TheWolverine.com Podcast: Balas and Skene break down Michigan win over UNLV

Michigan handled UNLV, 35-7, in an easy win Saturday, led by quarterback J.J. McCarthy‘s elite performance. The running game still isn’t where it needs to be, with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards held in check. Former Michigan All-Big Ten offensive lineman Doug Skene breaks down that and more with TheWolverine.com’s Chris Balas.

Fortunately, Michigan had McCarthy to lean on. He’s been elite through two games, looking like a Heisman Trophy candidate in throwing for nearly 300 yards in his first two games in only three quarters each game. He’d found his rhythm early this season and has been the biggest reason for the offense’s success in the early going.

“I was on the wrong end of that for a lot of spring ball and training camp being with the defensive backs,” Michigan assistant Jay Harbaugh, the interim head coach in week two, said.
He throws a high number of balls throughout a practice where it’s like man, we were in really good position. There’s nothing else we could have done there. We saw this coming a little bit just in the way him and those receivers getting in sync throughout the preseason. It’s been great to see so far.”

Michigan running backs coach Mike Hart, who coached the second half, wasn’t disheartened by the running game. He believes it will continue to improve, led by his backs. Corum, he said, needs to be more patient, while Edwards just didn’t have room to run.

“I think it’s a growth. We’re growing, getting better every week,” Hart said. “You break off two of those long runs, no one’s saying that, right? I just keep telling them we’re one block away, one missed tackle away. When we turn on film, I think that’s what we’re going to see.

“Whether it’s a receiver getting a block to the safety, whether it’s a backside cutoff on the defensive line, whether it’s a linebacker we didn’t get all the way up to or a back making the wrong cut … we’re leaving a lot of yards out there on the field right now. But I think we’re in the correct plays … guys are blocking really hard, moving guys. We just have to put it all together, and we will.”

Balas and Skene break it down here.

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