Well, the first game of the Kyle Whittingham era is in the books, and the Michigan Wolverines are 1-0. I expected to write that sentence when this week arrived, but I think that is the only thing that happened on Saturday that was expected.
While Michigan put on an absolute disgrace of an offensive show, my bold predictions last week weren’t that bad. Bryce Underwood was responsible for two touchdowns (I predicted four) and JJ Buchanan finished with 126 receiving yards (I predicted 100+). My final score prediction of 40-10, however, wasn’t close at all.
Now, a new week is here, and a much bigger opponent is coming to town: The Oklahoma Sooners. If Michigan plays like it did last weekend, it’s not going to be a fun day in the Big House. Let’s make some bold predictions for this contest, and just a quick spoiler, they aren’t going to be as optimistic as last week’s.
Bryce Underwood will have under 100 passing yards
The biggest surprise on Saturday was how bad Bryce Underwood played. His freshman season was far from perfect, but we saw a lot of bright spots last season and a player who was clearly very talented. So, it was reasonable to expect some big improvement during the offseason, now that he has a year under his belt and finally had a quarterback coach.
Somehow, Underwood got worse. Significantly worse.
It was hard to watch. Underwood was making terrible decisions, throwing the ball into traffic, fumbled one of his few positive runs. It was just bad. Now, one of the best defenses in the country is coming to town.
I can’t believe we got here in one week, but Underwood’s job is in jeopardy. Maybe last weekend was just a bad day, but I find it hard to believe that Underwood is magically going to turn it around this weekend against a top 10 team. He won’t even hit 100 passing yards.
Bryce Underwood will lose the starting job this week
If Underwood truly does have the same type of performance this week, it’s going to put the coaching staff in a tough spot. I don’t think we see Underwood get pulled because I don’t think putting freshman Tommy Carr in during a difficult spot against a top 10 team is a good idea, but I do think that Underwood could lose the starting job if he plays like he did last week.
UTEP is next on the schedule, and that would be a good opportunity to make the change if Underwood continues to struggle.
Now, I do want to add that the offensive issues do not lie squarely on Underwood’s shoulders. The run game didn’t do much to open up the passing game, the offensive line struggled, I wasn’t very impressed with the play-calling, etc. Everyone needs to be better to put Underwood in a better spot, but he also has to play MUCH better himself.
I think this one is going to look a lot like the Texas game in 2024. It will be clear from the start that it isn’t going to be particularly close, and the game will probably be pretty much over by halftime.
Michigan will score a late touchdown to make the blowout look a little less severe, but the offense is going to struggle big time.