Kyle Whittingham Issues Critical Warning Ahead of Gut Check Week in Ann Arbor

The Michigan Wolverines are back and licking their wounds after a season opening win that could only be called disappointing.

The Wolverines will need to find their way to playing much better Saturday afternoon against the Oklahoma Sooners, or they’ll be run off their home field.

Kyle Whittingham knows that, and so does the rest of the roster. Putting it into practice? That’s a different story.

The biggest disappointment coming out of Saturday’s win over Western Michigan was the performance of the offense. After a dynamite first drive where they looked ready to take the world by storm, they stalled for the remainder of the evening.

One miracle play could not wipe the stink and disappointment away from what happened on the field for the first 59 minutes of game action.

The Biggest Issue

The largest culprit of the poor performance on offense was quarterback Bryce Underwood.

Underwood finished the night 12-22 for 170 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

If you remove the hail mary to finish the game, Underwood is 11-21 for 124 yards, and the one interception.

Underwood also fumbled away Michigan’s next-to-last possession of the game, and was assigned with five turnover worthy plays from PFF. PFF grades are to be taken with a grain of salt, but they graded Saturday’s game as Underwood’s worst performance of his career.

That performance flew in the face of everything that we heard out of fall camp. Underwood looked sharp. He looked decisive. He had an “A-Plus” camp. He put together 13 good practices in a row.

So what happened Saturday?

Whittingham did not have a lot of answers in his press availability for Monday.

He did, however, offer some information that was telling.

Michigan has been steadfast in its support and praise for their quarterback. There was no controversy. There was no competition for the starting quarterback job when Whittingham came in.

Underwood was the guy, and it was unquestioned.

Has that changed?

A Warning

“He’s still our quarterback right now,” Whittingham said.

Right now felt like something that was telling.

Whittingham would stress later that he does not want to panic with Underwood and wants him to develop, but it’s clear there is some pressure being turned up within the program this week, specifically at the quarterback position.

“He's our QB right now. It's not something that's infinite. At some point, we've got to turn a corner and we've got to see improvement,” Whittingham said. “As we do with a bunch of stuff, we've got to see improvement out of the coaches. It's not just on Bryce. It's not just Bryce's job that is not absolutely set in concrete. Nobody's is. You've got to perform week in and week out. Become somebody that we feel is playing at a level that we can win with. That goes far beyond Bryce. It goes throughout the whole team. What you've done lately is very important in football.”

Underwood was not the only player at fault for his poor freshman season. He’s not the only reason that Michigan played poorly on offense Saturday.

Whittingham was fair to point that out, but also pointed out that things have to get better. It’s true that to whom much is given, much is expected. Underwood was given the keys to the kingdom in Ann Arbor. He has not yet come close to fulfilling that potential.

The noise is getting loud in Ann Arbor surrounding his job status. A repeat performance by Underwood on Saturday will result in Michigan getting blown off the field by Oklahoma.

Blowout losses to programs that Michigan views itself as a peer, is not what anyone signed up for this season. The expectation is to win.

The expectation is to win right now.

Whittingham and Underwood both need to have their best weeks, or it could get ugly quickly Saturday afternoon.

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