Michigan left its opener with a win, but not much peace of mind. The final score covered up a messy night in which Bryce Underwood flashed the talent that made all the offseason talk believable, then spent too much of the game looking like the same quarterback Michigan has been trying to clean up since spring.
Underwood opened fast. He hit his first five passes for 61 yards and helped drive Michigan to its first touchdown.
After that, the rhythm slipped away. The throws got harder, the feet got noisier, and the picture on the field started to look familiar in all the wrong ways: an easy third-down throw to the flat that never got stepped into, an interception looming before halftime, a slant forced into quarters coverage without a vertical threat holding the safety, and pressure that seemed to get into his head as much as his pocket.
That’s the central problem now. Michigan has seen enough of Underwood in practice to believe the progress is real.
But Saturday was a reminder that improvement only matters if it shows up when the game starts tightening the screws. Underwood has elite physical tools.
What still needs proving is whether he can reach them when the pocket gets muddy, the first read disappears, and the hit is coming.
There was one clear offensive bright spot, and it was J.J. Buchanan.
Buchanan backed up everything he had said before the season. When he came on Behind the Uniform, he said there was no such thing as a 50-50 ball once the football was in the air.
His number was 80-20 at worst, maybe 90-10. On Saturday, that sounded less like bravado and more like scouting report.
He caught six passes for 126 yards, made a spectacular one-handed grab, and then finished the night by climbing the ladder in traffic to haul in the 47-yard Hail Mary that kept Michigan from a Week 1 disaster.
His emergence is one of the more striking developments from the opener. Utah had originally recruited the Las Vegas native as a defensive back, and Buchanan said he had never even used a JUGS machine before arriving in college.
After watching him on Saturday, coaches and former players were asking the same thing: “ How did they get this dude?!” Big receiver, speed, range, ball skills - he looked like the one Michigan pass catcher ready to take over a game.
That also means he’s going to be a target for Oklahoma’s defense. The Sooners now know where Underwood wants to go when he needs something in a hurry.
They can shade coverage Buchanan’s way, sit on Underwood’s favorite reads, and force Michigan to prove somebody else can win. That puts Andrew Marsh, the tight ends, and the rest of the receiving group under the spotlight.
Marsh finished with 15 receiving yards, and the tight ends did not record a catch.
And that leads to the other major concern: Michigan didn’t have a clean answer once the quarterback started wobbling.
This can’t just become a story about Underwood. The whole offense was off.
Michigan went 3-of-10 on third down, produced only 12 first downs, totaled 106 rushing yards, took nine penalties for 80 yards, and ran just 48 plays. The Wolverines had the ball for 19:52.
That’s not how you protect a young quarterback or settle a shaky offense. Once Underwood started to struggle, Michigan didn’t have the easy throws or simple completions that can restore confidence and keep drives alive.
The running game never got a chance to become the fallback. There were no extended possessions, no steady sequence of carries, no runway for four-yard gains to grow into something bigger.
Western’s movement created technical problems for the offensive line, but this did not look like a group getting physically overwhelmed snap after snap. Kyle Whittingham said afterward that Michigan “didn't block movement well.”
That’s a fixable issue, and Michigan needs to fix it quickly. One possible answer, if the problem keeps showing up, is leaning harder into downhill concepts. Whether that’s the right adjustment or not, the bigger point is that Michigan cannot afford to spend another week searching for an identity while the offense sputters around its quarterback.
Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter were supposed to give Michigan a backfield that could absorb some of that pressure. If Underwood is struggling against a MAC opponent and those two can’t become the answer, then the offense has no floor.
That’s what makes the coming week so important. Michigan doesn’t just need cleaner quarterback play.
It needs a sturdier structure around him. The Sooners are coming, and they’re going to make the Wolverines prove they have more than one way to move the football.
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To its credit, the conference did not leave the decision hanging. It released a statement and video footage from the replay officials discussion, laying out the reasoning behind the clock adjustment and showing how the call was reached. In a game that already had the feel of a routine nonconference result, the ending became the kind of small but notable detail that can linger long after the score is final. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Fans Have Every Right To Worry About This Offense
Michigans defense did its part against Western Michigan, holding the Broncos to 95 total yards and forcing a turnover on downs, but the first-half conversation still belonged to an offense that never settled in after the opening drive. After that early touchdown march, the Wolverines managed only 41 yards before halftime, a stretch that featured shaky pass protection, limited push in the run game and an attack that kept leaving too much for the quarterback to sort out on his own.
Bryce Underwood showed some early rhythm by completing a handful of throws, but the pressure around him grew as the half went on and the mistakes followed, including an interception. For a Michigan team that expected cleaner execution and more balance, the concerns are obvious because the defense may be good enough to keep games manageable, but it cannot keep bailing out an offense that is still searching for consistency. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans Offense Has A Real Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Michigan opened with exactly the kind of sequence that can lull a crowd into thinking the offense has found its footing, as Bryce Underwood helped engineer a touchdown on the first drive. From there, though, the early momentum faded fast. The passing game never fully settled in, and the run game had a hard time getting going, leaving the Wolverines to grind through a first half that looked a lot less comfortable than the opening possession suggested.
The numbers told the story of the frustration, with Michigan managing just 46 rushing yards and averaging only 2.5 yards per carry before halftime. Underwood showed flashes, but the mistakes came too, including errant throws that turned into interceptions and helped leave Michigan clinging to a 7-6 lead at the break. For a team that wants to lean on balance and control, the offense already had a problem it could not hide. [Read more 🡒]