Tommy Carr Highlights List of Michigan's Winners, Losers from Big Win Over Penn State

The Michigan Wolverines are out of their bye week. With the way the first half of Saturday’s game against Penn State, you would have been forgiven if you did not know. Michigan started the game on defense and surrendered a field goal drive that took up nearly the entire first quarter.

When Michigan took the field on offense, it was a lot of the same story from the first five weeks of the season. The offense could not run the ball. They couldn’t throw it either. When the ball did get in the air, Penn State’s defense caught nearly as many passes as Michigan receivers.

The final result was a 3-0 deficit at halftime, and a seismic move for the offense. Bryce Underwood out, Tommy Carr in.

The first score of the day came from one expected source, and another unexpected source.

Rod Moore’s interception set up a 43-yard touchdown run from Bryson Kuzdzal, giving Michigan a 7-3 lead early in the third quarter.

Michigan entered the fourth quarter with a 14-3 lead, which was trimmed to 14-11 with more than 10 minutes to play. The only way out of the losing streak, was the hard way.

They made things even harder on themselves with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Tommy Carr picked up what looked like it was going to be a first down deep inside Penn State territory, but it was called back due to an illegal formation penalty.

Facing a third-and-9, Michigan ran a speed option. Carr pressed the option as long as he could before cutting up the field.

The result was a 12-yard-touchdown. Michigan led 21-11 with 2:58 to play.

Of course, it was not easy from there. Rocco Becht found Chase Sowell with 1:11 remaining to pull the Nittany Lions within three. Michigan recovered an onside kick, and Jordan Marshall iced the game with two downhill runs that allowed Michigan to run the clock out.

They got a win, and might have found a quarterback in the process. Carr leads our list of winners from a big day in Ann Arbor.

Winner: QB Tommy Carr

As it turns out, Tommy Carr is not just the grandson of Lloyd Carr. He can play a little bit too. Carr started the second half after a dreadful first half from Michigan’s offense left them devoid of answers.

Maybe Carr won’t be the long term answer, as it was just one half of football. That one half showed, however, that the moment was not too big for him.

Carr finished with 47 yards on five completions, and added 36 yards on the ground with a touchdown.

He showed resilience late in the game as well. After a run for a first down was negated due to another illegal formation penalty that have plagued the Wolverines all season, Carr had another chance.

He didn’t panic. He looked cool and collected on an option play that was cut up field for his first rushing touchdown as a Michigan Wolverine.

“The idea was to create a spark, and Tommy did just that,” head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game ended.

That spark led to 21 second half points, and more importantly a win for a Michigan team that was desperate for one.

Winner: S Rod Moore

Rod Moore has been through it during his time at Michigan. With the Wolverines needing a spark on Saturday, they found help from an old friend. Rocco Becht rolled to his right looking to make a big play to give Penn State control of the game. Instead, his pass down the sideline found the waiting arms of Rod Moore, who made a diving interception to turn the tide of the game.

That was Moore’s last play of the game, but Michigan outscored the Nittany Lions 21-8 from that point forward. Now, the Wolverines hope that Moore can return from his injury in time to play Indiana next week.

Winner: C Jake Guarnera

Being an offensive lineman at Michigan requires some toughness.

Toughness requires playing hurt, and still playing well. Michigan center Jake Guarnera will be a captain for the Wolverines one day, and Saturday’s game showed why.

Bryson Kuzdzal’s 43-yard touchdown run opened the scoring for the Wolverines, and required some vision from Michigan’s third string running back. It also came as the result of Guarnera climbing to the second level and getting a piece of a Penn State linebacker to spring him forward.

Guarnera is the leader of the offensive line, and he showed why on Saturday.

Winner: S Chris Bracy

We don’t give out game balls in this publication, but if we did, it’d be hard to give it to anyone other than Chris Bracy.

Bracy’s interception in the third quarter snuffed out a scoring drive that Penn State could have taken the lead on with the Wolverines clinging to a 7-3 lead.

