Michigan 31, Bowling Green 6: Unicorns, donkeys and stallions

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J.J. McCarthy is a special QB.

I’ve already stated that on multiple occasions in the early stages of this season. And I have no plans to back down from it now, even on the heels of Saturday night’s performance — one that anyone (McCarthy included) would tell you was pretty brutal. McCarthy entered the game with one of the highest completion percentages and QB ratings in college football history through two games. He left with an 8-for-13, 143 yard, 2 TD, 3 INT showing against a middle-of-the-road-at-best MAC squad.

But McCarthy was a special QB before Saturday night’s game kicked off in front of a packed, primetime crowd at Michigan Stadium. And when he walked back through the tunnel after the game, that fact still remained.

He’s the closest thing we’ve seen to a unicorn at that position in Ann Arbor during my lifetime. Take all the off-field things off the table for now and just focus with the on-field stuff (him filtering his NIL deals to his offensive linemen and to charity is impressive in itself, though).

McCarthy has the arm to make NFL throws better than a lot of NFL starting QBs can. That arm strength paves the way for Michigan to have a more sophisticated route tree, something far more difficult to gameplan against. McCarthy has the legs to keep plays alive and improvise, forcing defenses to have to worry about yet another thing the Michigan offense can do. And McCarthy also has the moxy to walk into a rival stadium, throw for 250+ yards and 3 TDs, add a fourth on the ground and wave goodbye to 100,000 depressed scarlet-clad fans on his way out.

He does things that >99% of the QBs in college football could only dream of. He has so much talent that it has basically forced the Michigan coaching staff’s hand to balance out the team’s offensive attack — even with one of the nation’s most dangerous 1-2 punches at running back at the staff’s disposal.

If you think I’m driving the Hyperbole Express all by myself, think again. Jim Harbaugh recently called McCarthy a "once-in-a-generation" quarterback. This coming from the same guy who has been criticized for being “muted,” “drab” and “no fun.” His press conference on Monday was filled with “I don’t knows” and non-answers, an increasingly common occurrence these days.

So yeah, if you can get a “drab” guy that is going out of his way to avoid making big headlines with his quotes and many times avoiding making comments altogether to flip the script and dub you a “once-in-a-generation” talent, you’ve got to be doing something right.

And the first two games of the 2023 campaign, McCarthy didn’t just “do something right.” He did everything right. Short throws. Intermediate throws. Deep throws. Plays with your arm. Plays with your legs. Plays with your brain. You name it, he did it. And fans and pundits alike started taking notice.

It’s because of this that I haven’t been shy to sing his praises and heap expectations on his back. He’s deserving of the praise and he knows what he signed up for when it comes to expectations. He’s the starting QB at the University of Michigan, after all.

McCarthy knows that with praise comes expectations. And when those expectations aren’t met, he’ll hear about it.