Michigan football's passing offense doesn't need to be exceptional, just functional
The Wolverines' passing attack under former offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell with a trio of quarterbacks (Davis Warren, Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle) had the worst yards per attempt in the country. Not the conference -- the country. Averaging just 5.4 yards per passing attempt, it was literally half of the country's leader, Ole Miss. As a result, Michigan had the No. 127 offense ranked by yards per play -- brought down mostly by the ineptitude in the aerial attack, given that the rushing attack was middling, at 77th in average yards per rushing attempt.
While pundits don't give much credit to the 2021-23 Michigan passing attacks, in the national championship year, 2023, J.J. McCarthy led the 15th-best offense by yards per attempt. It was 24th the year before and 37th in 2021. Even the lowly COVID year (with Joe Milton and Cade McNamara at the helm) was 70th -- again, in the middle of the pack.
Part of it was the lackluster completion percentage. But Michigan was 61st in the country -- not a terrible mark overall, but certainly numbers that pale in comparison to 2023 when J.J. McCarthy led a room that was third nationally with a completion percentage of 72%. But the mixture of mediocre completion percentage with shallow depth of field attempt-wise meant that the passing game did next to nothing to help out the offense.
Ranking offenses by 20-yard plays, Michigan was dead last, at 134th overall. It was 29th in 2023, 54th in 2022, and 44th in 2021. In 2021, Michigan had the second-most long scrimmage plays above 50 yards (though that included the run and the pass) with 17. The Wolverines were 129th last year with just two.
The maize and blue don't have to be that explosive (they weren't in 2023), they just have to be functional and methodical.
While many place the onus on Bryce Underwood to lift the Wolverines out of the doldrums, the true freshman doesn't have to be a hero in order to get Michigan to the point where it is capable. Cade McNamara wasn't thought of as a world-beater, and yet, he led U-M to a win over Ohio State, a Big Ten Championship, and a College Football Playoff berth. When pundits insist that Underwood has to be ahead of schedule (to which, ahead of the typical schedule or his own development schedule?) ignores who Michigan has been over the past four years. It didn't work last year, but the identity is one that has been likened to a boa constrictor -- the offense does just enough (or more) while the defense makes every possession crucial for the opponent. By the end of the game, the line play on both sides have worn down the Wolverines' foe, and the opposing team leaves the field broken, dejected, and with another number in the loss column.
Michigan doesn't need Underwood to play hero ball at this juncture; it just needs him to run the offense. And it needs the offensive line to be better than it was last year -- something that would be aided with the promised, more-downfield passing game.
So long as the Wolverines can get back into at least the middle of the pack in terms of yards per attempt, that will take a lot of pressure off of both the run game and the defense. And that should be absolutely doable for Bryce Underwood and new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey -- who had the 59th-best YPA passing attack, even after Drake Maye left the Tar Heels.
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