Michigan walked into Saturday with plenty to prove, and Bryce Underwood gave the Wolverines exactly the kind of night they needed at the Big House.
Under heavy scrutiny after the controversy around the Week 1 home win over Western Michigan, Michigan answered with a 17-10 upset of No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan Stadium. The sophomore quarterback was at the center of it, turning in one of his best performances and looking far more settled than he had in the opener.
“I’m very happy,” Underwood told Fox Sports. “Just very thankful for my teammates holding me accountable this entire week to be the best man I could possibly be.”
Underwood did damage with both his legs and his arm. He ran for 87 yards on 18 carries, including a 38-yard touchdown burst in the second quarter, and finished 9 of 17 passing for 111 yards. More than the numbers, he looked comfortable in the pocket in a game where Michigan needed composure.
“Great response by Bryce,” Michigan coach Kyle Whttingham said. “An excellent game. Defense was lights out pretty much the entire game.”
The play that sealed it came late. With 7:53 left, Jordan Marshall punched in a 1-yard touchdown run for the go-ahead score, and that drive was set up by the defense. Jyaire Hill intercepted John Mateer and returned it to the Oklahoma 6, giving Michigan the short field it needed.
Michigan’s defense did its part throughout the afternoon, and the Wolverines also cleaned up one of their biggest issues from Week 1 by avoiding turnovers. That made for a much sharper performance from an unranked team that had fallen from 16th in the country despite winning its opener.
In fact, Michigan became the first team since the AP Poll moved to 25 teams in 1989 to win a game while ranked in the Top 16 and be unranked by the next poll.
Still, this wasn’t a spotless win. Oklahoma lost senior linebacker Kip Lewis to a knee injury in the first quarter, and the Sooners’ defense had trouble adjusting without him. Michigan also hurt itself with 11 penalties for 90 yards, including two personal fouls on third downs during Oklahoma’s eight-play, 90-yard march that tied the game at 10-10.
Even with those flaws, beating the 11th-ranked team in the country should push Michigan back into the AP Top 25.
“They did more,” Whittingham said of his players. “That was a great effort.
Team effort. Still got a lot of things to clean up.
That was way too many penalties. Very proud of the way they responded after our performance last week.
They worked hard all week in practice, and it showed out here today.”
The schedule won’t get any friendlier. Indiana, Penn State, Oregon and Ohio State are all still ahead. But after the kind of response Michigan delivered against Oklahoma, there’s at least some real hope of salvaging a memorable first season with Whittingham.
In Other News...
Eddy Pierre-Louis Sparked An Awkward Oklahoma Viral Mystery In Ann Arbor
A routine close-up of Eddy Pierre-Louis during Oklahomas trip to Michigan turned into one of the stranger talking points of the day, after television cameras caught a visible brown mark on the back of the offensive linemans pants. The image quickly made its way across social media, where fans did what fans do and tried to figure out how it got there, even as the game itself kept moving and Pierre-Louis kept playing without any obvious issue.
It was the kind of offbeat sideline moment that can hijack attention away from the football, especially in a big neutral-site atmosphere like Michigan Stadium. Oklahoma had other viral material from the day too, including a ball boy who refused to hand over a loose football during a scrum, but Pierre-Louiss mystery mark became the detail people kept zooming in on long after the snap count had moved on. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Suddenly Has A John Mateer Concern It Cant Ignore
John Mateers return should have given Oklahoma a steadier hand at quarterback, but the early stretch of the season has instead left the Sooners trying to answer bigger questions about the offense. Against Michigan, Mateer never settled in, finishing with an erratic passing day and an interception that fed into a loss, and it only added to the unease that has followed him since coming back from hand surgery.
Oklahoma can point to a rebuilding offensive line and a play-calling structure that has not always made life easy on its quarterback, but the timing of the concern is the real problem. The Sooners are moving toward a run of games against highly ranked opponents, and if Mateers accuracy issues linger, the offense may have a hard time matching the level Oklahoma needs in those matchups. [Read more 🡒]
How Much Has Really Changed For OU Since That Michigan Loss
The Michigan loss at the start of the 2025 season now reads a lot differently for Oklahoma than it did in the moment. The Sooners used the rest of the year to show real progress, finishing 10-3 and punching their ticket to the College Football Playoff, with standout wins over Tennessee and Alabama helping reshape the conversation around where the program stood by seasons end.
For Oklahoma, the bigger question entering 2026 is not whether the season changed things, but how much of that change will stick. The Wolverines are also moving forward with Bryce Underwood settling in as a first-year starter, which only adds to the backdrop for a rematch of sorts in the college football conversation, even if both programs still have unfinished business to sort out. [Read more 🡒]