3 things that would define a successful season for Michigan Football in 2026
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As the Kyle Whittingham era approaches for Michigan Football, what are the expectations for Year 1 for the new regime? Whittingham has amassed a successful coaching career already and has a talented roster at his disposal, but can he bring the Wolverines back to national prominence right away? Is an 8-4 season going to satisfy this ravenous fanbase?
Here are three things that would define a successful first year for Whittingham and company in Ann Arbor.
A CFP appearance
Michigan has yet to make the 12-team CFP field in the first two years of the format. Whittingham also never reached that stage at Utah, and it may very well be unrealistic to set the bar that high.
However, Whittingham also never had the resources now at his disposal at Michigan. And even in a loaded Big Ten, you can be far from perfect and still play meaningful football late in the year. Michigan’s biggest tests on the schedule are Oklahoma, Indiana, at Oregon and at Ohio State. To reach the CFP, winning at least one of those is a necessity.
Regardless of how each game goes, Whittingham taking the Wolverines back to the CFP in his first season here would help re-establish them among the sport’s elite.
Bryce Underwood’s development
This goes along with the previous point, but there is no more important player for Michigan than its sophomore quarterback. Bryce Underwood obviously struggled in his rookie campaign: a 60.3 completion percentage, 11 passing touchdowns to nine interceptions, and a lack of encouraging feel or touch dampened his sky-high recruiting billing.
Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck already seem to have displayed more competence surrounding Underwood’s development, namely by involving quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. Underwood may never match his recruiting profile and the large sums of money that helped sway him to Ann Arbor, but this new staff getting him closer to where he needs to be as a quarterback would have a positive and lasting impact.
A culture change…but not too much
We have already heard about Whittingham trying to eliminate hate from The Game, and bringing all those former Utes with him should instill a new culture. It feels like he saw what the Jim Harbaugh/Sherrone Moore era did, and decided to say, “Hey, we are going to make almost everything different.”
At the same time, Whittingham’s Utah teams brought a certain physicality and nastiness to the gridiron. That was a big appeal for Michigan fans at the time of the hiring, and the expectation is that even with a new coach and personnel, this should still be a smash-mouth football team.
Can he combine innovation with tradition? What else do you want to see from Whittingham and the 2026 Wolverines? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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