ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan was staring 3-3 right in the face after 30 minutes of football on Saturday. The Wolverines had two weeks to prepare for the Nittany Lions, but the same Michigan team showed up. The Wolverines couldn't run the football, nor could Michigan establish a pass game.
Despite Kyle Whittingham saying they had positive conversations last week with quarterback Bryce Underwood, he did the one thing the coaching staff said he couldn't do — turned the ball over. Underwood threw two interceptions in the game and Whittingham opted to make a change.
In came freshman Tommy Carr, who provided a spark. Carr led three scoring drives, which ultimately propelled Michigan to a 21-18 win over Penn State.
But despite Carr coming in and providing a spark, Whittingham wasn't ready to commit to either Carr or Underwood for next week against Indiana.
"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," Whittingham said after the game.
Need to see what Carr has
Whittingham said the coaching staff needs to look at the film to get a better understanding of which player will help the team. Underwood has had an entire season under the previous staff, along with five and a half games under Jason Beck as the coordinator. Michigan knows what Underwood has to offer.
He has shown flashes of being that five-star quarterback. It wasn't that long ago that Underwood shined against Iowa. He had arguably his best game as a Michigan Wolverine, but he continues to put the ball in harm's way. Underwood now has six interceptions to five touchdown passes this season, along with coughing the ball up on the ground.
Carr is raw, but it's time to see what he can do.
"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."
Underwood was voted captain and is a leader of the team. And that was evident on Saturday. He took the news, while being disappointed, and made the most of it. Underwood was the first player on the field to celebrate with Carr and cheered his team on. He could've taken the news two different ways: sat on the bench and sulked, or take the news on the chin, get back up and help the team from the bench.
In theory, Michigan's season is stil in its control
What makes the decision hard for Michigan and Whittingham is that the Wolverines can still win out and make the College Football Playoff. Is that likely at all? No. But it's the reality of the situation, and now Whittingham has to juggle with the idea of throwing Carr out against Indiana to make his first career start.
But at some point, you have to. That's not to say Underwood is glued to the bench. Personally, a two-QB system sounds terrible. But Beck ran one last season with Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin. It's more than possible you sprinkle in both quarterbacks against Indiana and make the Hoosiers defend both of them.
Not sure how likely that is, but the way Whittingham talked about Underwood after the game, it makes you wonder if the coaching staff will want some sort of role for him even if he's not the starter. But the one thing that's for certain is Carr has earned reps and he should enter Week 8 as Michigan's starting quarterback. Time to see what the kid can do in an expanded role.
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