While hysteria crashed into disbelief across Michigan Stadium on Saturday night, as a last-ditch Hail Mary saved head coach Kyle Whittingham from an unthinkable upset in his debut, the television cameras quickly latched on quarterback Bryce Underwood — just as they’d done all evening.
Hours earlier, during an ebullient pregame scene in Ann Arbor, the broadcast followed an emotional Underwood out of the tunnel and into a pregame huddle amid which he bellowed a fiery speech for his teammates. When Underwood raced toward an open spot on the field for a final prayer before kickoff, the cameras were ready and waiting to capture him pointing toward the heavens.
Bryce Underwood threw for 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception in Michigan’s win over Western Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The countdown to Michigan’s opener against Western Michigan was all Underwood, all the time.
And that’s exactly how the evening ended, too. The 47-yard huck-and-prayer touchdown from Underwood to wide receiver JJ Buchanan on what proved to be the final play — a moment only made possible by a confusing and controversial review in which one mysterious second was re-added to the game clock — staved off an unthinkable upset that might have derailed Michigan’s season before it got started.
Instead, the Wolverines were granted an improbable new lease on life as an air of defiance stretched across Underwood’s face and fans stormed the field.
“A blessing,” Underwood said during the postgame news conference. “That’s the only way I could put it, honestly. Just another opportunity for us to believe in our guys and make a play.”
Though Michigan escaped its opener with an unlikely 13-12 victory over the Broncos, plenty of questions still remain before the Wolverines’ high-profile showdown with No. 10 Oklahoma in Ann Arbor on Saturday (noon ET, FOX). Namely, how.
As in, how could a team coached by Whittingham, whose discipline and leadership have been lauded for decades, put forth a performance pockmarked by so many self-inflicted wounds?
How could Underwood, who spent the offseason training with well-respected private quarterbacks coach Jordan Palmer, show so many of the same inconsistencies in technique and decision-making that plagued his uneven freshman campaign?
And finally, how could an offense led by vaunted offensive coordinator Jason Beck, whose Utah squad finished fourth in the country for yards per game in 2025, be outperformed by Western Michigan on the ground (132 yards to 106), on third down (eight conversions to three) and in the turnover battle (minus-3 for Michigan)?
Nothing about the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds of Saturday’s game should have imbued the Wolverines with hope — let alone belief — as Underwood readied himself for the final pass.
“Sick to my stomach is the way I would explain the feeling of that game,” Michigan edge rusher Dom Nichols said during the postgame news conference. “It should have never came down to that. Obviously, I’m glad we came out 1-0, but we’ve got some stuff to fix.”
Michigan’s Dom Nichols had nine tackles and 1.5 sacks in the Wolverines’ win over Western Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
It’s a far cry from how the Wolverines were feeling about themselves and their long-term outlook just more than a month ago, right before the start of fall camp, when I spoke to several Michigan players by phone and face to face at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. Back then, the wide receiving corps felt like the combination of Beck’s innovative system and some marked improvement from Underwood could elevate the offense toward college football’s upper echelon.
Sophomore wideout Andrew Marsh, who has spoken openly about his goal of becoming the first Michigan pass-catcher to eclipse 1,000 yards since Jeremy Gallon in 2013, told me the new scheme is a “receiver-friendly offense and definitely an offense I’m looking forward to playing in this year.” He caught two passes for 15 yards against the Broncos and was essentially a non-factor.
Buchanan, the star transfer who followed Whittingham and Beck from Utah to Michigan, told me that Underwood has “every trait you want in a QB1.” And then Underwood turned the ball over multiple times on Saturday night while completing just 11 of 21 passes for 123 yards before the Hail Mary, which — it must be said — was a spectacular throw that traveled roughly 60 yards in the air.
Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown pass that lifted the Wolverines to a win over Western Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
But prior to that game-clinching moment from Underwood and Buchanan, who was arguably the Wolverines’ best player with six catches for 126 yards and the winning score, an expectant crowd of more than 110,000 at Michigan Stadium had grown disillusioned amid more than three full quarters of offensive malaise. However much hope they nurtured during an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game had long since evaporated when a field goal with 35 seconds remaining gave Western Michigan what felt like an insurmountable five-point lead.
And who could blame them?
An offensive line over which Whittingham had repeatedly gushed during the buildup to Saturday’s opener struggled to generate movement at the line of scrimmage. A running back tandem of Jordan Marshall and five-star freshman Savion Hiter, whom many around college football expected to offer an immediate impact, combined for just 59 yards on 16 carries. Buchanan and Marsh were the only wide receivers to catch passes for a position group that had been touted as the program’s deepest and most talented in years.
“I feel like we just got to come out and dominate and be aggressive like we were in the first drive [on] every single play, you know?” Underwood said during the postgame news conference. “We can’t come down, energy can’t come down, can’t get comfortable. That’s really all.”
Surely Underwood must know that Michigan’s offensive dysfunction runs far deeper than any inability to sustain motivation across four quarters, particularly when it comes to his own performance. Many of the issues Underwood experienced against the Broncos were eerily reminiscent of his shortcomings last year, which should be triggering alarm bells for Whittingham, Beck and quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. considering the caliber of opponent.
Was it really just a dip in energy that prompted Underwood to make one poor decision after another, firing balls into traffic until he finished with a career-high five turnover-worthy plays on Pro Football Focus and the lowest overall grade of his run as Michigan’s starter?
Was it really just a dip in energy that allowed Underwood’s ball security to lapse on a critical fourth-quarter carry that resulted in a lost fumble?
Was it really just a dip in energy that caused Underwood’s mechanics to erode after an impressive opening possession in which analyst Todd Blackledge heaped praise on what he perceived to be significant improvements in footwork, rhythm and timing?
And yet, while Underwood’s Hail Mary to Buchanan won’t erase the passing-game problems that preceded it, it was the kind of spectacular, pressure-packed play that could change the way an offense views itself.
Underwood now has a defining moment to carry into next week, and if that final throw can inject some confidence into an offense that spent most of Saturday searching for itself, the Wolverines might have found something far more valuable than a way to escape.
But whether that moment can actually become a turning point — and whether Michigan can fix the problems that made a miracle necessary in the first place — are among the questions the Wolverines must ponder between now and kickoff against Oklahoma next weekend.
Because one Hail Mary, no matter how brilliant, can’t save Underwood from the CIA-level scrutiny he’s about to receive.
“We have a ton of work to do,” Whittingham said during the postgame news conference when asked about his message to the team. “That the degree of difficulty next week goes way up. And if we don’t play a lot better, it’s not going to be pretty.”
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Bryce Underwood’s Hail Mary rescued Michigan from a stunning upset in one of the wildest college football finishes in recent memory.
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