Cade McNamara and the Rudockening Myth

Cade is clearly the best quarterback Harbaugh has had at Michigan. I think we can say that definitively. Not to take anything from Rudock, who was solid and had some good games at the end, but the conventional wisdom that Michigan would take a step forward when quarterback play took a step forward turned out to be true. Cade could've put up much more impressive stats if asked. It's one of many testaments to his character that the opportunity to put up gaudy numbers was clearly not what he was here to do. He's a leader and winner first, and his actual play is more than good enough to back up those traits

Cade’s two best games were against MAC opponents.  Rudock opened at Utah, and had his first four games against two PAC-12 teams, a ranked BYU team, and UNLV.  The way the schedule set up for the two was very different, and it feels like you’re not accounting for that at all.

That said, I think Cade has had a terrific year and thought he was our best option all season long.

Michigan wins the B10 Championship with strong Cade play.  Michigan wins a playoff game with strong Cade play.  Michigan wins a National Title with strong Cade play.  All three things are true and I am of the opinion that they do not without it.  I am also of the opinion that all three can occur.

Go Blue!  Rooting for Cade to be exceptional.

Line play.  Defensive and offensive.  That simple.  Win in the trenches. 

I think the better comparison for Cade is Brian Griese.  They have similar stats but the thing that sticks out is their leadership abilities and ability to execute a game plan and read defenses.  

Against Washington, Cade was 7-15 for 44 yards.  Can you imagine him putting up a stat line like that now?

His trajectory may not be precisely identical to Rudock's, but there's no doubt that the staff trusts him a lot more now than it did in September.

I think Cade has improved through this season-  the bigger improvement has been in our receivers who needed to mature because Bell is out.

Cade is a tough qb to evaluate based solely on snaps and stats. His ability to pre-snap read a defense seems to be quite high, which leads to things like our incredibly low sack rate and combined with the rushing attack, the ability to sustain drives. His decision-making is also quite strong, leading to only a couple of INTs on the year. He's also selflessly shared reps with JJ when the game demanded it. 

Listening to MMQB with Devin Gardner and Sam Webb, it seems like he's come a long way as QB throughout the year as you would expect from an inexperienced but talented kid, even if the stats don't necessarily bear that out. He's rarely been asked to win a game himself but he's done a lot to put us in a position to win the games we have.

He's also a leader who has since that shit Rutgers game last year when he led a comeback has been unafraid to be a leader despite his youth and pushed this team to be better. 

He'll never put up stats like a Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, but the results speak for themselves in his team's record and results. Glad he's our QB1 this year and looking forward to seeing what he can do the next few weeks. His moment may be yet coming if we run up against a team that can stop the run.

"The one constant is an offensive line that allowed those three to demonstrate their skills. But offensive linemen really don't win Heisman trophies."

I loved this conclusion. Three cheers for the O LINE!

Cade is the smartest, most efficient, inconsistent QB i've seen at Michigan. He is smart, has good pocket presence, and usually makes the right play. What fails him is his stature (batted down balls) and his accuracy/arm strength (very inconsistent). Sometimes, he'll drop an absolute dime that makes you think he is the next Tom Brady. Then he misses an easier throw a few plays later. More reps will help with the accuracy and his side arm delivery is an interesting development to combat his stature problem. The most important thing is that we know he has what we need above his shoulders. 

Hold on. You're trying to convince us that Cade stayed the same but what we chattered at each changed?

That's plain silly. This brilliant MGoBlogosphere has remained thoroughly consistent. We all knew Cade would be good eventually and, look, he's good! We all knew that Harbaugh would turn things around. We all knew Michigan would not only beat the The osu team, but dominate.

How dare you impugn our forecasting skills?

In 2000, redshirt frosh John Navarre looked like an All-American against two cream puffs to start the season.  Then he went to UCLA and struggled, a ton.  Stats don’t always tell the full story, especially against MAC defenses.

I definitely think Cade is a better quarterback now than in September.  I can’t imagine him now playing like he did against Washington or Rutgers.

I love data as much as the next guy, but it has to be combined with the eye test.  Imo Cade started fairly strong, struggled a bit in the middle when he couldn’t hit a receiver downfield to save his life, and has since perked back up 

Game Manager QB #1:

193 completions/307 attempts; 62.9%; 17 TDs/6 INTs; 2293 yds; 11.9 yds per completion

Game Manager QB #2:

183 completions/284 attempts; 64.4%; 14 TDs/3 INTs; 2301 yds; 12.6 yds per completion

One of these QBs is Cade McNamara in 2021, and the other is Brian Griese in 1997.

First, minor gripe, the numbers you're citing are passer rating (college version), not QBR, which is a bullshit and useless metric made up by ESPN.

But secondly, and more importantly, even though passer rating is better than QBR, it's still a blind metric that doesn't take into account a host of critical factors like strength of opponent, difficulty of throw, down and distance, or even YAC. Hence why passer rating prefers Cade's games against the MAC teams to his game against Ohio State. Cade hit critical throw after critical throw against Ohio State -- the 2nd quarter bomb to Johnson, the flea flicker, and the 3rd down conversion when we were down 10-7 all stand out. Compare that to the Rutgers game when he couldn't hit an open receiver for a whole half.

Cade's struggles in the early season were *probably* overstated, but there's no serious doubt his confidence and level of play got better as the season went on.

Cade has been exactly what this team needs.  Finds the open guy, moves the chains, doesn't turn it over, hits on enough deep balls to keep defenses honest.

Will he be what we need next year?  Dunno. If JJ is lighting it up in practice, he will get his shot.




 

I've maintained from the start that Cade was this team's best chance for success.  Be that as it may, I don't expect your post to be received kindly despite the afterglow of the OSU win.

And with all of that, I believe that Cade will be replaced by JJ next season. 

This provides some per-game stats but neglects to mention that Cade was kept pretty uninvolved early in the season. Against Washington he was 7 of 14 for 44 yards and the coaches actively lit a potential 2-minute scoring drive on fire rather than have him throw. Now, they didn't wind up needing those points, but Michigan was only leading by 10 at the end of the first half, and we have literally lost games to Washington in flukes that produced bigger point margin changes than that.

Two weeks later was kind of the nadir. Against a meh Rutgers team at home, Cade was 9 for 16 for 163 yards, and the offense simply could not do anything in the second half, allowing Rutgers to claw back into the game and actually get the ball with a chance to tie/win late. 

Cade trended up from there, but his improved performances still had flaws up until the breakout MSU game. 

MSU is a bad pass defense, but Cade exploited it and kept the train moving. His repertoire improved, too--prior to MSU, Michigan virtually never asked him to throw over the middle, but against MSU he was picking openings in zone coverages to hit Erick All and firing a brilliant pass to Andrel Anthony in the most difficult circumstances possible. Then, against Penn State, he fired a 20-yard TD to Roman Wilson right down the middle of the field (FWIW I wonder if OSU baited him to try the same thing on the pick Saturday). 

That's growth. A lot of growth. The guy that beat PSU with key passes and played efficiently and with poise against Ohio State is not the same guy that the coaches refused to trust against Washington or Rutgers. Maybe they figured he had it and just wanted to play it safe in those games, but there was a difference. Unquestionably.