Jim Harbaugh gives honest evaluation of the Michigan football offense

With Jim Harbaugh suspended and JJ McCarthy shining bright right now, the Michigan football offense has seen its ups and downs to start the year. So far, the Wolverines are 2-0, boasting a 30-3 victory over East Carolina and a 35-7 win over UNLV. Yesterday, Michigan’s 9th-year head coach gave us an honest breakdown of what he has seen from his offense thus far in 2023.

Michigan football offense has been passing the ball well behind QB JJ McCarthy

First, the pros — the Michigan football offense has seen an elite passing attack from JJ McCarthy and a number of wide receivers.

“The offense started extremely fast,” Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh said on Monday. “I just loved the way how we’re starting these football games — long drives, so explosive in the passing game. JJ (McCarthy) is phenomenal. So on fire, so on point. The throws that he is making from the pocket, doing severe damage when he leaves the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield, and getting big chunk plays and yardage. The receivers, the explosive plays, the plus-fifteens, are just huge. The kind of throws he’s making too, I mean, they’re NFL-caliber throws into tight windows. The accuracy is off the charts. I mean, he’s putting balls six inches in front of the number. Even the throws that are covering 30-40 yards, they’re right on the number. A real runner’s ball where the receiver can catch and run like you saw in the 47-yarder to Roman Wilson.”

Jim Harbaugh points to the run game as an area that needs improvement

Now for the cons — the Michigan football offense has been very quiet on the ground thus far. Historically, the Wolverines’ offensive line and running backs have dominated, and while the run game has not been horrible, it has been far less impressive than many were expecting.

“Run game, the thing I’m looking at is the inefficient plays,” Harbaugh continued. “They’re outnumbering the efficient runs — efficient runs to me are four to nine. Explosives are 10 plus, and nonefficient runs are zero to three, and we have far too many of those. It’s a combination of really everybody. We’ve got to block better in the perimeter. We gotta get the safeties better blocked by our wide receivers. Tight ends are really playing well. Offensive line — we’re missing a guy here. It’s one guy and a play. Guys are coming off the second level and making plays. And running backs — when I say guy here a guy there, it’s a missed cut here, it’s a missed cut there. But it’s something that we’re very focused on and emphasizing. Plus the big inefficient plays — two of those in the run game, where we don’t pick up a fourth and two, and we have a tackle for a loss. And one big inefficient, Davis Warren’s interception. So yeah, emphasizing all and excited to go to work on it. My esteemed associate, Sherrone Moore (offensive coordinator), will be the head coach of this game … He can expand further, but that is an emphasis for us this week and going forward.”

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