff time between the fourth-
ranked Wolverines and Hawaii
— McCarthy emerged from the
tunnel. The weather delay had
tamed his grand entrance: There
was no banner for him to touch,
no marching band to serenade
him. The stadium remained eerily
quiet and empty, the soaked fans
still locked outside the gates.
So when the game started,
the
sophomore
quarterback
created his own pomp and
circumstance. In a 56-10 rout of
the Rainbow Warriors, McCarthy
— long pegged as Michigan’s
quarterback of the future — made
an irresistible case that he should
be the quarterback of the present,
too.
“J.J. had a near flawless
performance,” Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh said. “… I thought
he had a great game. He’s playing
really
well.
We’ll
start
J.J.
next week. He’s earned that by
performance, by merit.”
The decision, in the wake
of a months-long, “neck-and-
neck” quarterback competition
with senior Cade McNamara,
is a culmination of McCarthy’s
ascension. McCarthy had already
done enough to warrant a battle
with McNamara, the incumbent
who steered Michigan to a Big
Ten Championship and a College
Football Playoff berth last season.
Yet two-and-a-half weeks ago, the
complexion changed. Harbaugh
maintained
that
McCarthy’s
game reached an “inflection
point” on the season’s eve, when
the Wolverines held a scrimmage
at Michigan Stadium.
Since then, McCarthy has
merely taken off.
“Every single day,” Harbaugh
said, “he’s been about as good as
can be.”
He was certainly as good as
can be Saturday night. In seven
first half drives, McCarthy went
11-for-12 with 229 passing yards
and three touchdowns, good for
a 334.5 passer rating. On those
seven possessions, the Wolverines
found the endzone six times.
When McCarthy took the field
for Michigan’s first offensive
series, the majority of the crowd
stood — perhaps because of
the damp seats, perhaps in
anticipation. Immediately, the
theatrics began.
On the Wolverines’ second
play from scrimmage, McCarthy
lofted a 42-yard touchdown pass
to junior receiver Roman Wilson.
The show was on.
“Everything
he
does
in
practice, he transferred over here
to Main Street,”
junior
running
back Blake
Corum
said.
“So
I
expected
nothing
less.”
McCarthy
didn’t
throw an incompletion until
the waning minutes of the first
quarter, only doing so because
graduate receiver Ronnie Bell
dropped a pass that hit him in the
chest. Early in the second quarter,
he delivered a 54-yard strike
down the seams to senior receiver
Cornelius Johnson and followed
that picture-perfect pass with a
13-yard touchdown dart to Bell.
On the ensuing drive, he placed
a 33-yard back shoulder fade into
the lap of sophomore running
back Donovan Edwards, setting
up Michigan’s fifth touchdown.
It all looked so easy, so
effortless. And it felt that way
on the Michigan sideline, too.
Junior
edge
rusher
Braiden
McGregor and junior safety R.J.
Moten recalled huddling with
teammates, eyes glued to
the whiteboard held by
co-defensive coordinator
Steve Clinkscale.
They
didn’t
get
a
chance
to
watch
McCarthy.
“But then we hear
the
crowd
erupt,”
McGregor
recalled.
“And
then
we’re
like, ‘Oh,’ and then we see what
happened.”
As McCarthy flourished, that
scene repeated itself.
“He was prepared, ready to
go,” Bell said. “I mean, he was
rolling.”
Part of McCarthy’s success
can be attributed to Hawaii’s
own ineptitude, but he had to
confront adversity, too. Pregame,
he stayed loose by throwing in the
tunnel while awaiting clearance
to return to a soaked field. And
amidst a grueling quarterback
competition, every throw — every
decision — carries extra weight,
regardless of the score or the
opposition. That scrutiny adds
an extra layer of pressure, even
against an outmatched opponent.
McCarthy seemed unfazed.
“He
controlled
the
whole
game,” Corum said. “He was
confident.”
With 6:22 left in the second
quarter,
McNamara
relieved
McCarthy, seemingly indicating
that his sensational evening had
ended. But four minutes later,
McCarthy re-entered the game to
a chorus of cheers. He promptly
led the Wolverines 52 yards down
the field, a drive that closed with
perhaps his best pass of the night:
a 17-yard strike across his body,
while stepping up in the pocket,
to Johnson in the front corner of
the endzone.
“That
was
outstanding,”
Harbaugh said, later conceding
that he can’t remember ever
making a similar throw. “He
was phenomenal. A phenomenal
performance.”
By halftime, McCarthy’s job
was done. He staked Michigan to
a 42-0 lead, keying a domineering
performance. In the second half,
the offense stalled — a reminder,
as Corum alluded to postgame,
why the Wolverines approach
every game as if the opposition
is
Ohio
State
or
Michigan
State. They expect that level of
intensity.
A Week Two game against
Hawaii won’t normally conjure
that emotion. But those who
tuned in — whether it be the
110,012 who outlasted the storm,
the millions who watched from
home
or
Harbaugh
himself
— surely left with the same
impression,
awestruck
by
McCarthy’s brilliance.
QB1
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY
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