Michigan found a way to win, huge in the short term. More importantly, it found a quarterback.
That resounding confirmation could deliver long-term results years after a 48-42, triple-overtime win against a one-victory Rutgers team in a bizarre, truncated season hits the Michigan football history dust bin.
There’s no doubt, the Wolverines needed this one, this year — desperately. What they need more are players who can step up and deliver both now and in the future.
Redshirt freshman QB Cade McNamara did that, in stunning fashion. He never doubted he could come in and perform. He’s got plenty of company now.
When McNamara stepped onto the field in Piscataway, N.J., the Wolverines were as dead as a mob victim dumped in the Hudson River. They’d produced not a point in nearly a half of football.
They appeared well on their way toward slipping to 1-4, after a four-game start that represented the storied program’s worst since 1967. Rutgers, in fact, looked ready for a rout.
Then, for the second straight week, McNamara came on and produced an insta-touchdown. And he was only getting started.
Twenty-seven completions, a 75-percent connection rate, four touchdown passes, a crucial overtime touchdown run and a 48-42 triple-overtime shootout win later, McNamara looked like a miracle worker. He moved the Michigan offense so convincingly, so shockingly differently than it moved before his arrival, head coach Jim Harbaugh couldn’t equivocate — and didn’t want to.
“Cade was outstanding,” Harbaugh said. “Really gritty. A really gritty performance in all ways. His play was inspiring. I can’t say enough great things. I’m so proud of him.”
He’s also convinced of the second-year Wolverine earning a starting job.
“He’s very well prepared,” Harbaugh said. “He’s seeing things very good. His confidence has always been really high. It’s a testament to his ability. I’m really happy for him. It was gritty. Sometimes you’ve got to see it in a game, and it was as good as you could come in and play.”
He’s seen it in a game, and he’s about to see it again. Asked if McNamara will be the starter next week, Harbaugh didn’t try to scramble out of the pocket.
“We’ll look at it, but the way he played tonight, he’s going to be in there,” the head coach said.
For his part, McNamara acknowledged he ought to be, without a trace of arrogance.
“Personally, I feel like I’ve done enough for me to be put in this position,” McNamara commented. “That’s Coach Harbaugh’s decision.”
Some wrote it off when the quarterback who threw for 12,000 yards in high school put U-M in the end zone in four plays against Wisconsin. It was later in the game, they noted. The Badgers weren’t playing their best defense, holding a huge lead.
There are no huge leads for Rutgers, at least not big enough for overconfidence to set in. The Scarlet Knights were looking to bury the Wolverines, building on that 17-point advantage. But McNamara came on, and everything changed.
He darted around and flipped short passes to players who could race away for big yardage. He hung in the pocket to deliver the bomb. He found a way to get rid of the ball when a sack (and his head) were on the line.
He simply looked like a quarterback who could move a team when it desperately needed to move. He mentioned swagger, and performed like he deserved to carry it.
“I just had to stay prepared,” McNamara said. “I was confident in the way I prepared this week. That led to me being able to perform the way I did when my number was called.
“In my career, I’ve been down really big. I feel like I have a comfort level when it comes to coming from behind.”
Michigan has made a habit of being behind, ever since the season began in a gold rush of pyrite in Minnesota. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Joe Milton looked like a budding star in that one, and has shown flashes since.
He still possesses tremendous physical talent. That hasn’t changed, and nobody should write him off. But the Wolverines haven’t moved the football consistently since that season opener, sputtering in losses to Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin.
They were going nowhere fast as well against the Scarlet Knights. Then McNamara entered, and it looked like a completely different offense.
“Cade came in and gave a huge spark, and then played lights out from there on out,” Harbaugh said.
In the credit where credit’s due department, former U-M All-American Jon Jansen — who sees plenty behind the curtain — warned against ignoring McNamara all the way back last spring. He was playing very well, Jansen insisted, and no QB preview should leave out such a mention.
Some scoffed. Sure thing, they said. But he’s obviously a distant third behind Dylan McCaffrey and Milton, so … maybe someday.
McNamara’s play shouts maybe now.
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