3 Keys to Victory: Michigan Football vs Texas in the Citrus Bowl

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Bowl season is here, and after a tumultuous month of December, the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines — with an interim head coach in place — are set to take on the No. 13 Texas Longhorns in the Citrus Bowl today in Orlando.

Both teams had hopes of making the College Football Playoff this season, but failed to get in after 9-3 regular seasons. As most of these non-CFP bowl games go, several players are opting out on both sides; Texas won’t have key players on both sides of the ball, and the Wolverines will be without guys like Derrick Moore, Jaishawn Barham and Giovanni El-Hadi.

Here are the final three keys to victory for the 2025 season for the Wolverines.

Win the battle of the interim coaches and block Colin Simmons

When Michigan’s offense is on the field against Texas’ defense, both teams will be led by interim coordinators. For the Wolverines, co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Steve Casula will be calling plays with Chip Lindsey off to Missouri, and inside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen will be calling plays defensively after Texas fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski earlier this month.

While many key defensive starters are out for the Longhorns, All-American linebacker Colin Simmons, a projected first-round pick with 11 sacks, will be playing. Simmons can wreck an entire game plan, so Michigan will have to be cognizant of where he is at all times.

Casula needs to include protections for Simmons in his game plan, as chipping him with tight ends Marlin Klein and others can help buy Bryce Underwood time in the pocket. Casula also needs to be aggressive against a depleted Texas defense — what exactly does he have to lose at this point? Putting together first downs by any means necessary is the priority, so I want to see him have a proper mix of run plays and pass plays.

Let Bryce Cook

Underwood showed flashes of his five-star talent this season, but was inconsistent overall. Needless to say, Lindsey and Moore didn’t take a lot of risks with him as a playmaker. To use a metaphor, Michigan has a Lamborghini, but it rarely took it out of the neighborhood.

With a new play caller, I want to see Underwood’s full potential in this game. Throw in a few long passes, use a few creative plays throwing to Jordan Marshall out of the backfield, let Underwood make decisions in the read-option, and maybe scheme up a few designed runs for the freshman phenom.

Underwood is a talented enough player to pull off this upset. Throw out the conservative game plan and let him lead you to the promised land.

Pressure the hell out of Arch Manning and force him into bad decisions

The expectations were too high for Texas quarterback Arch Manning to start this season, and he struggled early in the season. But he really came into his own to close out the year.

Yahoo NFL analyst Nate Tice said Manning would be the No. 1 pick in the draft if he declared. Breaking down his season through the NFL lens, CBS Sports’ Mike Renner gave him a C+ when it came to decision-making. Here’s what Renner wrote:

“There are still numerous issues with his decision-making evaluators will want to see cleaned up. The two biggest are turning down easy completions and pre-determining two- or three-man concepts. 

‘The first is not uncommon with mobile quarterbacks who like to hunt big plays, but you have to take profits when you can in the NFL. The second is probably the more worrisome. What makes it all the more head-scratching is that he’s awesome going 1-to-2-to-3 on full-field reads. Give him a binary choice on one side, and he’d too often miss a receiver streaking wide open.”

Manning struggled with interceptions earlier this fall, but he didn’t throw a pick in Texas’ last two games (wins against Arkansas and Texas A&M). Michigan is going to need Manning to turn over the ball once or twice to win this one, so I’d expect Wink Martindale to dial up some NFL blitzes to force Manning to make quick decisions. If he hunts the big plays that Renner referred to, Michigan may be able to swing momentum with a pick or two.

What else does Michigan need to do to win this game? Let us know in the comments.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos