Jim Harbaugh defends Michigan football quarterback

Last weekend, Michigan football quarterback JJ McCarthy — a Big Ten Champion QB and former five-star recruit — had an up-and-down game against Purdue. Still, all said and done, the Wolverines took home a massive 41-13 win to start November, improving to 9-0 on the season heading into this weekend’s game at No. 9 Penn State. Following the Purdue win, Head Coach Jim Harbaugh took to the podium and defended McCarthy.

Jim Harbaugh defends Michigan football quarterback

On social media, many people were clammoring about JJ McCarthy having a “bad game.” Still, despite being off at times, McCarthy finished his night completing 65% of his passes for 335 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. It was not the most impressive game of his career; however, the junior Michigan football quarterback got the win and seemed to shake off some bye-week rust as well.

“(JJ McCarthy was) really good,” Jim Harbaugh said after last weekend’s blowout win over Purdue. “If you look back, that would have been a career night for most quarterbacks, me included. Like I said, 65% (completion), 335 yards. Really, really, really great, great plays.”

JJ McCarthy's tonight:

65% completion
335 passing yards
No TD/INT
140.9 passer rating

If that's an "off game" in a November Big Ten matchup, Michigan football is in great hands. #GoBlue

— Blue By 90 (@bluebyninety) November 5, 2023

JJ McCarthy has some things to clean up before facing Penn State this weekend

While Jim Harbaugh likes what he saw from his junior QB, he knows there are some things that JJ McCarthy needs to clean up this week — especially since Michigan football is about to face a top-10 team on the road.

“I mean, (there are) some things to clean up,” Harbaugh added. “(JJ McCarthy) missed on a location on a couple of balls, and we had some drops, but good to great to get the win and still have a couple of things to work on. I don’t know was JJ’s completion percentage was coming into the game… Yeah, he might have dropped a couple points but I mean that’s just — maybe three balls it would have been a little better location.

“Three or four balls that would have been caught, made the tough catch, would have been well over, have been close to 435 yards. That’s a big, big night. And as I said, the amount of — you judge a quarterback on third down. Judge how his numbers on third down, because that’s that’s the money down. He’s been lights out.”

Wolverines ready for top-10 battle in State College

This weekend, Michigan football puts its perfect record and College Football Playoff hopes to the test once again, this time against the No. 9 Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten). So far, JJ McCarthy is 2-0 against Penn State, most recently claiming a 41-17 victory over the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions in Ann Arbor last fall en route to a second-straight Big Ten title and more.

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