{"id":844299,"date":"2026-09-11T16:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844299\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T16:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:36:17","slug":"what-were-hearing-in-college-football-week-2-is-bryce-underwood-seeing-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844299\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re hearing in college football Week 2: Is Bryce Underwood \u2018seeing ghosts\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest storylines of the first full weekend of the college football season took place in Ann Arbor \u2014 and we\u2019re not talking about Michigan\u2019s Hail Mary mulligan<\/a>. It\u2019s the complicated situation<\/a> surrounding Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood, the former No. 1 recruit in his class to whom Michigan committed money in the low eight figures to land.<\/p>\n

AP Top 25: Michigan plummets out of rankings after Week 1<\/p>\n

Ralph D. Russo<\/p>\n

Last year, Underwood had a very up-and-down debut. It felt like it was more down than up, but considering it was his first season of college football and the program around him was in disarray, that shouldn\u2019t have been shocking. Underwood threw 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions, completing 60 percent of his passes for 2,428 yards and running for 392 yards and six more touchdowns. Those were respectable numbers given the circumstances. But after throwing seven touchdowns against only two picks in Michigan\u2019s first eight games, he fizzled down the stretch, with a 4-to-7 TD-to-INT ratio over the last five games and a dip in his yards per attempt.<\/p>\n

Against Western Michigan in the opener last week, Underwood looked very uncomfortable playing in a new system.<\/p>\n

He finished 12 of 22 for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Pro Football Focus graded Underwood\u2019s passing at 31.4, the second-worst mark among Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks in Week 1, and dinged him for making five \u201cturnover-worthy plays\u201d in the game. He also was just 1-for-6 on throws of 20 yards or longer downfield, with that one completion being the dime he delivered to JJ Buchanan on the second Hail Mary attempt to deliver the Wolverines a controversial win.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s accurate on the move,\u201d said a defensive backs coach who has faced Underwood, who spoke on condition of anonymity, like the other coaches in our report, in exchange for honest assessment. \u201cHe can throw it a mile. If it ever clicks, he\u2019s got all the ability. \u2026 But right now, it\u2019s his decision-making that\u2019s the problem, and him identifying things, being comfortable in the scheme. If you can\u2019t read the defense, you\u2019re not comfortable with the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham was asked about Underwood\u2019s security in the starting job earlier this week and hardly offered up a ringing endorsement. \u201cHe\u2019s our QB right now, and it\u2019s not something that\u2019s infinite<\/a>,\u201d Whittingham said. \u201cAt some point, we\u2019ve got to turn a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means if Underwood doesn\u2019t get better fast, expect to see freshman Tommy Carr soon. Another big problem for Michigan \u2014 and Underwood \u2014 is that the defense the Wolverines are facing Saturday at the Big House is not a unit that is kind to quarterbacks looking for clarity. In fact, it often goes the opposite way.\u00a0Last year, one of Underwood\u2019s worst games came against Oklahoma. He finished 9 of 24 for 124 yards in a 24-9 Sooners win.<\/p>\n

