Ever since Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham went to Tommy Carr at halftime of the Penn State game, the Bryce Underwood situation has looked headed in one direction.
That feeling got stronger Monday, when Whittingham made it official after Carr’s second start, a 28-21 win over Rutgers. Carr completed 22-of-27 passes for 266 yards and added 54 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Whittingham said he would remain the starter moving forward for the “foreseeable future.”
What happens after this season is still unclear, and it will depend on how Carr finishes the year. But if Whittingham is still running the program, it is difficult to imagine Underwood back in a Michigan uniform next season. If he does end up in the portal, there are a handful of landing spots that stand out.
Ole Miss looks like one of the cleaner fits. Trinidad Chambliss is moving on after this season, which leaves the Rebels searching for a new starter.
Offensive coordinator John David Becker has done well with Chambliss, and the system appears to suit Underwood’s skill set. At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, he brings elite arm talent and 4.4/4.5 speed.
The Oklahoma game showed what he can do as a runner. In the right read-option setup, he could really take off.
Put him in the old Urban Meyer system, and it feels like a place where he could thrive. His uneven season also makes you wonder how different things might have been if he had another year with Chip Lindsey.
The change in offensive systems may have slowed his development more than anyone realized. In a better match for his game, Underwood could still become a successful quarterback, and Ole Miss could land a five-star talent at a bargain.
Missouri might be the most natural connection of all, and Chip Lindsey is the reason. The fit depends on Austin Simmons, a senior who could also have a fifth year if he chooses to use it.
Simmons has thrown 16 touchdown passes and only two interceptions this season, though he has not done much as a runner. Pairing Underwood with Lindsey would be interesting, especially because the best moments Lindsey had with Underwood came when Sherrone Moore was not coaching and the offense was less conservative.
Simmons would likely return, but Underwood has already shown he can handle being a backup without creating issues. He might not want to sit for a season, but Dante Moore did, and it paid off.
Moore was trending toward being a top-five pick before his recent injury. Underwood could take a year, get back to the basics and still have two seasons left to prove himself.
Kentucky also makes sense, even if the Wildcats do not have the NIL spending power of some SEC peers. Underwood has already made his money in that area, so the next stop could be more about development than another payday.
He is not currently on track to be a draftable quarterback, which makes the next move especially important. Will Stein could help change that.
He was the coach who guided Moore last season and helped turn him into a potential No. 1 overall pick. Kentucky’s Kenny Minchey is playing at a high level, with 16 touchdown passes and only one interception, and he also has another year available.
That likely means Underwood would have to wait his turn. But that same setup worked for Moore with the same coach, and if Underwood is willing to do it, the match makes plenty of sense.
Oregon is another place to watch. The Ducks have already brought in two former five-star quarterbacks through the transfer portal, so why not a third?
It worked with Dante Moore. Moore is out for the rest of this season, and it is unclear whether he will return or enter the NFL draft.
Dylan Raiola’s hold on the starting job for next season is also unsettled. If Moore leaves, Underwood and Raiola could end up competing for the job.
Underwood is not as polished a passer, but he is a far more dangerous runner, which could even open the door to using both quarterbacks until Underwood becomes more comfortable throwing the ball. Oregon also just fired its offensive coordinator, so that hire will matter a lot in any quarterback pursuit.
If Moore comes back and Raiola potentially transfers to start somewhere else, Underwood could literally follow in Moore’s footsteps.
USC rounds out the list. Jayden Maiava is a redshirt senior, so he does not have another year left.
There is no obvious heir apparent, either, even though the Trojans have talented quarterbacks waiting behind him. Lincoln Riley has already shown what he can do with quarterbacks, including Jalen Hurts, and Underwood would be stepping into a system that has worked for dual-threat passers before.
He would have to learn a new offense, but Riley would know how to get the most out of him.
In Other News...
College GameDay Gave Oklahoma Fans A Wild Twist Amid Ole Miss Chaos
A telecommunications outage that rippled through air traffic control created plenty of headaches around the sport on Saturday, including a ground stop that helped force a change to the Oklahoma-Ole Miss schedule. While the Sooners and Rebels dealt with the fallout, ESPNs College GameDay still went on as planned at Boise State, giving college football fans a live look at how the days travel chaos was affecting the broader landscape.
Pat McAfee turned the disruption into part of the show, arriving on horseback in a nod to the travel problems that had already thrown the morning off course. The bit played well with the Boise State crowd, and it was a reminder that even on a messy day for logistics, GameDay can still find a way to lean into the moment. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Fans Wont Like How This Ole Miss Decision Was Made
A scheduling wrinkle turned into a bigger headache for Oklahoma on Friday, when the SEC moved the Sooners game against Ole Miss from Saturday to Sunday because a nationwide FAA ground stoppage disrupted the Rebels travel plans. The matchup is now set for a noon kickoff, and television coverage has not yet been announced, leaving one more detail hanging over a game that was already drawing plenty of attention.
For Oklahoma, the frustration is less about the delay than the process behind it. The Sooners athletic director objected to the decision, and the leagues stance made the stakes clear: if the game could not be played Sunday, it would be a forfeit. For a conference race that already leaves little margin for error, it is the kind of ruling that can leave one side feeling like it had no real say in the matter. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Blasts SEC Over Disruptive Ole Miss Decision
A chaotic travel day turned into a bigger football headache for Oklahoma when the SEC shifted its game at Ole Miss from Saturday to Sunday after a nationwide FAA groundstop snarled flights across the country. Oklahoma opposed the move, but the league made clear the game had to be played at the rescheduled time, even as Ole Miss dealt with its own travel problems and could not get to the field on time.
For the Sooners, the issue was not just the inconvenience of a one-day delay but the way the decision was handled under pressure. The leagues warning of a forfeit if the game was not played Sunday only sharpened the tension around a matchup already thrown off by circumstances well beyond the teams control, leaving Oklahoma to absorb the disruption and move on to an altered schedule. [Read more 🡒]