Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
By the time freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood took the field for Michigan’s opening drive at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where 84,107 sozzled and snarling fans were waiting to noisily greet him, the Wolverines were already behind on the scoreboard.
Underwood’s counterpart, Sooners’ starter John Mateer, a splashy addition from Washington State via the transfer portal, had begun the game in charge of a beautiful 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive in which his cannon-like right arm stole the show. He zinged a pass up the seam to tight end Jaren Kanak that gained 31 yards on third-and-9. He caught the defensive front jumping offside and deftly burned the Wolverines with a 21-yard shot to wideout Deion Burks, who’d exploited the space between Michigan’s cornerback and safety. Six plays later, Mateer flipped a little push pass to Burks for a catch-and-run touchdown.
It was an impressive dose of command from Mateer, a redshirt junior who is three years and quite a bit of on-field experience older than Underwood. It also set the stage for what many around the sport were fascinated to see when it comes to Underwood, an 18-year-old kid and the No. 1 overall prospect in this year’s recruiting cycle. Sure, he’d more or less aced his debut against New Mexico with 251 passing yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, but Saturday night’s nationally televised showdown pitted Michigan against the No. 18 team in the country, an Oklahoma program whose new defensive playcaller — head coach Brent Venables — won two national championships as Clemson’s defensive coordinator in 2016 and 2018. This was big-time college football.
For Underwood, a modest first half gave way to a highly ineffective finish in which he only completed four passes in the second half. There were miscommunications with teammates, passes that sailed too high for receivers and a general absence of production against Venables’ aggressive, multidimensional defense. Underwood completed nine of 24 passes for 142 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in an eventual 24-13 loss that reinforces how steep of a learning curve almost all true freshmen have — especially with an inexperienced collection of wide receivers and tight ends around him.
Here’s a report card for Underwood from the biggest start of his young career:
Early returns: C+
Though Michigan failed to score in the opening quarter as both of its offensive possessions ended with punts, Underwood seemed largely unbothered by what was unquestionably the most difficult environment he’s ever faced. He might not have danced onto the field like he did a week ago at Michigan Stadium, where Underwood made his long-anticipated debut after winning the quarterback competition in fall camp, but he still flashed a toothy smile in the final seconds before taking his first snap against the Sooners, relishing the opportunity ahead and calmly reading off the play card attached to his waist.
Bryce Underwood #19 of Michigan participates in warmups prior to a game against Oklahoma Sooners. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
On his first pass, Underwood nimbly reacted to a free rusher off the edge by dropping his arm angle and rifling a ball to slot receiver for Semaj Morgan for an easy 19-yard gain. He later escaped the pocket to his right and layered a throw over two defenders to wideout Donaven McCulley on a play that gained 38 yards down the sideline. A similar rollout in the second quarter netted a 25-yard completion to wide receiver Channing Goodwin after multiple penalties against the Sooners kept the possession alive.
But Underwood was far from perfect across a first half in which the Wolverines only averaged 2.3 yards per carry, punted three times and missed a chip-shot field goal. Flummoxed, perhaps, by a post-snap coverage shift from the Sooners, Underwood nearly tossed the first interception of his career on Michigan’s second drive when he heaved a deep pass toward nobody in particular. Another apparent miscommunication between Underwood and McCulley, the team’s No. 1 receiver, cost the Wolverines a potential touchdown on their only red zone trip of the opening half when the ball sailed high. Underwood was also involved in some sort of heated, sideline discussion with running back Justice Haynes, a coveted Alabama transfer, that was ultimately broken up by several teammates.
He entered the locker room having completed five of 10 passes for just 76 yards — a far cry from what Mateer was able to produce both with his arm (12-of-18 for 160 yards, one TD) and his legs (nine carries, 30 yards, one TD) in building a multi-score lead.
