The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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62 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2026 T here was no "hooting and holler- ing" in the Michigan locker room after needing a Hail Mary from sophomore quarterback Bryce Under- wood to sophomore wideout JJ Buchanan to edge Western Michigan. If someone that didn't watch the game parachuted in to be a fly on the wall, they'd have thought the Wolverines just lost to an in-state directional school for the first time ever. "Sick to my stomach," junior defensive end Dom Nichols expressed. "I'm still pissed," head coach Kyle Whittingham said an hour after the 13- 12 walk-off victory. Senior defensive tackle Trey Pierce, one of four team captains, had an idea: to hold a players-only meeting at Schem- bechler Hall the following morning. The team assembled and had some humbling conversations. "We've got to stop being soft," gradu- ate safety Rod Moore said of one of the main sentiments shared by team leaders. There was no time to feel sorry for themselves with No. 11 Oklahoma coming to town the following Satur- day. Michigan had a lot of corrections to make, but everyone in that building knew a much better performance was possible. We've all seen the majority of those same players compete at a higher level either at Michigan or elsewhere. One week later, the Wolverines were celebrating a 17-10 victory over the Sooners in that same locker room with a completely different vibe. "We were lit," senior defensive tackle Enow Etta said. "We busted our butt and put the product on the field we knew we should have." That marked a significant win early in the Whittingham era — in more ways than one. "Kyle Whittingham is going into Michigan, and he is charged with doing something that is very difficult to do, which is to win the culture in a locker room that's already proud," FOX ana- lyst Joel Klatt said on his podcast. "It's a blue blood. Those players go there, and they already think pretty highly of them- selves. There's an idea of 'We're Michi- gan.'" After one game, Michigan players could've questioned the new schemes or the increased level of discipline. What's it all for if it doesn't pay off on Satur- days? But Whittingham and Co. rallied the troops with a challenge to "do more" in every aspect that week, a mentality the team has vowed to carry throughout the season. "I've given this analogy, but you're either the bottle of water or you're the refrigerator," Klatt said. "Guess what the bottle of water does? It turns into the temperature of whatever it's around. You put a bottle of water outside on a hot day, it becomes a hot bottle of water. You put it inside of your living room, leave it on the kitchen counter, it becomes room temperature water. You put it in a refrig- erator, guess what happens? That bottle of water becomes cold. "So, what are you? Are you a refrig- erator or are you a bottle of water? You're either going to say, 'No, no, no, whatever touches me becomes my temperature or I'm just going to go with the flow.' "You see, coaches are like that with the culture of their locker room. I've seen guys go in and they try to assimilate, be- cause they don't want to rock the boat. It's like, it's a good program, these are good players, we're all going to do this together. That's bullcrap. "The best coaches hold their own standard, and holding your own stan- dard means that everyone's going to turn into your temperature. Everyone's going to get a little bit of your DNA, because you're going to play a very certain brand of football. It's going to be your way or the highway, and it's a winning way." Michigan's defense was heroic against the Sooners, proving that the glimpses shown in the WMU game were legit. The offense took steps forward, with every- one buying into the game plan. Under- wood, who's been reluctant to run and wasn't asked to do much of it in the past, rushed a career-high 18 times — the most by a Michigan signal-caller in a game in more than a decade. "You've got to get in there, and then you've got to play the most rugged game of tug-of-war in your life as a coach — and you have to win," Klatt continued. "If you don't win, there's no future at that school. And eventually, the great coaches win. They win the tug-of-war, because they know that they have to, and their culture wins out. Their DNA wins out. Their style works out. Their disci- pline works out. Because they know they have to win. "Last week, there was a game of tug- of-war going on, and Kyle Whitting- ham won. That's what that game against Oklahoma was. Kyle Whittingham won his game of tug-of-war." And the Michigan Wolverines, after all that, are 3-0 and potential contenders in the Big Ten. ❑ SAYFIE BLITZ ❱ CLAYTON SAYFIE Whittingham Wins Culture Tug-Of-War Whittingham and his coaching staff overcame a near-miss against Western Michigan to go 3-0 in pre-Big Ten play. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Staff writer Clayton Sayfie has covered Michigan athletics for The Wolverine since 2019. Contact him at Clayton.Sayfie @on3.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @CSayf23.