Jim Harbaugh breaks down play of Cade McNamara, JJ McCarthy following Michigan's opener

While the stated plan for Michigan’s quarterbacks in the season opener against Colorado State on Saturday was for Cade McNamara to be the starter — with JJ McCarthy named the starter for Week 2 — the Wolverines got up enough that head coach Jim Harbaugh decided to deviate from the plan.

In came McCarthy for a spell in the second half, at which point Michigan held a commanding 30-plus point lead, and the heralded sophomore did not disappoint during his reps. And despite an up-and-down performance from the usually steady McNamara, the returning starter played well, according to his head coach.

“Thought he was really good, had a couple balls that were dropped. But just, very good,” Harbaugh said of McNamara. “Doing — executing like I said. No issues. Gotta give credit to the quarterback as well when that’s taking place on offense. Moving the football. Score points. And thought he had a really good game.”

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McNamara finished 9-for-18 passing for 136 yards and a touchdown, though 61 of those yards came on an impressive individual play from receiver Roman Wilson who took a screen pass to the house. And, as Harbaugh said, McNamara wasn’t helped out by his receivers, who dropped several catchable passes. And Michigan held a 23-0 lead at half — something Harbaugh noted the quarterback deserves a share of credit for.

When McCarthy played, his dynamic ability at the position was evident — his first non-handoff was a keeper that he took 20 yards for a score. He finished 4-of-4 passing on some simple looks.

“Yeah, I mean things were operating really smooth in the first half and you know, I finally said, ‘Ah, let’s get JJ in there.’ And he was electric when he got in. No question about that,” Harbaugh said. “Thought that he also went through his reads very well. Great to see him, just really super calm, cool, collected. I thank that he’s been conveying that he’s greatly — he’s doing a great job, too. And really improved a lot, as you would expect from going through your freshman year to your sophomore year.”