JJ McCarthy: #1 in FBS in completion %, YPA
Comrades, while the focus of our post-game commentary might be on JJ's missed opportunities against Maryland, his performance was still good enough to place him in the top tier of quarterbacks nationally over four games. As you will see in the attached graphic, JJ now qualifies for national QB stat leaderboards with 60 attempts over four games (the minimum is 14 attempts/game), and ranks #1 for completion percentage (80.0%), #1 for yards per attempt (11.6), and #3 for QBR (204.5).
The competition level is, of course, increasing, but Comrade JJ also has the capability to improve. This should be fun to watch over the course of the season.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:18 AM ^
Your lips to God’s ears. Needs to sharpen his deep ball.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:44 AM ^
He made interesting comment in post game press conference. Yesterday was the first time he felt his arm was back to 100%. Said he needs to adjust long ball timing to his renewed arm strength. Was at the game, and each overthrow was about 2-3 yards too long.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:52 AM ^
Anyone watching on the TV could also see he was off by 2 to 3 yards which is a huge distance when trying to complete deep balls....
A brutal watch, next week is gonna be ugly in iowa
September 25th, 2022 at 9:10 AM ^
8 incompletions in one game is brutal?
September 25th, 2022 at 9:15 AM ^
It's a simple fix. Dude is D.O. for xing routes, hitches, screens, slants, outs to the field, etc.
Put a bit more air under the ball and let the WR run under. He can even throw it a bit farther if there's air under it.
Dude throws about the best looking ball since Henne or maybe even Henson.
September 25th, 2022 at 10:39 AM ^
I was thinking they should have a guy broadcast over the PA before passing plays that JJ should complete deep passes. If only there was a guy who could announce that JJ should do obvious things to the entire stadium....
September 25th, 2022 at 4:46 PM ^
Do you mind if I pass your suggestions on to Harbaugh?
September 25th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
This is a little harsh. This is the first game M has played where the Defense has solely prepared for JJ. OCs will make adjustments, he’ll make adjustments and we’ll be fine. It was great to see that we could take advantage of them dropping 8 with Corum and the underneath routes. Just win.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:46 AM ^
For Iowa maybe
September 25th, 2022 at 10:51 AM ^
JJ said his arm was fully healthy for the first time in forever and implied that was the reason he was overthrowing things. He just wasn’t familiar with the pop he was getting. And you could see on the last throw to Bell that he realized his mistake and took something off it and put some air under it.
September 25th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
He even under threw it to Bell a little but Bell stutter-stepped to slow to the ball so it was still “in stride”. Point is, it’s not an accuracy thing but recalibration. At least we hope and I see no reason to reject that hypothesis yet.
September 25th, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
2-3 yards too deep is better than 2-3 yards too short. If you’re going to have a poorly thrown ball I’d rather it be where no one can catch it.
September 25th, 2022 at 4:49 PM ^
Nope. A short ball can be caught. Or you might get a PI call. Too long is worthless.
September 26th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Too long on the throes he was missing on means only our receiver has a shot at the ball, so not ‘worthless’ in that sense.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:37 AM ^
I caught that too
Looked like he did adjust some on that bomb in the 4th quarter, put a lot more air under it and a little less mustard on it.
Hopefully he cleans it up because he's going to need to be on top of everything next week @Iowa
September 25th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
Not to nitpick but McCarthy said:
“I take full responsibility for all those that have missed on. My arm was feeling like 110% today, and it’s been a while since it’s felt like that. So just being able to go through the practice practices this week and be able to adjust and dial it back a little bit more. It’s gonna be huge.”
September 25th, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
And double his TD production like "you know who" (one whose name is unmentioned)
September 25th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Way, way too early to pass judgment on JJ.
September 25th, 2022 at 10:51 AM ^
I didn’t intend to pass judgment on JJ, just pointed out that he was consistently long on his downforce throws. He was better on midfield routes. One thing that occurred to me reading through the comments was the difference between how well Maryland gameplaned for us and our more indifferent planning. They clearly pointed to our game, while it seemed to me that we were more focused on our issues during our preparation. Good for the the Terps, they came to win.
September 25th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Right. Lost in all the garment rending here yesterday was that Loxley is a good coach and Tagovailola is a year older and making much better decisions these days. There are definitely things to work on, but Maryland isn't half bad.
September 26th, 2022 at 4:12 AM ^
Definitely.
I like what I saw from Maryland and hope they do well the rest of the season... but especially this Saturday. They may be solidly the 4th best team in the East.
September 25th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
My comment was totally generic and was not directed towards you. Let’s wait and see how JJ does again some of the better defenses in the Big Ten before we pass judgment on just how good he is.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:19 AM ^
Penix rising to the occasion out in Washington.
Curious though. The only QB without a sack. 🤔
September 25th, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
I see you RG3
September 25th, 2022 at 10:33 AM ^
That is curious. You'd expect Penix to have a sack.
September 25th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
The marvels of modern medicine......????
September 25th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
Penix without a sack. Would that make him unique?
September 25th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Eunuch?
September 25th, 2022 at 8:20 AM ^
This is America, brother.
As for JJ, he'll be fine...this entire thing is going to be a process. He has the second fewest number of attempts on this list, I'm confident that by the time he hits 143 attempts, his timing will be there on the deep ball.
