Wins Over Awards: Michigan's JJ McCarthy Remains Focused On Team Success
The No. 3 Michigan Wolverines had their biggest test of the season last weekend, squaring off against No. 10 Penn State in Happy Valley. It was expected that junior quarterback JJ McCarthy would need to have a big performance on the road in order for Michigan to secure the victory, but it quickly became apparent that the Wolverines other plans for how they would attack the Nittany Lions.
McCarthy finished the afternoon completing just 7-of-8 attempts for 60 yards and no touchdowns through the air. If Michigan fans had a glimpse into the future before Saturdays game and knew that would be McCarthy's stat-line, it would have been hard to imagine any scenario where the Wolverines walked out of Beaver Stadium with a dominant victory - but that's exactly what happened.
Instead of leaning heavily on McCarthy and the passing game, the Michigan offense went exclusively to the rushing attack just past the 7-minute mark in the second quarter. In fact, the Wolverines finished the afternoon with 32-straight rushing attempts, en route to a 24-15 victory.
Reflecting on the game during a recent appearance on the "In The Trenches" podcast, McCarthy made it clear that he was perfectly fine with the gameplan.
"I kind of started to get the sense of how the game was going to go, and Coach Moore was very vocal with that with me," McCarthy said. "So just being on the same page with him was huge. I just kind of shifted into, 'ok, where can I provide the most value to our team? How can I step up as a leader? How can I make sure that everybody goes out there and stays on cue with what we're tying to do?' And not making mistakes at the end of the day. As a quarterback, the No. 1 rule is to not lose the game for your team. So, with how we were going, how we were approaching the game as an offense, it was really stepping up as a leader."
Photo: Christopher Breiler
Photo: Christopher Breiler
Although Michigan secured the victory, McCarthy's place in the Heisman trophy race likely took a bit of a hit with the lack of production through the air. McCarthy couldn't care less.
"I'm not about me and my stats, and what it's going to look like to voters out there for all of these awards. It's about winning the football game, that's all I care about - the success of my team and the success of my teammates."
In addition to facing a tough opponent in Penn State, the Wolverines also learned that they would be without their head coach just hours before kickoff. Late on Friday, the Big Ten conference issued a three-game suspension for Jim Harbaugh as part of the ongoing sign-stealing saga. Although officials from the University of Michigan attempted to take legal action that would block the Big Ten's ruling, Harbaugh would ultimately remain suspended for Saturdays contest.
For McCarthy, the message was to maintain a one-track mind - something we hear a lot from Schembechler Hall these days.
"The unique thing about this team is that we're internally driven. But when it adds extra motivation like our coach not being there, it just only adds on to the drive that we have to go out there and be successful. So I feel like the main message was that nothing is changing. If anything, we just get a little more excited to go out there and dominate, but we were just staying on what we had been doing since winter. One track mind."
Although it remains to be seen whether or not Harbaugh will be on the sideline for this weekend's game against Maryland, the Wolverines will be prepared for the opportunity to make college football history. Asked about what it would mean to be the quarterback for the Michigan team that achieves win No. 1,000, McCarthy said it's something he has thought about.
"I thought about that at the beginning of the year, honestly. Just the amazing opportunity to be a part of this team 144 that gets the chance to do that, and represent all the Wolverine teams that came before us. It's a tremendous honor, but we can't get to 1,000 without all the winged helmets that put in the blood, sweat, and tears that we have this year. We're just putting on for the University of Michigan."