Dual threat: Incomplete
Despite everything Underwood had shown in a sparkling performance against New Mexico last week, when he blended eye-popping arm strength with silky touch passes in a debut that oozed confidence, his contributions came entirely through the air. His final stat line only included two carries for minus-5 yards as a runner. It was widely assumed that Michigan’s coaching staff had encouraged Underwood not to risk his body against such an overmatched opponent in the same way former coach Jim Harbaugh kept guardrails on quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s mobility.
Saturday’s game against Oklahoma, however, seemed like it might present first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey an opportunity to incorporate Underwood as a runner, especially if the Sooners were focused on Haynes after he rumbled for 159 yards and three scores in Week 1. Underwood had run for more than 600 yards and six rushing touchdowns during his senior season at Belleville High School in Belleville, Michigan, a half-hour from the Wolverines’ campus, and he’d chipped in with seven rushing scores the year before. There was little doubt that he could contribute to Michigan’s offense in more ways than one.
Bryce Underwood #19 of the Michigan Wolverines participates in warmups prior to a game against Oklahoma. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Yet even as Mateer demonstrated how effective timely quarterback runs can be — he powered into the end zone with 22 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Sooners a 14-0 lead — Lindsey and the Wolverines refrained from asking Underwood to run the ball. He didn’t have a single rushing attempt, be that a designed run or a scramble, through the opening two quarters as Haynes and fellow tailback Jordan Marshall split the workload. Even McCulley got a carry when Lindsey called for a wide receiver reverse.
Underwood finally kept the ball for the first time on a read-option play with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter, turning down the chance to feed it to a wide receiver on a jet sweep and running to his right. Multiple Oklahoma defenders sliced into the backfield to cut Underwood down for a five-yard loss. He didn’t run again until the early stages of the fourth quarter, picking up nine yards on a scramble through the middle.
By game’s end, he’d run three times for minus-1 yards.
Down the stretch: D+
With 4:44 remaining in the third quarter, at which point Michigan still trailed by double figures, Underwood took the field for the most pivotal drive of his career. To that point, he’d completed just one of four passes in the second half for a single yard. And the Wolverines needed his field-stretching arm more than ever.
Underwood responded by uncorking a gorgeous 44-yard heave to McCulley, who leaped and trapped the ball behind a defender’s helmet to maintain control as he hit the ground. The lengthy completion was exactly the kind of jolt that all three Michigan quarterbacks were unable to generate in 2024, when the Wolverines finished as the only team in the country without at least one completion of 40-plus yards. What Underwood did in that moment was exactly what Michigan fans had dreamed of since the former five-star recruit flipped his commitment from LSU, igniting the fan base amid a down campaign last fall. And a few plays later, the drive resulted in a field goal that cut the Sooners’ lead to 21-13.
Bryce Underwood #19 of the Michigan Wolverines participates in warmups prior to a game against Oklahoma. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
A missed kick by Oklahoma afforded Underwood and Michigan the chance to orchestrate a game-tying scoring drive in the early stages of the fourth quarter, but the possession quickly unraveled. Underwood appeared to go the wrong way while executing a play fake and wound up taking a sack that put the Wolverines well behind the chains, and poor clock management by the offense forced head coach Sherrone Moore to call two timeouts in the span of a few snaps. When Underwood’s third-down pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage, sinking his completion percentage well below 50% for the game, Michigan was forced to punt and immediately paid the price: The Sooners responded with a 16-play, 78-yard drive that drained more than eight minutes off the clock and iced the game when kicker Tate Sandell tacked on a short field goal.
The long throw to McCulley proved to be Underwood’s only real highlight amid a lackluster second half in which steady blitzing from Oklahoma challenged the youngster. And when his receivers struggled to generate any kind of separation downfield — McCulley was the lone wideout to record more than one catch — Underwood misfired on five consecutive passes from the 2:39 mark of the third quarter to the 1:33 mark of the fourth quarter, with the Sooners’ marathon drive in between.
By then, the game was more or less out of reach.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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