Analysis of Michigan's Week 1 game against East Carolina

2023 Season Outlook

Michigan did exactly what they should’ve today. They won decisively, and no one got injured. But most importantly, JJ McCarthy played a perfect game.

It’s no secret that the QB is the most important player on the field. Championships are won and lost by quarterback play. Last season, JJ McCarthy showed great potential. He had an excellent ability to evade the pass rush and keep plays alive. He had great pocket awareness, and a dangerous running ability. He had a big arm, and wasn’t afraid to use it. However, he was inconsistent at times. In 2022, there were several wide-open throws that were missed. Many overthrown balls. 

Let’s not overreact here. We didn’t just play Ohio State. This was only a Week 1 East Carolina game. But as I said, JJ McCarthy played a perfect game today. All of his best qualities were put on full display. He had perfect pocket presence, and didn’t come close to being sacked. On two of his touchdowns, he escaped pressure to find Roman Wilson in the end zone. Every pass was on target and in the right spot. If you are a Michigan fan, you should be extremely excited about our quarterback. 

The running game today was not great, but I believe this was by design. East Carolina stacked the box against our run game. They knew how dangerous our RB duo was, and sent all of their forces to control it. However, this came at a cost. They dedicated all of their resources to stopping the run, and thus left the secondary wide open. This allowed JJ and the WRs to tear apart the East Carolina defense. In the future, if a team decides to allocate more pressure to stopping the pass, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards will be ready to run the ball down their throats. This is the advantage of having two great running backs: they don’t even need to play well to have a big impact on the game. 

The offensive line looked shaky at times, but their pass protection was phenomenal. I don’t see a concern here. The defensive line, as usual, was excellent. They stopped many runs at the line of scrimmage and put pressure on the QB. 

The secondary played as well as they needed to. East Carolina didn’t pose a very big threat, and therefore we didn’t learn much from today’s game in that respect. 

The biggest issue in my mind was the kicking. For the past years, Jake Moody was as solid of a kicker as they come. He very rarely missed kicks, and this allowed the offense to operate more freely with less concern or urgency. Today, two kicks were missed and nearly a third. This is very bad news. Kicking often is the difference between a win or a loss in close games. This issue needs to be addressed if Michigan wants to contend for a title this year.

Overall, I give this game an 8/10. JJ McCarthy and Roman Wilson together looked phenomenal, with additions from Cornelius Johnson and Colston Loveland as well. The defensive was perfectly adequate, but kicking was a disaster. We will learn more next week against UNLV, possibly with a new kicker.