What we learned about Michigan Football in Week 1: It’s better to be lucky than good
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It took a second chance at life and a Hail Mary for the Michigan Wolverines to beat the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night as 27.5-point favorites. What would have been the worst loss since Appalachian State was unjustly given to them by the football gods.
Western Michigan possessed the ball for more than 40 game minutes, won the turnover battle 3-0, out-gained the Wolverines 132-106 on the ground, was penalized only five times, and executed as the better team for 59 minutes and 59 seconds. One added second, one heave toward the end zone as time expired for one of the most improbable, luckiest moments in Michigan history saved the Wolverines from the embarrassment it deserved.
What we learned in that moment: It’s better to be lucky than good. Because the Wolverines were anything but good on Saturday night.
Kyle Whittingham said heading into the week the Wolverines needed to play a clean game. Michigan played the opposite: multiple throws that could have been intercepted, missed reads and assignments galore, fumbled snaps, a muffed punt, nine penalties for 80 yards, a fumble with less than two minutes left. It couldn’t have been much uglier for a team and coach who were hoping to make a statement to kick off the 2026 season.
Michigan’s offense has to adjust immediately
Most of what was mentioned above falls on the offense and Underwood. Jason Beck may have come to Ann Arbor with one of the highest pedigrees and most efficient offenses in college football the last two seasons, but he looked like a first-time coordinator on Saturday.
After Michigan’s scripted opening touchdown drive, the offense produced just three first downs without the help of a Western Michigan penalty for the remainder of the game, and all three came in the second half. One of those three came on the Wolverines’ final possession when Western Michigan’s defense was in prevent coverage.
That, in and of itself, is a cataclysmic disaster. But then you have to add some context. The Broncos lost all of their front six (4-2 defense) from a MAC-best defense a season ago, along with their defensive coordinator. The six players who started up front for WMU had a combined zero career FBS starts. That list includes:
- DE KJ Burley – an NAIA transfer
- DE Scoop Gardner Jr. – an FCS Long Island transfer
- DT Zavian Tibbs – played six games at Houston last season rotationally
- DT Ahmed Tounkara – an Ohio State transfer who had never played a collegiate snap
- LB Domanick Moon – a returner who was making his first start
- LB Dillon Moore – a returner who was making his first start
If the offensive line was a strength, which Whittingham and Beck made it out to be this offseason, it surely didn’t show up. Jordan Marshall had only 11 rushes; Savion Hiter played just nine snaps. The two combined for 59 rushing yards on 16 attempts for 3.7 yards per carry.
This didn’t feel like Michigan football; it didn’t look like Michigan footbal, and it will not be a successful season if significant improvements aren’t made.
This form of Underwood cannot be Michigan’s starter
The Wolverines put 31 plays in the hands of their five-star quarterback. Seven came on the first drive when the game was still fun. Underwood looked polished on those seven plays, making quick, decisive decisions with footwork that looked improved. It was 11 plays, 75 yards, and a score for Underwood as he jumped over the pile on 4th-and-goal. He accounted for 61 passing yards, going a perfect 5-for-5, and 11 rushing yards.
But from there on, it was the worst of 2025 Underwood all over again. He missed several reads, threw four or five balls that could have been picked off, was rushing his footwork, and looked like a deer in headlights yet again.
Strip away those two desperation throws on the game-winning drive, and from the 9:40 mark in the first quarter until the final seconds, he went just 5-for-15 for 34 yards, adding 36 yards on five carries, with two turnovers. That simply isn’t good enough quarterback play at the FBS level, much less from the former No. 1 overall recruit, playing at home against a MAC opponent as a four-touchdown favorite.
Underwood was largely a non-factor. If that level of inconsistency is who Underwood is, Michigan cannot afford to keep handing him the job based on pedigree alone. The schedule is too demanding, he’s had too much time to show who he is, and the roster is too talented to be limited by quarterback play that fails to execute.
Jay Hill and Michigan’s defense are as advertised
Constant three-and-outs put the Wolverines’ defense in a bind. Not only were they on the field for three quarters of the game, but they also faced 67 plays. They fought their butts off for each and every one of them. Michigan’s defense and coordinator Jay Hill deserve a ton of praise because the offense couldn’t have put them in much worse of a situation.
Western Michigan took over three times inside the Michigan 35 yard line off turnovers. The Broncos ran 11 plays for just 24 yards off those turnovers, and the drives resulted in a turnover on downs and two field goals. That’s where Broncos’ head coach Lance Taylor is kicking himself today, because if they converted just one of those into a touchdown, they win this game and the Wolverines don’t even have a chance at a Hail Mary.
But the defining moment for the defense was on a 20-play, 71-yard drive that spanned almost 14 minutes. Western Michigan didn’t even get into the red zone and was forced to kick a field goal. More than half of the Broncos’ 67 plays came on that drive and throughout the fourth quarter. Still, Michigan’s defense stood tall, bending and not breaking on every occasion. They allowed just two plays over 15 yards and kept the Broncos’ high-powered rushing attack to only 2.9 yards per carry despite 46 attempts. Most teams break with that many body blows; the Wolverines didn’t.
The guys who needed to show up did. Chris Bracy looked strong in the secondary. Troy Bowles had 12 tackles and two tackles for loss. Dom Nichols had 1.5 sacks and a tackle for loss. Imagine what this defense could do and look like if the offense gave them any kind of reprieve. There’s a lot to be excited about here as Hill and the defense look miles ahead of where the offense was in Week 1.
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