ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan had 80 yards of total offense in the first half against Penn State on Saturday afternoon. The Wolverines' offense remained stagnant and starting quarterback Bryce Underwood threw a pair of interceptions.
At the beginning of the week, Kyle Whittingham said Tommy Carr had received 50% of the reps with the 1s and would be ready if the team felt like he was needed. He was needed on Saturday and the Wolverines made a quarterback change to begin the second half.
Carr led the Wolverines to 21 points in the second half and Michigan walked away with a 21-18 win over the Nittany Lions. While Carr played well, Whittingham isn't going to tip his hand on who will start for Michigan against Indiana next weekend.
"He did a nice job," Whittingham said of Carr. "He's always prepared. I'd walk by that quarterback room 12 times, 15 times a day. He's in there pretty much every second. He doesn't have class. He's in there watching film. So he's very prepared when his number was called.
"And going forward, we'll take a good hard look at the tape and see why things balked down in the first half and why we were better in the second half because there really wasn't a lot of scheme change. And make a decision. Not prepared to say right now at this desk or this table what we're going to do going forward.
"As far as that, now I say that, you know, we don't want to tip our hand to Indiana necessarily. And so we will have a great idea when we all know exactly what the plan is on Monday. Now, how much of that will win out of the bag, we'll see."
Provided a spark
In the first half with Underwood, Michigan had 80 total yards and two interceptions. But once Carr took the field, it was like the offense had some renewed energy. Carr completed his first pass, but the drive stalled.
After that, Carr led two straight scoring drives, and then ran in what was the game-winning score with a 12-yard keeper. While Whittingham noted that Carr still needs to bulk up and that there are things he needs to improve on, the first-year Michigan coach said the true freshman was the spark Michigan needed.
Between Carr, the defense forcing three takeaways, and the running game getting back to form — it was the combination Michigan needed.
"Well, that's the exact term that we're looking for is a spark for the offense," said Whittingham. "And he provided it. He came in and players rallied around him. And that's not to be disparaging against Bryce, because that's pretty typical when you have a changing quarterback. Everyone rallies and ups their level of play. And that was a big difference in our production, obviously, in the second half as opposed to the first half.
"Now, a great deal of that credit goes to the defense. We had three takeaways in the second half, all of which led to touchdowns. And so our three touchdowns. So it was a combination of the defense taking the ball away, which is the name of the game. But that was the difference is our ability to take the ball away in the second half and also to rush the football. You know, over 200 yards."
The case of Bryce Underwood
Underwood came to Michigan as the No. 1 rated prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. He started as a true freshman at Michigan and was expected to improve this season under Jason Beck. While he has shown flashes — it hasn't come together.
But Whittingham said that Underwood took the news as well as possible and he was seen cheering on his teammates on the sidelines, while coaching up Carr. Underwood was often the first player on the field to celebrate with Carr.
"Well, the conversation was handled by Jason Beck, his quarterback coach and coordinator," said Whittingham. "And Bryce couldn't have handled it any better. He was out there helping Tommy and talking to him between series. And, you know, I love Bryce Underwood. He's a stand-up guy.
"He's competitive. He's got a ton of want to. And he's got such a great personality, just a pleasant guy to be around. And it could have gone one of two ways. You either just climb up and put your head down and sulk, or you can be a positive. And he chose that route."
Fans might have to wait to see who starts for Michigan on Saturday against Indiana.
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