Media Roundup: What's Being Said About Michigan Football Post Minnesota

It was another easy victory for Michigan on Saturday night against Minnesota. The Wolverines rolled to a 52-10 win and the Michigan defense scored more points (14) than the Gophers' offense.

At the halfway point, Michigan is sitting 6-0 and the Wolverines are going to be highly favored in all the upcoming games until Nov. 11 against Penn State. Even though the Wolverines' schedule hasn't been too tough, Michigan looks as good as any team in the country.

More and more national media members are starting to see the same things, while Michigan's start QB J.J. McCarthy is getting more and more praise.

Here's what some media members are saying about the Wolverines.

CBS Sports gives Michigan an A grade

Barrett Sallee gave his weekly grades and he gave the Wolverines an A after demolishing Minnesota

Ho-hum, just another suffocating performance from a Michigan team that is as consistent as the sunrise. The No. 2 Wolverines jumped out to a 10-0 lead and cruised to a 52-10 win over Minnesota. The Golden Gophers only managed 169 yards against Jim Harbaugh's crew, and Michigan strengthened its case to be the No. 1 team in the country.

Bill Bender with Sporting News called Michigan's performance 'nearly flawless'

Michigan kept rolling through Big Ten opponents with a 52-10 victory at Minnesota. Aside from a TD pass allowed late in the first half, it was another virtually-flawless road performance. Will Johnson and Keon Sabb scored on pick-sixes, J.J. McCarthy passed for 219 yards and had two rushing TDs, and a backfield-by-committee averaged 5.8 yards per carry. The Gophers had just 169 total yards. The Wolverines return home to face Indiana in Week 7.

Chris Vannini with The Athletic drops Michigan to No. 8 in his ranking -- but says the Wolverines look really, really good.

Michigan looks to have finally rounded into form with consecutive blowouts of Nebraska and Minnesota, though they “drop” a spot simply by getting jumped by Oklahoma. As I say every week, the Wolverines are just going to float around here until they play Penn State on Nov. 11 or until teams ahead of them start racking up losses. Michigan will be fine. Michigan looks really, really good. The ranking is simply a product of the schedule to this point. The Wolverines’ best opponent so far was Rutgers. Every other top-25 team has at least one better win in these rankings.

Steve Muench with ESPN has J.J. McCarthy QB No. 3 on his big board.

Muench: J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan. Let's keep the quarterbacks rolling here. McCarthy (6-foot-3, 202 pounds) has been outstanding outside of the Bowling Green game (three interceptions), and the tape is better than the overall stats -- which is why he's QB3 on my board and a potential first-round pick. That said, his efficiency dipped substantially over the second half of the 2022 season, and his toughest challenges this year lie ahead. Michigan's average margin of victory has been 30.7 points, and McCarthy is tied for 88th in the FBS in passing attempts (125). So the rest of the slate should give a better idea of his pro projection. Can McCarthy continue to perform at a high level at Penn State, against Ohio State and during a potential College Football Playoff appearance?

ESPN's Bill Connelly says J.J. McCarthy may be the best QB out there

Michigan's J.J. McCarthy is No. 1 in QBR at 93.6, ahead of Heisman favorites (Michael Penix Jr. is second, Caleb Williams eighth) and sleepers (Dillon Gabriel is third, Jayden Daniels fourth). He's third nationally in completion rate, behind two guys (Oregon's Bo Nix and Florida's Graham Mertz) who average far fewer yards per completion. Nearly two-thirds of his completions (63%) go for a first down, and nearly one-fourth (22%) go for 20-plus yards. Not including the three sacks he has taken in six games, he's averaging 9.1 yards per carry on the three or so rushes per game he's compelled to take.

Give him those numbers with Penix's or Williams' volume of dropbacks, and McCarthy is a pretty clear Heisman favorite. A co-favorite at worst. But his 22.2 dropbacks per game are the lowest of anyone in the QBR top 15 and second-lowest, behind only Louisiana's Zeon Chriss, of anyone in the top 35. We're midway through the regular season, and McCarthy has thrown all of four fourth-quarter passes. (Naturally, he completed all four for 46 yards.)

Michigan is just winning games too darn easily for McCarthy to get the full respect his early-season play has probably warranted. The Wolverines' schedule has obviously been too easy -- they have yet to play a team ranked higher than 58th in SP+ (and won't until Nov. 11), and their current SP+ strength of schedule ranks 114th -- but that's not McCarthy's fault. Besides, QBR and SP+ are both opponent-adjusted. McCarthy and Michigan rank first in them regardless.

Saturday's win over Minnesota was downright mean. The Wolverines scored 12 seconds into the game on a pick-six, then added another pick-six late in the third quarter. That means that, in a 52-10 win, both their offense and defense outscored the Golden Gophers. Before giving way for the second- and eventually third-string QBs, McCarthy went a tidy 14-for-20 for 219 yards and a touchdown, no sacks and two rushing TDs. Those numbers actually hurt his season averages. I was curious about how his receiving corps might fare this year, and we obviously don't yet know how they'll handle better defenses, but Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson are on pace for nearly 1,500 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns between them, and like the rest of the team, they've aced the tests that have been put in front of them. This team is a wrecking ball at the moment.

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