He's going to get a great test this coming weekend, on the road. Probably what this team needs if it's going to take the next step. An opportunity to refocus, really lock in, and take on the challenge of going on the road.
And if Corum keeps playing like he's playing, that's only going to make things easier for McCarthy and the WRs in the passing game.
September 25th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
Speaking of Corum, here are some other notable stats 4 games in:
- Blake Corum leads the country in TDs with 9 and points with 54. Jake Moody is tied for 17th with 41 points. His missed FG yesterday would have moved him into a tie for 6th.
- Charlie Jones from Purdue leads the nation with 41 receptions.
- Penix is the leading passer with 1,338 yards.
- The B1G has 5 of the top 10 rushers with Chase Brown from IL leading the way at 604 yards. Corum at #7 is the only one from the B1G East.
- Staee's punter leads in avg.
- Kool-Aid McKinstry (not that Kool-Aid) from Alabama is the #1 punt returner with 244 total yards. Apparently he practices breaking tackles by running through walls.
Stay thirsty my friends.
September 25th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
Thanks for gathering these stats. Please keep it up throughout the season
Can't recall the last time the B1G had so many good RBs. Truly a remarkable amount of talent at that position in the conference
September 25th, 2022 at 8:24 AM ^
He also took responsibility for his "poor play" after the game.
He's fun to watch and will only get more fun to watch over the next couple seasons.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:29 AM ^
The stats are impressive but there's a lot more football to be played. When I watched Tanner Morgan who has played at least 6 years in college, I could see the difference experience makes. Then there's Clifford at Penn State, another 6th year QB. The point is JJ has a lot of upside and he's only scratching the surface. This Maryland game has exposed things he needs to work on and experience is the best teacher. JJ is a workahaulic and dedicated to improving his game so he'll get there one week at a time.
My measuring stick is- can JJ be a starter on every B1G team? Maybe not, at this time but might be by the time we get to November.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:54 AM ^
Seems to me like CJ Stroud is the only BIG QB he wouldn't immediately unseat.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:12 AM ^
I'd think about Tanner Morgan, too. He's not the scariest QB in the B1G, but he's steady and controlled, and he elevates his teammates to a level they wouldn't otherwise play at. If we didn't have JJ, I wouldn't mind Tanner being UM's QB...
September 25th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
I think we already have a better version of Tanner Morgan sitting on our bench.
September 25th, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
He wasn’t good last year.
September 25th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
I told my wife yesterday that Maryland having a 3 yr starter at qb was a huge advantage. I liked the adjustments Minter made but he’s gotta be quicker to make them. Also wasn’t a fan of Harbaughs play calling on the first drive after the half, seemed like he didn’t trust his qb. Iowas gonna load the box and dare JJ to beat them and he’s gonna have to. Marylands D is shit compared to what McCarthy will see next week.
September 25th, 2022 at 6:51 PM ^
The obvious answer here is Stroud but I also like the kid from PSU - Clifford. Does Clifford have better physical skills than JJ ? Of course not but he just always seems to make the right decision and he keeps PSU in games. Never going to make it in the NFL but he a solid CF QB - especially in the decision making area
September 25th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
Statistics are just, well, statistics.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
That's not a lie, is it?
September 25th, 2022 at 9:40 AM ^
Well, Ws and Ls are also statistics so maybe we shouldn't discount them completely 😊.
I think JJ is on schedule to have a great season. He hits receivers in step on short/intermediate passes and throws sideline routs perfectly. The overthrows on the long balls were the only real problem, but don't forget that he missed the summer with his injury. That's usually a valuable time for QBs and receivers to get their timing down. These will get corrected.
My only two complaints were:
(1) Throw the damn ball away instead of running around in the backfield if nothing is there. He recognized this himself after the fumble on the second scramble and came to the sidelines pointing to himself like he knew he made a mistake.
(2) The lack of open receivers yesterday. Were the receivers not getting open? Were the route combinations poorly designed for what Maryland was throwing at them? It didn't seem like we had many receivers sitting underneath the zone.
The OL gave him plenty of time, which is also a great sign.
Survive and advance.
September 25th, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
You are JJ freaking McCarthy. If nothing is open, take off and run into all of that green open space that has been vacated by DBs and LBs, which is the reason that nothing is open.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:43 AM ^
And he has only just begun...he will get better-this was his first real game. When he gets his feet under himself-look out. This staff would do well to embrace JJ and be wise, guiding cheerleaders...and otherwise, sit back and enjoy the ride and let the kid play to his talent.
September 25th, 2022 at 8:46 AM ^
that's how i like my cheerleaders: wise, and guiding
September 25th, 2022 at 8:43 AM ^
Did anyone else think that JJ was told not to run the ball to avoid injury?
September 25th, 2022 at 8:47 AM ^
Absolutely yes. I think JJ was forbidden from taking off.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
But he didn't throw the ball away either when nothing was there on passing downs. And getting drilled in the back field is probably worse than running forward when the QB has some control on how he gets hit.
September 25th, 2022 at 9:08 AM ^
We've seen in the past that Harbaugh limits the QB run when he is concerned with injuries/QB depth so I would assume yes. It would explain why JJ was handing it off on options (if there was any reads) and scrambling to throw instead of taking off. Hopefully, Cade will be back sooner than later so Harbaugh feels more comfortable about letting JJ run.