Michigan pulled off one of the craziest wins on Saturday, beating Western Michigan 13-12 on a final Hail Mary game-winning pass from sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood. But that was one of the few plays Underwood made during the game.
Outside of the first drive of the game, when Underwood led Michigan down the field to score a touchdown, he had a day to forget. He finished the game going 12 for 22, throwing for 170 yards and one interception.
Kyle Whittingham Didn’t Confirm Underwood Will Remain QB1
Underwood showed zero signs of improvement from last season, and new head coach Kyle Whittingham left the door open for making a quarterback change.
“He’s our QB right now,” Whittingham said on Monday, via On3’s Nick Koski. “And it’s not something that’s infinite. At some point, we’ve got to turn a corner and we’ve got to see improvement, as we do with a lot of stuff; you’ve got to see improvement out of the coaches, so it’s not just on Bryce. And it’s not just Bryce’s job that is not absolutely set in concrete. You’ve got to perform week in and week out and become somebody that is playing at a level we can win with.”
247Sports ranked Underwood as the No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class. He initially committed to LSU, but a lucrative NIL package helped him flip to Michigan, his home state.
Underwood played in 13 games last season, throwing for 2,428 yards, 11 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, finishing with a 60.3 completion percentage.
Michigan Got Handed a Win
Michigan pulled off a miracle win over Western Michigan because officials added one second to the clock after the game had clearly expired. Underwood threw a Hail Mary pass with eight seconds left that fell incomplete, and when the pass crossed out of bounds, it clearly looked like there was no time remaining.
But officials reviewed the play and added one second to the clock, giving Underwood another shot at a Hail Mary, and this time he completed it.
While many people around the college football world thought there shouldn’t have been a second added to the clock, Whittingham did think one more second should be added.
“The extra second was huge,” Whittingham said, via Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “As I watched the first Hail Mary end and the ball sail out of the back of the end zone, as I glanced at the clock, I was pretty certain there was one second on the clock. … This game will go down in Michigan history.”
Michigan has a quick turnaround as it will welcome Oklahoma to the “Big House” on Saturday for the “Big Noon Kickoff” on Fox. The Sooners are one of the best teams in the country, and if the Wolverines play as they did against Western Michigan, it is going to be a long day in Ann Arbor.
Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham Breaks Silence on Bryce Underwood’s QB1 Status Ahead of Oklahoma Clash