Michigan holds off Maryland, but will it miss Jim Harbaugh even more vs. Ohio State?

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Via the magic of Photoshop, Jim Harbaugh’s face might someday appear in the picture Michigan took Saturday at midfield to commemorate the 1,000th victory in program history.

Players gathered with hats and placards to mark the milestone and left the field to chants of “Beat Ohio” from a sizable contingent of Michigan fans. The only thing missing was Harbaugh, who was part of 119 of those victories as a coach or a player.

“We need to edit Coach in there,” said Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s acting head coach.

No technology known to man can make Harbaugh appear on the sideline next week against Ohio State. And the Wolverines are about to find out if they can win the biggest game of their season without the coach who embodies everything that makes Michigan-Ohio State so intense.

Michigan beat Maryland 31-24 Saturday to improve to 11-0 and set up another monster showdown against the Buckeyes. The No. 3 Wolverines are 5-0 this season without Harbaugh, who is serving a three-game suspension as punishment for Michigan’s scouting and sign-stealing scandal. Harbaugh missed the first three games of the season after Michigan self-imposed a suspension resulting from an ongoing NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations. Though Michigan held on in the fourth quarter, it was hard to shake the feeling that something was missing, and not just in the postgame picture.

The most important thing at the end of the day is the win!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/JYmKXrhiaS

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) November 18, 2023

Michigan hasn’t been the same team without Harbaugh on the sideline. In particular, J.J. McCarthy hasn’t been the same quarterback. The Wolverines might beat Ohio State anyway, but it will take a better performance than the one they put on display Saturday against Maryland.

Michigan’s offense had numerous chances to close out Maryland and couldn’t do it, at least not until the final fourth-down conversion. The running game generated 3.3 yards per carry and McCarthy never got in rhythm, as reflected in his stat line: 12-for-23 passing, 141 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.

McCarthy is clearly capable of playing better, as he showed last year in Columbus and many times since then. But a worrying trend has emerged in these games without Harbaugh, and it was even more glaring Saturday.

McCarthy’s stats in six games with Harbaugh on the sideline: 239 yards per game, 72 percent completion rate, 11 touchdowns, no interceptions.

McCarthy in five games without Harbaugh: 180 yards per game, 76 percent completion rate, seven touchdowns, four interceptions.

The interceptions are the puzzling part. McCarthy threw three against Bowling Green in September and could have thrown three more against Maryland, though only one was intercepted. He hasn’t had many bad decisions this year, but the ones he’s had have come in bunches and almost always when Harbaugh wasn’t coaching.

For those who want to make a connection to Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal, some context: McCarthy’s best game of the season came against Michigan State, when he went 21-for-27 with four touchdowns. He threw for a season-high 335 yards in Michigan’s next game against Purdue. Both of those games happened after Michigan got busted for in-person scouting and suspended Connor Stalions, the staffer accused of decoding signals during games.

A more plausible explanation is that Michigan’s offense just doesn’t run as smoothly without Harbaugh on the sideline. Moore has the trust of everybody in Michigan’s program and should be a head coach someday. He also has a lot on his plate as the acting head coach, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

Quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell is McCarthy’s sounding board during games, but Moore said it’s a collective effort that includes tight ends coach Grant Newsome, running backs coach Mike Hart and wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy.

“I talk to him, but Kirk does a great job with him,” Moore said. “We all bounce back ideas constantly with each other. It’s not just Kirk. It’s Grant, it’s Mike, it’s Ron. All of us together, cohesively making decisions, is huge.”

If there’s one player on the team who feeds off of Harbaugh’s energy, it’s McCarthy. Playing quarterback for Harbaugh isn’t easy, and it’s definitely not for everyone. In McCarthy, Harbaugh found his equal: a player with the confidence and talent to handle one of the toughest jobs in sports.

McCarthy didn’t blame his three-interception performance against Bowling Green on Harbaugh’s absence, but he did speak to the difference he felt when Harbaugh returned from his previous three-game suspension.

“Something about him gets me that extra spark when I’m out there,” McCarthy said in September. “He’s the leader of our organization. He’s the leader of our team. Being out there with him on the front lines with us, it means so much.”

Maybe that’s a quarterback saying nice things about his coach, or maybe it’s a genuine reflection of Harbaugh’s influence. If McCarthy needs that extra spark against Ohio State, he’ll have to find it somewhere else.

After going up 23-3 against Maryland, Michigan looked unsure of itself for the first time all season. The Wolverines benefited from a handful of huge plays: a blocked punt, a scoop-and-score touchdown on defense, two interceptions from Mike Sainristil and a safety on an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. When all of those happen in one game, the Wolverines usually win by 40. Instead, they were sweating this win right down to the wire.

Running back Blake Corum said the Wolverines needed to win a close game, and that might be true. The last one they played was against TCU in the Fiesta Bowl national semifinal almost a year ago, a 51-45 Michigan loss. Last week’s win against Penn State was competitive, but the Nittany Lions never put Michigan on the ropes the way Maryland did.

It’s hard to fault the Wolverines for looking mortal after another tumultuous week. The week began with hope of a court ruling that would allow Harbaugh to coach while Michigan challenged his suspension. Less than 24 hours before the hearing, Michigan dropped its legal challenge and accepted Harbaugh’s suspension. Shortly before the team left for Maryland, Michigan announced the firing of linebackers coach Chris Partridge.

With Harbaugh’s absence, the ongoing controversies and the looming showdown against Ohio State, it was hard to be too sentimental about the 1,000-win milestone. Harbaugh had grand plans for the occasion before he was suspended, but the actual celebration was more muted.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that when we head back to the airport, he’s going to be there waiting for us,” Sainristil said. “We’ll probably take 10 to 15 minutes to take another picture at the airplane with him, just to be able to celebrate and cherish this moment.”

The Wolverines missed Harbaugh in that picture. They might miss him even more next week.

 (Photo of Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)