Oklahoma HC Brent Venables still holding Michigan in ‘high regard’ after ugly Week 1

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It wasn’t the Week 1 Michigan was hoping for, with a narrow last-second win over Western Michigan, but the focus must change quickly as the Wolverines prepare for Oklahoma to come to town this weekend.

The rematch with the Sooners has been widely anticipated since an underwhelming 24-13 loss in Norman last season, with many thinking the game could end differently for Michigan at home and with an offseason’s worth of development under a new head coach. However, the close win in Week 1 has some thinking the result could be the same, if not worse, than last year.

But someone who isn’t allowing themselves to be fooled by Michigan’s Week 1 performance is Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, whose team hasn’t changed its opinion on Michigan.

“We’ve put Michigan in a great light like they’ve deserved for some time, for the last several months,” Venables told local reporters on Tuesday. “This isn’t the first week that we’ve been preparing and talking about Michigan and Georgia and Texas and many other teams that are on our schedule. Our players hold Michigan in high regard with tremendous respect like they deserve.

“To not play your best when it comes to turnover margin, maybe rushing, time of possession … and still overcome and have a chance to win says a lot about what they have in the locker room.”

Perhaps Venables’ perspective of the game can provide some optimism to Michigan fans who are hoping for what happened in Week 1 to merely be a fluke. After all, good teams have played poorly or lost to lesser opponents before and gone on to have successful seasons plenty of times in the past. It might not be something to bet on, but it can’t be ruled out either.

Sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood has drawn a lot of attention since his performance on Saturday night and Kyle Whittingham’s subsequent comments on Monday about his standing as the starter. Venables, however, still believes in Underwood’s talent even if the results didn’t show up in the Wolverines’ first game.

“(Underwood’s) one of the most talented players at any position in all of college football. All of his best days are still in front of him,” Venables said.

Last year’s matchup with Oklahoma was the first sign of worry that many had for Underwood’s future outlook, as the then-freshman (and offense as a whole) looked completely stifled by Oklahoma’s vaunted defense. Underwood completed just 9-of-24 passes for 142 yards and no touchdowns.

At that time, he wasn’t featured as much as a runner, while his group of wide receivers also wasn’t as well-established as it is now. The Wolverines’ game plan and how they employ Underwood will look different than it did at Oklahoma last year, and perhaps also how it looked last week against Western Michigan.

Based on his comments, it’s clear Venables is betting on seeing a different Michigan team than the one he’s seen on film the past few days. The talent and experience are there on both sides of the ball for Michigan to make this matchup closer than anticipated, or even win. But the necessary adjustments are going to need to be made quickly if the team is to prevent things from spiraling even further.

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