The Most Interesting Things Jim Harbaugh Said After Beating Nebraska
After facing some real adversity for the first time all season, Michigan rose to the challenge, traded blows with Nebraska on their home field and made more plays than the Huskers did down the stretch. That clearly made Jim Harbaugh feel good and it came through during his postgame press conference.
"I think we had five guards that played in the game and not a single negative yard rushing by any of our running backs."
That's a pretty amazing stat. Some of the offensive linemen were obviously working through some nagging injuries and subpar play during the game, which resulted in some new combinations up front. But they were all ready when their numbers were called.
Michigan went on the road in a hostile environment, against a pretty solid defense that knew runs were coming and still didn't suffer a negative rushing play by the running backs, despite several starters being out during different parts of the game. That is yet another testament to new offensive line coach Sherrone Moore, who has not missed a beat during his first season every coaching the position group.
"I’ve never seen [a run] spotted nine feet short of the spot. That was the first time I’ve seen that."
You and me both, Jim.
What the hell were those officials doing? It became pretty clear that they all got distracted by the potential penalty that ultimately wasn't called and totally forgot what actually happened on the play. I refuse to believe they thought Hassan Haskins was down because he wasn't even close to touching the ground behind the line to gain.
I just don't know how that many referees can miss something so obvious. Haskins got briefly stopped before keeping his balance and lunging forward to pick up the first down — by a lot. Somehow they marked him short and Harbaugh nearly lost it, with good reason. In the end it was corrected and there was no harm done, but that was a strange scenario that never should've happened.
"There’s no doubt they wanted to storm the field and tear down the goal posts — but not on our guys’ watch tonight."
That's just flat out cool. Hearing Jim Harbaugh acknowledge that Nebraska wanted to storm the field, pull the goal posts down and spoils Michigan's season and then also acknowledge that his squad wasn't having it — boss move.
Harbaugh and Co. went into Lincoln and spoiled Nebraska's Super Bowl. Scott Frost and Michigan have a bit of history, and Saturday's game added to it. It's just a poetic occurrence in the shape of a standard October college football game.
"[Cade McNamara] made some spectacular throws. He made a lot of those throws. He stood in the pocket, knows he’s going to release it and get hit. Still put those throws on the money. Pretty sharp the entire night. He’s doing a heck of a job."
I know Michigan is 6-0. I know the Wolverines are marching toward a top-five ranking. I know McNamara just threw his first interception of the season against Nebraska. And I know that he's only been sacked once in 2021. I also understand why Harbaugh says the things he does about McNamara and I actually commend him for having his guy's back and saying good things about him during press conferences. But, I'm sorry Coach, McNamara just hasn't been very good.
Against Nebraska, McNamara completed just 58% of his passes for 255 yards and no touchdowns. He also did throw that pick, his first of the year. On his first two deep throws of the game, his receivers had to play defense just to keep Nebraska's DBs from picking the throws off. He was also off target on several of his completions and just didn't make many big plays.
He's completing just over 60% of his passes and has only thrown five touchdowns over the course of six games. He's also averaging just 164.3 yards per game, which is only better than 10 quarterbacks in the country.
This isn't meant to sound like piling on, but it probably does. McNamara has done some good things, but it simply feels like he's holding the offense back on some levels.
It's also starting to feel like this Michigan team could be truly special, but I don't think anyone can honestly say that it is getting special quarterback play, and that's an issue no matter what level of football you're referring to. I'm also not saying that freshman JJ McCarthy would definitely be an upgrade. We haven't seen enough to determine that. But if McCarthy is more athletic, has a more live arm and tends to take a few more chances that could result in big plays, what's he doing that's keeping him from being on the field more? Only a few people know the answer to that question.
