ANN ARBOR, MICH. >> Just seconds after his career as Michigan’s starting quarterback began, Wilton Speight walked back to the sideline perhaps unsure of what he’d encounter.

The third-year sophomore had just thrown an interception to Hawaii’s Damien Packer on the No. 7 Wolverines’ first offensive play of the season Saturday, and one of the most unpredictable coaches in college football in Jim Harbaugh awaited on the sideline.

So did Speight encounter a tongue-lashing from his coach after the short walk back to the bench?

Quite the opposite.

“He was really happy and had a big smile on his face, which gave me more confidence,” Speight said. “He was like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get them next drive. Don’t sweat about that.’ ”

To many on the outside, the biggest question facing Michigan’s resurgent national title hopes this year was how the team would replace departed quarterback Jake Rudock.

But to Harbaugh, the first-play interception resulted in the most interesting exam of all — how would his hand-picked starter respond to his first bit of adversity?

“I wanted to see what he did on the next series,” Harbaugh said. “It’s very difficult for a quarterback to throw an interception and then come back to lead a touchdown drive the following series. It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by watching quarterbacks, and the really good ones can (respond).”

Harbaugh, then, appears to have a good one. Hawaii downed a punt at the Michigan 2-yard line after the interception, but that merely set up an 11-play, 98-yard drive that opened the scoring in the Wolverines’ 63-3 victory.

The biggest throw for Speight, who beat out senior Shane Morris and junior John O’Korn for the starting job in a fall competition, was the first. With Michigan facing third-and-7 from its own 5, Speight found receiver Jehu Chesson on a timing route for 16 yards.

“Once I saw my first completion, hitting Jehu on the slant, I felt completely settled in,” Speight said. “It was like a weight came off my shoulders.”

It showed. Speight finished the drive 4-for-5 for 79 yards and capped it with a 12-yard touchdown on a corner route to Grant Perry that gave the Wolverines a lead they would not give up.

On Michigan’s next possession, Speight threw a 19-yard touchdown to tight end Jake Butt, and the Virginia native made it a hat trick on the next drive with a 5-yard scoring toss to Amara Darboh.

By the time he took a seat in the third quarter, Speight had nailed his test, completing 10 of 13 passes for 145 yards and directing an offense that didn’t punt a single time. All of that made the first-play interception seem almost comical in hindsight.

“We were messing with him in the locker room that it’s not the way you want to start your career,” center Mason Cole said, “but like he said, he was bound to throw one sooner or later so he might as well just get it out of the way.”

With honorary captain Michael Jordan looking on, the Wolverines were just as good as their billing in the program’s largest margin of victory since a 69-0 thrashing of Northwestern in 1975. Six different players scored on an offense that rolled up 512 yards, while the defense gave up just 232 and had a pair of interception returns for touchdowns.

“Our coaches have worked this group of players as hard as you possibly can, and our players worked as hard as they possibly could,” Harbaugh said. “It just hit me Thursday and Friday that it was time to let them go show what they can do. I thought it would be good, and it was. Our team played really well.”