Michigan Hung In There, But Texas Was Just Too Much
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Finally, Michigan's weird and wild 2025 season is over. It didn't end how maize and blue fans wanted, but it played out how most thought that it probably would, at least in today's Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Texas ended up winning the game 41-27 but it was a bit closer than that for much of the contest. The Wolverines played too poorly in the fourth quarter to give themselves a chance, but through three periods it was back and forth and there was a lot of fight in a U-M team that frankly, had been through it leading up to the game.
The story of the day was Texas quarterback Arch Manning as a runner and Michigan's inability to even slow him down. Manning repeatedly picked up key first downs on third and fourth down to keep drives alive and ultimately put points on the board when Texas needed them.
The real back-breaker came with just 5:06 left in the fourth quarter when Texas was only up 31-27. Manning kept the ball on a zone read, gave one juke to get Michigan safety Brandyn Hillman out of position and took it 60 yards to the house, essentially slamming the door on the Wolverines. When the dust settled, Manning had 155 yards rushing and two touchdowns on nine just carries.
Give a ton of credit to Arch, but what was Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale doing? How do you let a quarterback whose season high to that point was 53 rushing yards go for three times that amount? How do you repeatedly get gashed on key downs without a spy anywhere in the area? How do you let a quarterback who would much rather stay in the pocket get loose over and over for big yardage? Those are all things Wink Martindale will be thinking about when he's replaced in the very near future.
Michigan also started to look unprepared the comeback because that's simply not how they play. Asking freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood to drop back and throw the ball on every snap in order to look for quick scores is not how the Wolverines are built. When a talented team like Texas knows it's going to be all throws, pass rushes speed up, coverage gets tighter and windows slam shut. That's exactly what happened as Underwood threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter trying to force the ball down the field. Underwood also threw a pick in the third quarter, but it was the interceptions on back-to-back possessions in the fourth that played a major part in Michigan losing the game.
The interceptions are certainly not all on Underwood, but he does need to be smarter with the ball in crunch time, especially when Michigan technically still had a chance. At the end of the day, he finished with 199 yards on 23-of-41 passing with two scores and those three interceptions. He also added 77 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
With the game now in the books, it's OFFICIALLY the Kyle Whittingham Era. The veteran coach joined the TV broadcast during the game and said that he's about 90% done with assembling his staff. With Utah's bowl game also in the books, we'll likely start hearing about some hirings very, very soon.
It's a tough way for the season to end, but all of the turmoil and uncertainly is almost a thing of the past. Whittingham will start to right the ship almost immediately, and now we all just have to wait to see what it looks like on the field.
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