Jim Harbaugh addresses Michigan offensive identity
Michigan is off to a good start on offense in the new season. After defeating Western Michigan in week one, Michigan backed it up with a 31-10 win over Washington in week two. Quarterback Cade McNamara only threw 15 passes in the game, but Michigan ran the ball 56 times. That was all part of the plan, according to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Michigan’s rushing attack paved the way to victory
When you have two running backs that rush for at least 155 yards in a game, it’s hard to not continue handing the ball off. That was the case for Michigan on Saturday. Hassan Haskins had 27 attempts for 155 yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Blake Corum was even more effective, running for 171 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.
As a whole, Michigan ran the ball 56 times, totaling 343 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. Michigan’s passing attack wasn’t at its best, but the Wolverines have proven to have a top rushing attack in college football, making it an explosive offense.
“Going into the game, we’re not going to win by throwing the ball outside the numbers,” Harbaugh said on Sunday. “Those corners are really good. We were going fare a lot better running the ball 52 times than we would’ve thrown it 52 times. Our guys are good, they came up with plays when they had to. They didn’t stop the running game. We knew they had a good defense, we watched the Montana game, the defense played extremely well. Told you we were going to lean on Hassan and Blake, they’re that good, too. We’ve got good players in the passing game, we know our guys can catch the ball, run routes, we can throw it. It was just so good, the running game, it felt good to not take it away.”
Michigan’s identity on offense is in a constant ‘we’ll see’ state
The Wolverines had a good day running the ball in week one as well. Against Western Michigan, though, Michigan’s passing attack was more productive than it was on Saturday. Cade McNamara and JJ McCarthy combined for 216 yards and three touchdowns on 17 pass attempts during opening weekend. Harbaugh is impressed by Michigan’s early success on offense.
“Maybe a little too early to say what our identity is,” Harbaugh said. “Identity repeatedly being—we’ll see. We’ll see what that looks like every single week. I thought it was strong, as I said before. There’s some things that we can improve, which makes you feel good in an early-season game where you get the win and there’s things to improve on, too. Things to go back to work on on Monday and get better at. Things we have to get better at because you can. It’s a good feeling right now.”
Michigan is ranked 25th in both the Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 Poll ahead of week three.