Michigan stuns Ohio State 45-23 behind J.J. McCarthy for 1st Columbus win since 2000

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 2022 Michigan-Ohio State football game will forever be known as the J.J. McCarthy breakout game.

While the sophomore quarterback's talent was tantalizing all year long, he never put it all together at once. Much less on a stage of this magnitude. But it was as if Michigan knew something everybody else didn't.

McCarthy on Saturday threw for three touchdowns, ran for another and Donovan Edwards struck twice for touchdown runs of 75 and 85 in the fourth quarter as the Wolverines mauled the Buckeyes, 45-23, for their first win at Ohio Stadium since 2000.

"None, no adjustments," McCarthy said of what the team changed in the locker room which led to a 28-3 margin over the final two quarters. "We came in with a full-game game plan and we were ready for them. The message was just 'we're the best second-half team in the country and we prove it every single week."

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"It was just great to go out there and prove it again."

Michigan (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) advances to the Big Ten championship game next Saturday night in Indianapolis, where the Wolverines will face Purdue. The Boilermakers locked up the Big Ten West with their victory at Indiana on Saturday.

The Wolverines trailed at the half, 20-17, then dominated the final two quarters with the power run game to beat the Buckeyes for the second straight season. Michigan, which ran 11 times for 10 yards in the first half, finished the game with 35 rushes for 252 yards (7.2 yards per carry) and three scores.

"One good thing about the running game is, it can wear on you," said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. "It's why it's usually better as the game goes on. And I love Donovan Edwards, when he gets free, you don't even think about it, it's going to be a touchdown."

The Wolverines, whose identity has been built through Blake Corum on the ground, never seemed worried about their lack of a passing game this season.

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Not when McCarthy turned in four straight games of less than 170 yards through the air over the past month. Not when U-M only turned in one play of 60 yards or more through the air in the first 11 games of the season.

Entering the Horseshoe with a hobbled Corum — who touched the ball just twice early and didn't play after the first quarter — the Wolverines said they had confidence in their quarterback to deliver — and did he ever.

McCarthy found Cornelius Johnson while staring down a blitz and Johnson broke tackles down the left sideline for a 69-yard touchdown. On the Wolverines' next offensive snap, McCarthy threw a perfect 75-yard touchdown, again to Johnson, on a wide open seam-route to give Michigan its first lead, 17-13.

"I thought it was pretty good, we were just waiting for it to come out," McCarthy said of the deep passing game that had been much maligned all season. "We knew what it was, it was just great that it came out at this time."

Johnson had a career day, catching four passes for 160 yards and the two touchdowns.

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On the opening drive of the second half, McCarthy ran for a gain of 19 before he threw a perfect pass down the right sideline to Colston Loveland for a 45-yard touchdown, the first of his career, to give Michigan a 24-20 lead.

U-M never trailed again.

"Right after that touchdown coming out of the half," McCarthy said of when he knew the win was coming. "I just felt like we were able to do everything we wanted to do at that point, I felt so comfortable so calm. First half I was a little amped up because I've been wanting to play this game for so long, but once the nerves kind of calmed down, I knew it was over from then."

Early in the fourth quarter, McCarthy capped Michigan's 15-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:51 off the clock by pounding in a quarterback keeper on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line for a 31-20 lead.

He finished 12-for-24 for 263 yards passing, four total scores and no turnovers.

"I've always said it, he's got it, he's got that it factor in every way," Harbaugh said when asked what McCarthy proved. "First game starting against Ohio State, at Ohio State to play that great, you know everybody on our team knows it.

"I mean I don't know how to answer the question 'what can it do for him,' because he already has it. He's already got it. So it's just keep rolling with him. It's been happening a lot."

This is Michigan's first unbeaten regular season since the 1997 national championship season.

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Big plays keep Wolverines in it early

The Buckeyes (11-1, 8-1) were the No. 2 scoring unit in the country behind Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback C.J. Stroud coming into play and opened the game with a haymaker, driving 81 yards on 12 plays, capped by a strike from Stroud to Emeka Egbuka on third-and-goal from the 4.

