How much Bryce Underwood can Michigan endure before turning to Tommy Carr?
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Michigan is just fooling itself now. This is no longer about how much money you’ve invested into quarterback Bryce Underwood.
It’s about diminishing returns.
Michigan lost again Saturday, this time to middling Minnesota, after losing to middling Iowa and lowly Western Michigan — no matter what the Big Ten says with its inane separate game clocks excuse.
What was clear in the first month of the season is now undeniable in the first week of October: Underwood isn’t getting better under first-year coach Kyle Whittingham.
He’s getting worse.
Another game of missed throws and bad decisions, another game Michigan should’ve won but didn’t. Another game where the highest-paid player on the Michigan roster is the reason the Wolverines continue bumbling around with the gimme games on the schedule.
This time it was Minnesota, which beat Michigan in Minneapolis for the first time since 1977. Last week it was Iowa and an offense that’s more ineffective than Michigan’s.
And let’s not forget Western Michigan, which held Michigan to seven points before an assist from Big Ten replay.
We haven’t even hit the heavy lifting portion of the Michigan schedule, but it’s time Whittingham gives freshman Tommy Carr an opportunity. If you’re not beating the Minnesotas and Iowas of the Big Ten, you’ve got big problems with Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State.
How much longer will Whittingham keep banging his head against the Big Ten wall with a quarterback he didn’t recruit? More to the point in this NIL-driven world, a quarterback he didn’t pay?
The Michigan offense is an operational mess. Missed throws and missed reads. Bad routes and drops. Sacks and pre-snap penalties.
Overthrows, under throws, tipped passes. You name, it Michigan has endured it with Underwood.
How utterly laughable has the Michigan offense become? The Wolverines scored all 14 points because of two Minnesota interceptions.
One led to a short field touchdown, the other to a 74-yard return for a touchdown. Other than that, Underwood completed 10-of-21 passes of 101 yards and two interceptions.
All told, Michigan had 49 plays for 189 yards. Pitiful.
The Michigan offense had six series after going up 14-7, and it was about as ugly as you’d think: end of half, interception, interception, punt, punt, downs.
Forget about the excuses of the last month, the conversation must move from what if, to what now? The bye week allows Michigan to get Carr extended time with the first team in parctice, before struggling Penn State rolls into Ann Arbor.
And forget about the millions invested in Underwood. At some point, it’s about winning games.
Not watching an investment tank.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How much Bryce Underwood can Michigan endure before turning to Tommy Carr?
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos