The offense looked different when Cade McNamara took over on Saturday night in Piscataway. The backup quarterback stepped into a 17-0 deficit and led Michigan to a 48-42 win over Rutgers, though it took three overtimes to get that result.

McNamara played extremely well, completing 27-of-36 passes for 260 yards and 4 touchdowns and rushing for an additional score in the victory. After the game, head coach Jim Harbaugh had plenty of praise for McNamara.

“He was outstanding. Really gritty, really gritty performance. In all ways,’ Harbaugh said. “Execution was outstanding. His play was inspiring, can’t say enough great things. So proud of him. I’d say that for the whole team. The entire team.”

McNamara came in during the second quarter, replacing Joe Milton. The start completed just 5-of-12 passes for 89 yards and had -16 yards on the ground.

Despite McNamara’s success and Milton’s struggles this weekend, Harbaugh didn’t say who the starter would be moving forward. It appears that, at least from the postgame presser, there’s still an open competition for the top spot in Ann Arbor.

“We’ll look at it,” Harbaugh said. “The way he played tonight, he’s going to be in there.”

Michigan snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday night and improved to 2-3 on the season. Next week, the Wolverines play Penn State (0-5) before closing out the regular season against Maryland (2-1) and Ohio State (4-0).