The two sides traded field goals on the next two possessions to make it 10-3 Ohio State, but after consecutive Michigan three-and-outs, McCarthy got cooking.

On third-and-9, Ohio State sent a double A-gap blitz from a cover 0 formation. He got the ball out to Johnson, who broke a tackle and had nobody between him and the end zone as he galloped for a 69-yard score.

Ohio State went 42 yards on two plays in the ensuring drive, but settled for a 46-yard field goal with 5:36 left in the second quarter.

The Wolverines then had their quickest scoring drive of the season.

Lined up in the slot, Johnson ran a streak, faked an outside move and got the safety to bite. It opened up a post route over the middle for a 75-yard touchdown in just 12 seconds.

"He's been open all year," McCarthy said. "I'm glad I finally connected with him. He's a special player."

The Buckeyes responded with a four-play, 79 scoring drive of their own when Stroud found Marvin Harrison Jr. on a 42-yard streak to retake the lead and the final score of the half.

Key second half plays

It started on the opening drive, when McCarthy lofted a ball to Loveland, who beat double coverage for a 45-yard score, putting Michigan ahead 24-20 with 11:56 to play in the third.

Ohio State moved the ball to midfield on the ensuing drive, but a nice tackle by Junior Colson in space forced a punt. The Wolverines went three-and-out on their next drive, but OSU didn't capitalize after starting with the ball on the Michigan 49.

A first down play appeared to go for a gain of 20, but the Buckeyes were flagged. On top of a holding call that backed them up 10 yards, they were tagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which set up first-and-35.

They gained 28 yards on the next three plays, but facing fourth-and-7 at the Wolverines 43, coach Ryan Day elected to punt much to the chagrin of Stroud and OSU fans. Michigan then chewed 7:51 off the clock on their ensuing 15-play drive, with the biggest play coming on a third-and-1.

McCarthy handed off to Kalel Mullings — a converted linebacker who hadn’t run the ball in his career before Saturday — who threw a jump pass to Luke Schoonmaker for a gain of 15.

"You could tell they were really crowding the line of scrimmage," Harbaugh said. "It's a play we saved for the entire year, we really built up for it ... and it was a great job by Schoony adjusting to the ball."

Six plays later, McCarthy faced third-and-11 and under pressure, heaved the ball to the end zone for Ronnie Bell. The pass fell incomplete, but OSU was called for pass interference, setting up first-and-goal. McCarthy scored three plays later to make it 31-20.

"I fight coach (Sherrone) Moore for those plays," McCarthy said. "Just give me the ball when we need some gritty yards and I'm going to go and get them."

OSU had its first solid drive of the half after U-M made it 31-20 when Egbuka beat Mike Sainristil on a post pattern for a 41-yard gain, but the senior defensive back made amends. On third-and-4 from the 9-yard line, Stroud floated a pass to tight end Cade Stover in the corner of the end zone, which Sainristil broke up to force a field goal.

"He released late and I was kind of in a trail position and the only thing running through my mind at that time was 'don't give up another touchdown'," Sainristil said. "I saw the ball get thrown and it was floated a little bit so I thought 'okay, I think I have time to get there' and I saw the ball go into the tight ends hands and the only thing I was thinking was punch it out."

Edwards then scored a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, putting Michigan up 15 with just more than seven minutes to play.

Ohio State drove the length of the field, but Stroud tried to avoid a sack and flipped the ball forward to receiver Xavier Johnson, but the ball bounced off his hands and into the arms of Michigan's Taylor Upshaw, who intercepted it at the OSU 8.

Three plays later, Edwards busted through from 85 yards out to cap what turned out to be a career day — 22 rushes, 216 yards and two scores − to send the home crowd fans of 106,787 filing for the exits.

Fifth-year senior linebacker Mike Barrett had a game-high 11 tackles and was asked afterwards if the rivalry has flipped into Michigan's control

"I don't have too much to say about that," he said as he draped a Michigan 2022 Big Ten East Champions TY-shirt across the table in front of him. "But yeah, I would say yes as of now.

"We're playing our ball, being the team we knew we were."

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football stuns Ohio State for 1st win in Columbus since 2000