Late in the game, Penn State had the ball, trailing by three and looking to take the lead late to break the hearts of the Wolverines.

Bracy got home on a blitz, forcing Rocco Becht to fumble, which was recovered by Enow Etta. Tommy Carr’s touchdown run came a few plays later, which iced the game for the Wolverines.

Bracy was an unheralded arrival from the transfer portal, but has been a big-time stabilizer in the secondary for the Wolverines. Saturday’s game was his best since enrolling at Michigan.

Loser: QB Bryce Underwood

Did the Bryce Underwood era end today in Ann Arbor? It’s possible. Michigan came into the week saying Bryce Underwood was their starting quarterback, but there were signs that he was at the end of his rope.

Freshman quarterback Tommy Carr was splitting reps with Underwood during the bye week. We said all week it felt unlikely that a quarterback who was firmly entrenched as a starter would be splitting reps with his backup.

Jared Goff does not share reps with his backup in Detroit. If you don’t like the pro football reference, Julian Sayin is not sharing reps with his backup at Ohio State.

If you don’t like the Ohio State reference, JJ McCarthy was not splitting reps with his backups once he became the starter.

You get the point. It turns out where there was smoke, there was fire.

After a first half that saw Underwood go 5-11 for 43 yards and two interceptions, Kyle Whittingham had seen enough.

"First of all, we have to get something going on offense,” Whittingham said at halftime to CBS’ Jenny Dell. “We got absolutely nothing going. Not running the ball well. Only team not running the ball as well as us is then. So, neither team can run the football. "But we have 2 turnovers. I don't have an answer for you right now, but we're going to talk about it, and we have to get something going."

Once it was talked about at halftime, the coaching staff made their move. Tommy Carr entered the game to start the second half to give the offense a spark.

If Underwood is to remain on the bench barring an injury to Carr, he turned the ball over nine times in 11 halves of football. That’s unacceptable from any quarterback. That’s why Underwood is on the bench and now his future is uncertain.

To Underwood’s credit, he did not sulk on the sideline and remained supportive of his teammates. That seems like the bare minimum for a captain, but is worth mentioning considering the situation.

Loser: Pass Rush

Michigan’s pass rush has slowly started to fade as the season has gone along. Rocco Becht was far too comfortable no matter what pressure packages Michigan threw his direction. Whether they rushed four, or sent pressure, they were rarely able to get home. John Henry Daley and Troy Bowles both had sacks prior to the fourth quarter. Chris Bracy added a huge strip sack late in the game, but otherwise Michigan’s rush was held silent. They had to send pressure to make Rocco Becht uncomfortable.

This is a group that thrived early in the season on getting pressure with their front four. They won their early season matchup against Oklahoma largely on the back of being able to get pressure without having to blitz.

That superpower has disappeared, especially during the last two games. Dom Nichols does not have a full sack since the first game of the season against Western Michigan. Tariq Boney has been quiet of late as well.

Ultimately, Michigan two separate double-digit leads in the fourth quarter. An elite pass rush should smell blood in that situation. On Saturday, they didn’t. That’s a problem that Jay Hill will need to solve before next week’s game against Indiana.

Loser: CB Jyaire Hill

Jyaire Hill entered Saturday’s game having his best season as a Wolverine. His game on Saturday will not be one to put on his highlight reel.

It may end up on somebody else’s. Penn State wide receiver Chase Sowell was a game-time decision due to an ankle injury. Michigan likely wishes he had taken another week to rest that ankle as Sowell was the best player on the field for Penn State’s offense from start to finish.

Sowell finished with 11 catches, 151 yards, and a touchdown.  

Hill was not the only one to cover Sowell, but he was the primary assignment on most of those plays. That included a holding penalty that gave Penn State second life on a drive deep in Michigan territory. One play later, Penn State scored a touchdown to make the score 14-11.

Sowell was Penn State’s biggest target of the day. Some plays were a byproduct of good defense, but better offenses. That’s the name of the game sometimes.

Hill will face some big time receivers later in the year as well. He will need to be better than he was on Saturday.