Hail to the Victors! It is truly incredible what this team, these coaches, and these players have accomplished over the past couple years. Michigan is 25-2 in that span. Back in the olden days, a 13-0 record would be good enough to be voted a national champion. Regardless of what happens in the College Football Playoff, this team is a national championship-caliber squad. Furthermore, Jim Harbaugh has cemented himself as one of the best coaches in modern football. If I had to name a top three, it would include Harbaugh, Urban Meyer (ugh), and Nick Saban (ugh again). Harbaugh has taken over struggling program after struggling program and made them elite, from Stanford to the San Francisco 49ers to Michigan. A lot of coaches are in the right place at the right time, including guys like Jimbo Fisher, Gene Chizik, Ed Orgeron, etc. to make once-in-a-lifetime runs and then fall off precipitously. There are very few who can consistently redirect a program wherever they go, and Harbaugh is one of them.
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What concerns do I have? I actually have several concerns about this team going into the College Football Playoff, but it doesn’t take away from what they have already accomplished.
- The absence of Blake Corum: Donovan Edwards (25 carries, 185 yards, 1 TD) had a great game, but his injured right hand causes some issues. And frankly I’m surprised he has yet to fumble in the past two games, because he’s carrying the ball rather loosely in his non-dominant left hand. If I’m one of the other CFP teams – namely TCU for now – I’m spending some extra practice time practicing ripping at the ball. Luckily, Edwards has some time to heal up, so hopefully his hand is close to full strength by that time. And as much of a big-play threat as Edwards is, he’s not the pile pusher that Corum is. Michigan’s situation reminds me of Alabama in 2021 when they were extremely explosive until wide receiver Jameson Williams tore his ACL, and then things went down the tubes.
- The absence of Mike Morris: It’s unfortunate two of Michigan’s positional league MVPs got injured right at the end of the season. Along with Corum, Morris also suffered a leg injury. His absence has negatively affected not only Michigan’s pass rush but also its run defense. I would guess that Morris will be back by the time Michigan plays TCU, but I wish he was healthy.
- J.J. McCarthy’s inconsistent play: I am going to lob the same criticism at McCarthy that I lobbed at Denard Robinson. You might look at the overall numbers and say McCarthy is an accurate passer (65.3% on the season), but he’s throwing the ball behind receivers, taking them off their feet, etc. and not giving a ton of room to run after the catch. Yes, of course there have been exceptions like when Cornelius Johnson had a ton of YAC against Ohio State, but some of those throws are to wide open receivers who get open because of the threat of the run game. McCarthy made some nice throws – the TD to Colston Loveland, the TD to Ronnie Bell – but he also makes some very poor throws. His accuracy was good early in the season, but during the second half of the year, something went funky. He finished 11/17 for 161 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception in this game. I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement in his game.
The tackling seemed bad, didn’t it? I generally did not think Michigan took Purdue lightly, but this was perhaps the worst tackling game of Michigan’s season. Is it a coincidence that it happened a week after the Ohio State game? Maybe. I thought Michigan did a great job of tackling wide receiver Charlie Jones, even though he had 13 catches for 162 yards. But some of the tackling on other guys was shoddy. Credit goes to Purdue’s guys, who are tough to bring down and look like they work hard in the weight room. But if Michigan plays Georgia in the CFP, they’re going to need to tackle better than they did against Purdue.
Will Johnson looks like a stud. Thank goodness for Will Johnson, who had 2 interceptions and just looks like a dude. And thank goodness for the fact that his dad went to Michigan, because otherwise, Michigan doesn’t often seem to get kids who look like that. Johnson looks like a kid who would normally be suiting up for Alabama or Georgia, and Michigan fans get the chance to watch him in a winged helmet. It’s been a long time – probably since Charles Woodson – that a corner came in who just immediately looked like a guy who could hold up. Johnson did have a pass interference penalty called against him that I totally didn’t mind, because I would rather him take a 15-yarder than give up a long touchdown.
My thoughts go out to Aiden O’Connell. I’ve really liked watching Purdue quarterback Aiden O’Connell the past couple seasons. He’s accurate, smart, and has touch and toughness. It’s unfortunate that his brother passed away a week ago, and my hat’s off to him for the way he has performed since. He completed 32/47 passes for 366 yards, and even though he threw 2 interceptions and 0 touchdowns, I thought he played very well. As a pure passer, he’s the second best quarterback in the Big Ten behind Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
I’m looking forward to digging in on TCU. I’ve admired TCU’s program from afar for a long time. Even though Gary Patterson is no longer there, they continue to achieve great things for what that school is. It’s hard to “overachieve” for this long. I like quarterback Max Duggan and receiver Quentin Johnston, and Michigan has a legitimate challenge on its hands. It’s nice to see a different opponent in a bowl/playoff game that we don’t see much of on a national stage.
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