5 takeaways from Michigan's shaky win over Maryland
Michigan's Big Ten opener was more than just the season's first test for the defending conference champions, beating Maryland 34-27 at home.
The Terrapins gave the Wolverines everything they had and more. Mike Locksley's team had the ball down 8 points with six minutes left in the game before U-M junior safety RJ Moten made the play of the game, intercepting Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa and giving the Wolverines the ball near midfield late in the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines extended the lead before the Terrapins responded once more before failing to recover an onside kick.
What did we learn from Michigan's narrow win over Maryland?
Here are five takeaways from the first conference win of the season for Jim Harbaugh.
Blake Corum is the offense's best player
Going into the season, we knew Michigan's offense was loaded with experience, speed, and talent.
We didn't know who would rise as the best skill player in a room filled with untapped potential with many players possessing superstar abilities.
After a five-touchdown day against Hawaii and running for over 200 yards against the Terrapins, junior RB Blake Corum is the best player on Michigan's offense.
Without his injured running mate Donovan Edwards, Corum carried the ball 30 times for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He was the only consistent difference-maker on a slow day for the U-M offense.
Corum officially has Heisman potential.
The defense needs to create pressure
Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said it best when he told the media during a press conference earlier this week that Colorado State, who gave up 7 sacks against U-M, allowed multiple sacks in its first three games, making his team's performance against them less telling.
The Wolverines didn't have a sack until the 3-minute mark of the second half on Maryland's final desperation drive, down 34-19, trying to score quickly.
When Taulia Tagovailoa was in, he had all the time in the world to make throws all over the field, including a red zone play where he found a wide-open receiver for a touchdown after sitting in the pocket untouched and unfazed for five seconds.
The reason Michigan overcame Ohio State last season starts and ends with the consistent pressure Aidan Hutchinson & David Ojabo put on C.J. Stroud.
Tagovailoa might be the second-best QB in the conference, but Payton Thorne and Sean Clifford aren't far behind him, if at all.
Michigan has time to figure it out, facing an inept Iowa passing attack on the road next week.
We know now that this staff must scheme a way to create consistent pressure because the one-on-one battles arent' going Michigan's way through four games.
J.J. McCarthy is human but needs to limit his hero ball
Michigan's sophomore QB looked more like a first-year starter on Saturday than ever before.
Coming into the game with an 88% completion percentage, McCarthy went 18-of-26 (69%) for 220 yards, finishing with two touchdowns. He fumbled twice, and both times, a teammate recovered. Once was on Michigan's side of the field while the other knocked U-M out of FG range and forced them into a 3rd & 25.
The fumbles happened as a byproduct of McCarthy forcing plays and extending them with his legs, running too freely, and allowing Maryland to stay in the game by forcing high-risk situations to make hero-ish plays on early downs.
Despite a solid stat line from McCarthy, he missed four deep throws where his wideouts had good separation. If on-target, all four of those throws would've resulted in 40-plus yard plays and potential touchdowns.
McCarthy missed two to Roman Wilson and one to Andrel Anthony & Ronnie Bell.
We've only witnessed great plays from McCarthy throughout the cakewalk that was Michigan's non-conference schedule.
The Chicago native is 19 years old, which was more evident than ever on Saturday against Maryland.
Still, a clean day throwing the ball -- though he nearly threw an interception in the end zone -- totaling over 200 yards and completing almost 70% of his passes.
With high responsibilities comes high expectations.
Will he bounce back next week at Iowa?
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