ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Facing third-and-10 at the Ohio State 22-yard line in the second quarter Saturday, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy had wide receiver Cornelius Johnson split wide to the right as his primary read.
Ohio State had a safety over the top of the left side, and McCarthy liked the matchup for Johnson, who was running a go route and hoped to shake Davison Igbinosun with a stutter step, maybe convincing the cornerback he was breaking off his route near the line to gain.
The Wolverines were thinking touchdown — not first down.
Igbinosun didn’t take the bait and Johnson was covered. McCarthy didn’t have a lot of time to react. Buckeyes defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. collapsed the pocket with a bull rush. From McCarthy’s blind side, defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau beat left tackle LaDarius Henderson with a spin move. The escape hatch was closing.
McCarthy kept his eyes on Johnson, hoping to hold safety Malik Hartford to the right side as wide receiver Roman Wilson crossed from the left with cornerback Denzel Burke in close coverage. Just before Tuimoloau hit him, McCarthy zipped a pass across the middle — his release is compact and fast — somehow threading the ball between Burke and Hartford and into Wilson’s hands.
Wilson caught the ball at the 5-yard line and squirted into the end zone, putting the Wolverines ahead 14-3 in a game they won 30-24 to improve to 12-0 as delirious fans stormed the field at Michigan Stadium afterward.
It was the kind of big-time throw — McCarthy didn’t stride into it with Tuimoloau bearing down on him — that’s a wow moment for NFL evaluators considering McCarthy at or near the top of a talented crop of quarterbacks for the 2024 draft.
That’s if the junior from LaGrange Park decides to enter the draft after Michigan’s season ends. The Wolverines play Iowa in the Big Ten championship game Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (7 p.m., Fox-32). A 22-point favorite, second-ranked Michigan is a shoo-in for its third straight College Football Playoff berth with a victory.
McCarthy has a lot to contemplate, including the future of the Michigan program with the NCAA investigating coach Jim Harbaugh for an alleged scheme to illegally scout future opponents in person. Harbaugh will return Saturday from a three-game Big Ten suspension.
In the time being, McCarthy has meaningful games to prepare for with the Wolverines hunting their first national title since 1997. And for now he can talk about the throw to Wilson, a highlight-reel play for McCarthy, whose passing production was limited in the games Harbaugh was banned from the sidelines.
“I had a good one-on-one on the outside,” McCarthy said, “and he didn’t win. We had a crossing route coming across, so I knew if I kept my eyes on the single receiver (Johnson) that (Hartford) might move over and open up a little space for Roman
Rewatch the play a handful of times and you will see Hartford budged only slightly. But McCarthy’s eyes held him long enough to keep that little window cracked open.
“Then I’ve just got to put it in a can of cola, honestly,” McCarthy said.
The touchdown pass to Wilson wasn’t the only big play McCarthy made. Three plays before the score, Michigan put it in his hands on fourth-and-1 from the Buckeyes 29 with a play fake that resulted in a quick throw to tight end Colston Loveland for 7 yards.
McCarthy’s final numbers were not overwhelming — he completed 16 of 20 passes for 148 yards and ran four times for 17 yards — but that has been the case most of the season as the Wolverines are heavily committed to running the ball and haven’t often needed to air it out.
Michigan ranks 122nd out of 133 FBS schools in passing-play percentage (39.5%). That’s one layer to evaluating McCarthy against USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels when considering how the quarterback class will stack up. None has declared for the NFL draft, though Daniels is out of college eligibility. All could be top-10 picks.
The Bears have been doing their homework on college quarterbacs in the event they elect to move on from Justin Fields. Owning the Carolina Panthers’ first-round pick — which, based on current standings, would be No. 1 — as well as their own, currently No. 4, puts general manager Ryan Poles in a position to control the direction of the QB class.
