JJ McCarthy Taking Business-Like Approach To Arizona

While some players have admitted that last year's trip to the college football playoff felt much like a vacation, the approach in 2022 feels much, much different.

It's clear that the results from last year's College Football Playoff has stuck with the Michigan Wolverines. After suffering a 34-11 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in the CFP Semifinal, the Wolverines were determined not to make the same mistakes twice. 

Now, in 2022, Michigan is approaching their second opportunity in the College Football Playoff as a business opportunity, vs a vacation opportunity. 

“𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.”
~ @jjmccarthy09 on what makes this @UMichFootball team special pic.twitter.com/oXAXPopQil

— Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (@Fiesta_Bowl) December 27, 2022

"We've been here before, we know that there's a lot of things that could distract us from the task at hand," McCarthy said. This week to prepare, we're taking it much more as a business trip instead of kind of like a vacation feel like it was in Miami last year. So I'd say the biggest difference is that we've been here before and we know what to do."

Here's more from McCarthy's morning at the podium:

What makes this team different?

"We love each other. This isn't just like a football team where we come together from different places and just try to win football games together. We absolutely love each other, we want every single one of us to succeed no matter who it is. That's the biggest difference."

Where does that love come from?

"Shared suffering for sure, I'd say. That's something that is highlighted in professions like the military, going through seal training. All the hard work we went through this off-season just kind of brought us closer together."

What did you feel after losing to Georgia in 2021?

"Just a deep pit in my stomach of regret. Obviously I was limited last year, but the extra thought in my head that I could have done more - there's more work to be done and, in the off-season, I should have taken advantage of more opportunities."

How did that loss impact the off-season?

It just jumpstarted the whole off-season. We hit it really hard right away. There was no, 'let me take a week off, I'm a little burned out'...there was none of that. It was just forward action, just building up this momentum that that we're still riding now - and we're still kind of gaining more momentum on."