Halfway through his second season at Michigan, Bryce Underwood’s college football career has gone to a place few would have ever dared to envision four months ago, let alone 14: the bench.
The former five-star recruit, who was the No. 1 player nationally in the high school class of 2025, has lost his starting job with the Wolverines after he was pulled coming out of halftime of Michigan’s Week 7 game against Penn State. Trailing 3-0 at halftime, the Wolverines rallied behind quarterback Tommy Carr for a 21-18 victory.
Underwood’s ineffectiveness in his second college season, and his first season under new Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck, had been one of the major talking points of the 2026 college football season, leading many around the country to wonder whether the Wolverines would sit a player with such a reportedly large NIL deal.
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Against Penn State, that question was answered.
The question now id whether Underwood will be able to find his way back to a role that was once considered safely his. Whittingham didn’t offer any early indications as to whether that would be the case when he declined to name a starter for Week 8 in his weekly news conference.
As Michigan prepares to face off against No. 6 Indiana, the reigning national champions, on Saturday, Oct. 24, here’s a closer look at what led to Underwood’s benching and what’s next for him:
Why Bryce Underwood was benched
Underwood arrived at Michigan with no shortage of hype. A Detroit area prospect who was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, he made the short trip west on I-94 to Ann Arbor to try to lead the Wolverines back to national championship glory.
Underwood was inconsistent as a freshman, as many first-year quarterbacks are, throwing for 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while displaying some of his dual-threat capabilities, with 392 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
Entering his sophomore season, there was some expectation for improvement. He had a year of college experience under his belt, allowing him to adjust to the speed of the game. He was getting a new offensive coordinator in Beck who had worked wonders the previous season at Utah with another dual-threat quarterback, Devon Dampier. And, beyond all of that, there was still so much latent talent to believe that better days were ahead.
That expected progress hasn’t arrived, though.
Through six games this season, Underwood is completing only 58.1% of his passes for 924 yards, 7.5 yards per attempt, five touchdowns and six interceptions. He wasn’t particularly effective on the ground, either, with 223 rushing yards, on 3.7 yards per attempt and two touchdowns.
After briefly appearing to turn a corner in a win against UTEP and a last-second loss to Iowa, he turned in a brutal performance in a loss at Minnesota – a game in which he completed only 10 of 21 passes for 101 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It was the Wolverines’ first road loss against the Golden Gophers since 1977.
During a bye week, Whittingham had said he would “look at everything” to try to improve Michigan’s fortunes after a disappointing 3-2 start. That would include some potential changes at quarterback.
“Bryce is our guy,” Whittingham said at the time. “If we think that giving Tommy a series or two helps our chance to win, then you will see that.”
Underwood followed up that bye with arguably his worst outing of the season, completing only five of 11 passes for 43 yards and two interceptions in the first half against Penn State, with his team trailing, 3-0. For the opening drive of the second half, it was Carr, not Underwood, who came out to lead the team.
After Michigan punted on its first drive with Carr, it scored touchdowns on three of its final five possessions. A Wolverines offense that managed just 80 yards of total offense in the first half racked up 221 in the second. Though Carr only had so much of a personal hand in that rapid turnaround — he completed five of seven passes for 47 yards while adding 36 rushing yards and a touchdown — the difference in Michigan’s offensive effectiveness under his guidance was palpable.
“I supported it,” Whittingham said after the win of the move to Carr. “I'm not gonna say I was against it, but they said, ‘Hey, thinking about making changes.’ Whatever we gotta do. I think that the timing was probably about as good as it could have been.
“People say, 'Well you should have gone to Tommy sooner.' No, I don't think so. I think that how this has unfolded has given Bryce an opportunity to prove himself and, again, I'm not sitting here making a decision going forward who it's gonna be because it was not just Bryce Underwood in the first half that wasn't playing at the top of their game.”
More: Michigan football choice between Tommy Carr, Bryce Underwood is clear
Is Bryce Underwood starting vs Indiana?
Even after Carr helped reignite the Michigan offense in the second half in the win against Penn State, Whittingham has been non-committal on who will start on Saturday against Indiana ... at least publicly.
"We know exactly what we're doing and the plan going forward," Whittingham said at a news conference on Oct. 19. "We're not going to tip our hand to the opponent. But we have a good plan in place."
That lack of a public declaration may just be a bit of gamesmanship on Whittingham’s part heading into a game in which his team is a touchdown underdog.
According to multiple reports this week, Carr is expected to get the start over Underwood.
Tommy Carr 247
Coming out of Saline High School in Saline, Michigan, Carr was rated as a four-star prospect who was ranked as the No. 318 overall prospect and No. 22 quarterback nationally by 247Sports’ composite rankings.
In two seasons as the starter at Saline, Carr threw for 5,247 yards on 357-of-514 passing (69.5%) with 64 touchdowns and nine interceptions, along with 589 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns.
Carr is the grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr and the younger brother of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why was Bryce Underwood benched? Will QB start for Michigan vs Indiana?