Michigan HC Kyle Whittingham Earned an A+ vs. Oklahoma — Urban Meyer Agrees

Coach Kyle Whittingham showed why he's been around for so long.

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It was an old-fashioned Michigan football victory on Saturday. Hosting the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners, the Wolverines weren't a popular pick to win the game. But Michigan kept its head down and made improvements from its Week 1 win over Western Michigan.

First-year Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham wasn't happy with how the Wolverines beat the Broncos in Week 1 and he vowed Michigan would play better. And that it did. The Wolverines relied on their stifling defense, along with making Bryce Underwood a focal point of the run game.

It resulted in a 17-10 win over the Sooners and former Ohio State head coach, friend of Whittingham, and FOX analyst Urban Meyer gave Whittingham and Co. an A+ grade.

"That's That's an easy one. And boy, I'll tell you, I got to be careful flying into Columbus, Ohio. I might get assaulted," Meyer joked. "That was an A+. That was — you can't the negativity because the reality is there should be 1-1. They lost, they should have lost [to WMU] but that that's — here's the good thing is you won't hear anybody talk about Western Michigan again now because they took care of business.

"So I'd give them an A+ from the head coach, Jay Hill the defense coordinator, and Jason Beck the offense coordinator. I didn't see that. I picked Oklahoma"

Whittingham has the buy in of the team

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Meyer had a few stops along his coaching journey. From Bowling Green to Utah, to Florida, and then to Ohio State, Meyer knows what it took to get his teams to buy in. Getting that first statement win was the key and Whittingham accomplished that in Week 2 of the season.

After 21 seasons as the head coach at Utah, he opted to continue his coaching career at a new place. For Michigan, the Wolverines are used to hiring 'Wolverine men', as Meyer put it, since he won't say Michigan, and Whittingham had no ties to Ann Arbor or Michigan.

But Michigan believed in what Whittingham could do and how he could turn the culture back the right way in Ann Arbor. While things looked very shaky in Week 1, Whittingham proved himself to the team and fans in Week 2.

Still work to be done

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Michigan did exactly what it needed to do to beat the Sooners in Week 2. The Wolverines relied on Jay Hill's unit to create pressure and make John Mateer beat them with his arm. But Michigan's secondary was stout and the pressure was too much on Mateer.

Offensively, the Wolverines ran Underwood 18 times and made him a focal point. Michigan learned from its Week 1 mistake and now knows how to properly use Underwood moving forward.

And while the Wolverines won the game, there are still clear improvements that need to be made. Starting with the passing attack, it needs to be improved. Michigan has the worst passing offense in the Big Ten, and only two WRs have caught a pass this season.

More playmakers need to be involved, along with getting Jordan Marshall rolling in the rushing attack. If the Wolverines can get that accomplished, along with playing more disciplined, Michigan won't be an easy out, regardless of who it plays.

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