Michigan was involved in one of the wildest finishes in college football over the weekend, winning narrowly over Western Michigan, 13-12, on a second-chance Hail Mary attempt after a controversial referee ruling. But the attention wasn't only on the refs' decision — it quickly turned to the Wolverines' star quarterback, Bryce Underwood. Underwood finished 12 of 22 for 170 yards and one touchdown, with one interception and a lost fumble.
He also added 47 rushing yards and a rushing score, but struggling to move the ball that much against a MAC school — in front of a friendly home crowd, no less — is a brutal way to start the year. College football analyst Josh Pate joined "The Rich Eisen Show" on Tuesday and had a blunt response when asked whether Michigan has a quarterback problem with Underwood. And I think it's a bigger problem now than it would have been five years ago, because five years ago, you wouldn't have had an eight-figure price tag attached to a quarterback.
So it, in theory, would have been easier to pull the lever if that lever needs to be pulled," Pate said. "The caliber of athlete Western Michigan had on the field that you [Michigan] couldn't do anything against after that first drive pales in comparison to the athlete that Oklahoma is going to put on the field. This may be the best defense in the country coming into town this week.
And so, I mean, if you can't dent the scoreboard against Western Michigan — I thought that ground game was going to carry them. And I'm looking at [Savion] Hiter and [Jordan] Marshall, and I'm looking at that total rushing output. It really stunned me." "It is Week 1 of a new staff, after all.
But I don't know what the move is if he [Underwood] struggles mightily again this week. And this is a defense that will make a lot of good quarterbacks look bad this year," Pate added. More news: Dabo Swinney’s Buyout Number is Trending After Clemson’s Blowout Loss to LSU More news: Underwood was the top-ranked recruit in the 2025 class, and Michigan pulled off one of the biggest recruiting upsets in recent memory by flipping him from LSU.
It came with a big price tag, though: around $12.5 million over four years, making it one of the richest NIL deals ever given to a high schooler. That kind of money brought instant pressure, but his freshman season was largely disappointing. He completed just 60.3% of his passes for 2,428 yards, 11 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, along with 392 rushing yards and six rushing scores.
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