Michigan doesn’t need Bryce Underwood to play like John Mateer on Saturday, but it does need to borrow a little from Oklahoma’s approach.
That was part of the difference in last year’s matchup. In a game Brent Venables badly needed after a rough first season, Oklahoma leaned hard into the quarterback run game and gave Mateer 19 carries.
He still threw for 270 yards, and Michigan never really matched that kind of offensive stress. Outside of Justice Haynes’ 75-yard touchdown run, the Wolverines didn’t get much going on the ground.
That’s the lane Michigan should be chasing now. If the offense is going to have a real shot against Oklahoma, it has to make life easier for Underwood, and the cleanest way to do that is to get him involved as a runner.
After what happened against Western Michigan, Michigan can’t keep treating Underwood like a passive piece of the offense. He had a rough night and didn’t seem to see the field well, whether the play called for a run or a throw. The Wolverines also didn’t help him much with the ground game, and that was a problem from start to finish.
Jason Beck didn’t find enough answers against Western Michigan, and the Broncos responded by loading the box once they sensed Underwood was struggling. Beck did give him a few simple throws, including the kind of easy dump-off to Savion Hiter that would have let Michigan see him in space for the first time.
But the bigger point is simpler than all of that: Underwood needs designed runs. Zone read, QB counter, QB zone, QB power - whatever the package looks like, Michigan has to put the ball in his hands on the move. The more he works through those reads, the more comfortable he should become with them.
That should have been true on Saturday, and it should be true again against Oklahoma. Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter should have been staples of the offense, too, but they finished with fewer than 20 combined carries. That can’t happen this week.
Michigan’s defense held up fairly well against Western Michigan even though the Broncos, who have the best running back in the MAC and the MAC Offensive Player of the Year, were handed the ball inside the 40 three times. Western Michigan still didn’t score a touchdown.
Oklahoma will ask a lot more questions. But if Michigan can run the ball, get Underwood some confidence, and find a way to move the offense - even if that means 20 carries for Underwood - then the defense at least has a chance to stay in the game.
And for a team that has already stumbled badly out of the gate, that’s where the season has to start.
In Other News...
Michigans Opener Already Sparked A Response Fans Will Notice Against Oklahoma
Rod Moore did not sugarcoat Michigans season-opening showing against Western Michigan, calling it well below the standard the Wolverines expect. The reaction inside the program was immediate, too, with team captains calling an emergency player-only meeting to address what went wrong and to reset the tone before the schedule tightens up.
The response showed up on the practice field, where the defense ramped up its physical intensity in preparation for Oklahoma. Edge defender Dom Nichols also drew attention for both his strong play and his work ethic, a reminder that Michigan is trying to turn a flat opener into a sharper, more urgent version of itself before a much bigger test arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Win Is Now At Center Of A Stunning Official Fight
The final sequence of Michigans 13-12 win over Western Michigan has turned into more than a narrow nonconference finish. A reviewed Hail Mary added one second back onto the clock, and that extra snap led to the game-winning catch that kept the Wolverines on top. The Big Ten later backed the decision after its own video review, treating the ending as a properly administered piece of officiating in a game that was already tense enough on the field.
Now the dispute has moved from the scoreboard to the offices that govern the sport. The Mid-American Conference has formally appealed to the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff, asking them to recognize Western Michigan as the winner. For Michigan, the result stands for now, but the unusual fight over a single second has made this one of the more talked-about finishes of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Win Sparked A Debate Fans Should Care About
Michigans disputed 13-12 win over Western Michigan did more than send people scrambling through the rule book. It also reignited a familiar gripe about how college football handles the last moments of a close game, with ESPNs Rece Davis arguing that fans would be better served by a single shared game clock and by live access to replay officials conversations so the process feels less opaque.
The sequence at the end of the game made the frustration easy to understand: the broadcast clock hit zero, but replay officials restored one second after using a synchronized system, and Michigan turned that final snap into the touchdown that decided it. Officials and conference representatives backed up the replay process, and Western Michigan president Richard N. Yensen acknowledged the clocks did not match while saying he did not view the outcome as unfair, but the larger transparency debate is unlikely to fade soon. [Read more 🡒]