\u201cOklahoma put a lot of stuff on tape (to defend Underwood) for the playbook last year,\u201d said a Big Ten defensive coach, whose team faced Underwood in 2025. \u201c(Sooners coach Brent) Venables exposed him. Underwood struggles with all that variance that Venables loves to do. They have so much volume of stuff, and guys are getting calls in late. It\u2019s almost like OU can be too exotic with all they\u2019re doing, but even if they cut (a Michigan receiver) loose, I don\u2019t know if Underwood could find him. It looks like he\u2019s seeing ghosts. This is not a great matchup for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach didn\u2019t think that Michigan has been catering to Underwood\u2019s skill set enough to help him get more confident and comfortable, but he also pointed out Underwood has plenty of talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see him during warmups and he is so twitched up,\u201d the coach said. \u201cHe\u2019s got some arm talent. The ball really jumps out of his hand. It\u2019s crazy. He can throw it over a post safety. He can really rip tight throws between guys, but he really struggles with throws inside the hashes. They should be moving the pocket more to cater to him, get him out on the perimeter. And if he gets loose downfield, he\u2019s a hard guy to get down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third defensive coach whose team also has faced Underwood watched the game Saturday night and described the young QB\u2019s play as \u201call out of sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he pressing? I\u2019m sure he is,\u201d the coach continued. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t play quarterback, if that makes sense. The kid doesn\u2019t have a feel for things \u2014maybe that\u2019s because this is his second system, and at least for now, that\u2019s put him in a deeper hole, where he looks like he doesn\u2019t really know what he\u2019s doing. Like he\u2019s rattled and like he\u2019s lost. He stares down receivers, and you see a lot of bad decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (Whittingham\u2019s staff) is gonna run him a lot more now,\u201d said the first DB coach. You\u2019ll see QB power, QB counter, more downhill runs \u2014 all the plays they did at Utah last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 The other former five-star everyone will be watching this weekend is Texas\u2019 Arch Manning. Last year, in his first big game as the Longhorns\u2019 starter, he underwhelmed in a 14-7 loss at Ohio State, finishing 17 of 30 for 130 yards with one touchdown and one interception and averaging just 5.7 yards per attempt. It should be noted that he was facing the most talented defense in the country: The Buckeyes had three defenders drafted in the first 11 picks of the NFL Draft and five in the first 62.<\/p>\n

Manning got better as the season went on. He threw 26 touchdowns and seven picks in 2025 and ran for 10 touchdowns. Two other big pluses for Manning in the rematch with these Buckeyes: The game is in Austin, and the Longhorns are much better offensively. Their O-line is more experienced; they added a difference-maker in big wideout Cam Coleman (formerly of Auburn); and they brought in two dynamic running backs in Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown to jolt a mediocre position group. Texas was No. 11 in the SEC last season in runs of 20-plus yards with 12 \u2014 and Manning had six of them.<\/p>\n

When asked about what he sees as the biggest difference on film between Manning now and Manning this time last year, one defensive coach told The Athletic this week, \u201cHe\u2019s fixed his throwing mechanics.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Texas source echoed that: \u201cHe\u2019s cleaner \u2014 and he\u2019s way more confident now. There\u2019s more talent around him. He was the team\u2019s best running threat last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Ohio State source said he is definitely concerned about Manning giving the Buckeyes fits with that skill set: \u201cHis legs will kill you if you let him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

One other area to keep an eye on this weekend against the Buckeyes will be how accurate Manning is on his intermediate throws. Last weekend, he lit up Texas State, especially on the deep balls, where he was 4-for-4 for 130 yards. However, he was 2-for-5 with an interception on intermediate-range throws.<\/p>\n

\u2022 An interesting comp we heard from one defensive assistant we chatted with this week: Notre Dame\u2019s CJ Carr reminds him of former Purdue great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees. \u201cHe\u2019s got a very quick release, really good composures and processes so well,\u201d the coach said. \u201cHe\u2019s always on time and accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Penn State has experienced something of a wide receiver drought the past few years. Parker Washington, a sixth-round pick in 2023, was the last Nittany Lion wideout to get drafted; the program has had 21 other players picked since then. It\u2019s only one game, but watch out for Koby Howard, a 5-11, 203-pound second-year player from South Florida. He lit Marshall up for six catches for 161 yards and a touchdown last week. That\u2019s more receiving yards than he had all of last year, when he had seven catches for 133 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s legit,\u201d Thundering Herd coach Tony Gibson told us. \u201cHe\u2019s strong, can run good routes and can really go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another young Penn State name to know is Max Granville, a 6-3, 252-pound third-year edge who missed all of last year with an injury. Granville, who came in second in the state in both the shot put and the 110 hurdles as a high schooler in Texas, didn\u2019t show up in the official box score against Marshall other than posting one pass breakup, but he made a big impression on Gibson, a former defensive coordinator. \u201cThat guy is a freak,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s so explosive and very physical. We played Georgia last year, and they didn\u2019t have anyone like him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the biggest storylines of the first full weekend of the college football season took place in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1607,399,1777,398,396,397,1778,5694,99,5690],"class_list":["post-844299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-sports","tag-texas-longhorns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}