'How Long Can Michigan Stick With Bryce Underwood?' — Pressure Continues to Mount

Joel Klatt recently asked the question most Michigan fans want to know.

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Michigan is 1-0 and that's the fact. But it's hard to argue that we saw much good from the Wolverines' Hail Mary win over Western Michigan on Saturday night. Overall, the defense played well. While Jay Hill's unit bent at times, they never fully broke and didn't allow the Broncos into the end zone.

Offensively, WR JJ Buchanan was the lone bright spot. Kyle Whittingham doesn't believe the O-line was an issue, but they certainly didn't impress. And QB Bryce Underwood also didn't impress, in fact, he appeared to regress.

FOX's Joel Klatt will be on hand this weekend to cover Oklahoma vs. Michigan and after watching the film, he was shocked by how poorly Underwood played. He went to the length of wondering how much longer Michigan can play Underwood.

"These are things that you can't do as a quarterback," Klatt said. "And this is going to be film that is going to be incredibly hard to watch for everyone on that team because it is laid bare for everyone. It was laid bare for all of us watching. And now they're going to go in and they're going to watch that film and there's going to be major questions about what his status is this week going into the Oklahoma game.

"Now, obviously it ends great. That Hail Mary is probably going to buy him some time, but I'm just wondering right now how long that leash is going to be when he faces Oklahoma on Saturday..... I'm wondering how long they can stick with Bryce Underwood because based on the film that I watched, if you watch that as an offensive coach, if you watch that as a quarterback coach, if you watch that as a teammate, you're thinking to yourself like, dang, you know, what are we going to do?"

What's Underwood's leash?

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On Monday, Kyle Whittingham admitted he watched the game three full times and didn't get to sleep until 5 a.m. on Sunday morning. While he came to the conclusion that the O-line wasn't the issue, he also didn't have any reasons for Underwood's play against WMU.

He stood by his statement that Underwood made major strides in fall ball, but he also knows that he has to show it during live games. He was asked about Underwood as the starter, and Whittingham said the former five-star is Michigan's QB — for now.

Michigan plays Oklahoma this weekend and UTEP the week after. If he comes out this weekend and has another letdown game, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Wolverines get both Underwood and Tommy Carr reps in Week 3 against the Miners.

Michigan fans shouldn't expect Underwood to get benched anytime soon, but this coaching staff isn't married to him. They didn't get him to flip to Michigan from LSU, but his NIL money could make things tricky. But if Underwood can't produce on the field, Whittingham is the type of coach who will make a change.

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