| Anyone worried about a hangover from last week for Michigan absolutely should not be. For whatever your criticisms of Jim Harbaugh are, these are not the games he loses. In fact, his only home loss to anyone other than Ohio State or Michigan State was in the pandemic fluke season, to Wisconsin. Otherwise, the Wolverines' last such loss was in Brady Hoke's last game in Michigan Stadium, November 22, 2014, to Maryland. 34 consecutive wins otherwise. The big difference from this time last week is that both teams might feel like they actually have a quarterback, albeit for different reasons. Tom Allen indicated that Michael Penix is close to returning, but after the way Donaven McCulley played last week, why risk it? Jack Tuttle was completing a high percentage of his passes, but doing nothing to stretch the field, but the redshirt freshman appears to be the exact opposite. McCulley completed just 56% of his passes last week, but for nearly 10 yards a completion, without throwing an interception. Jack Tuttle, in his one full start, was at 6.7. Michigan simply hadn't asked Cade McNamera to do much, but he made clear last week that he could step up if asked to. You could easily make the argument that Michigan does not blow the lead if McNamera remains in the game. The Wolverines were stopped twice thanks to fumbles by J.J. McCarthy. One which Michigan retained, but put them behind the sticks, and one which was a turnover. He really only made two mistakes, and both were once Michigan was down four, and the Spartans knew he was passing. He made the wrong read on a 4th down pick play, and he got baited into a game ending interception. When the Wolverines still had the run game at their disposal, and play action was in play, Cade was darn near perfect. I have to imagine that this week, they will be in that position the entire game. |