Getty Image / Christian Petersen
The Michigan Wolverines are 0-2 in the College Football Playoffs and have suffered two very different but equally painful losses in back-to-back seasons.
With star quarterback J.J. McCarthy returning for another season, the Wolverines have title hopes this season. ESPN‘s Spring power rankings have the Wolverines at #2 and SI has Michigan at #6 going into the 2023 season.
But in order to get into the National Championship game after the 2023 season, J.J. McCarthy and the Michigan Wolverines will need to exorcise some proverbial demons from their past. And in a recent interview with ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, McCarthy looked back at being humbled by the Georgia Bulldogs and frustrated by TCU.
Speaking about the 34-11 thrashing that Georgia handed Michigan, J.J. McCarthy (7/17, 131yds, 1 TD) said:
“[TCU] definitely hurt a whole lot more,” he said. “When I went in freshman year and we were playing the defense of the decade, it was kind of like, ‘All right, let’s see what I can do out here.’ Realistic expectation set in, like, ‘It’s going to be tough.’ But this TCU one, it was all in my hands. It was obviously a team effort, but I was in the driver’s seat. It’s a whole different pain that I’ve felt, and one that’s still driving me today.”
‘Let’s see what I can do out here’ is speaking volumes. Michigan was losing 27-3 at the half so J.J. McCarthy was at least able to get the Wolverines their only touchdown of the game. But his quote carries an air of resignation that winning the game wasn’t an option.
Furthermore, according to 247 Sports the Wolverines have instituted a ‘Beat Georgia Period’ in their practices so it isn’t just McCarthy who feels stuck on the Georgia loss.
The TCU loss, however, seems to still be haunting him, the team, and the school. Michigan president Santa Ono told ESPN:
“You have a much more experienced quarterback who learned from that TCU game. And the hunger part, all these players coming back, they want the national championship. For me, the image that’s most poignant, that illustrates that hunger in the games that they lost, when everybody else had gone back to the locker room, there was one guy looking at the other team win. That was J.J. McCarthy. He really wants this. Actually, we all really want this.”
Michigan’s two goals this season, in order, are (1) win the National Championship and (2) beat Ohio State. It is wild how OSU lives rent free in J.J. McCarthy’s head but it is their biggest rival. Speaking about that, J.J. said “My 1A goal is bring a national championship to Ann Arbor; 1B is to never lose to [Ohio State]. That will mean a lot to me.”
Only time will tell if this is Michigan’s year.