Anderson Cerney ‘26, Circulation Manager
Bryce Underwood, the freshman five-star quarterback recruit from Belleville, Michigan has had some quality starts so far for Michigan. He had a great performance against New Mexico in week one and helped the team get a 34-17 win. He threw for 251 yards and completed 21 passes. He also had a fantastic performance against Central Michigan in week three, with a 63-3 win, throwing for 235 yards, completing 16 passes, rushing for 114 yards, and scoring three touchdowns.
However, Underwood’s first few starts have certainly been far from perfect, especially with the rough game against Oklahoma in week two. Despite being a dual threat quarterback, he ran for negative yards in the game, which did not help the fact that he only threw for 137 yards, completing just nine of his 27 passing attempts.
He also got into an altercation with starting running back Justice Haynes during the first half of the game. Sean Neumann, of Pro Football Sports Network, said, “Freshman Quarterback Bryce Underwood was heated and started jawing at the transfer running back from Alabama, Justice Haynes…Underwood is seen stalking Hayes down the sidelines, grabbing him by the arm and turning him around before teammates intervened and separated the two players.” Clearly, Underwood still needs to improve and mature for his role as the starting quarterback for Michigan, but he has time to develop and is expected to do so, especially considering he is only a freshman.
Michigan has already presented how they will be moving the ball this season with being in the top 15 for rushing and the top 100 for passing. Justice Haynes has been the backbone for the team considering he is already more than halfway to reaching 1,000 rushing yards for the season. He will more than likely be better than Blake Corum, who ran for 1,245 yards the year Michigan won the national championship and especially since Michigan this year is more run dependent.
Head Coach Sherrone Moore’s coaching has been shaky so far this year, especially against Oklahoma and Wisconsin. While he was serving his suspension, Biff Pogi, an associate head coach, beat Nebraska 30-27 and seemed to be more comfortable coaching in a game for Michigan.
Moore then struggled against a Wisconsin team who is significantly worse than Nebraska. Just viewing the games, it seemed to be like night and day when comparing the Nebraska and Wisconsin games. The Michigan game against Nebraska was close because of unlucky plays for Michigan, such as the hail mary at the end of the first half, that Nebraska scored on.
In the Wisconsin game, Michigan could hardly move the ball, and one mistake Michigan may have ended in them losing. The run game was atrocious, especially considering that Michigan typically specializes in running the football, and it is not working.
Michigan is already on thin ice considering the college football playoff picture, meaning if they lose three games they basically have no shot of making it. Heather Dinch of ESPN, wrote about Michigan situation and said, “If Michigan loses, it would be in a must-win situation against rival Ohio State in the regular-season finale to avoid a third loss and have a chance at an at-large bid.” They are riding the line very close to not making it to the college football playoffs.
Overall, they need to figure out the run game and finally put some effort into establishing a pass game, to relieve the dependency on running the ball so much. In the end, this season really depends on if Moore can right the ship of the team and how Bryce Underwood develops during the season.
Lyon Life 