The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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66 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2026 T he angry texts, DMs, and message board posts from the Michigan football fan base started earlier than usual this year: "You told us this team was go- ing to be good!" "You guys need new sources!" "Way to pump sunshine for subscriptions, you #$%6!" And those were some of the nicer ones during the first half of a 13-12 victory over Western Michigan. So yes, we were relieved when Kyle Whittingham's first team picked up a huge win over Okla- homa, a 17-10 "season saver" as some called it. The jury is still out on the Sooners, too — one fan tweeted after the loss, "I enjoyed this season … looking forward to the next!" — following a non- conference campaign that ended with a narrow 14-6 win against New Mexico. We'll find out soon enough if Michi- gan will be the challenge everyone ex- pected it to be. Iowa, Penn State, and UCLA, even, look like tougher games t h a n ex p e c te d , a n d wh i l e O re go n struggled in the nonconference, the Ducks are still talented. That trip to Eugene will be very tough. We listed five question marks about this team in the preseason — areas of concern, we'll call them, that might keep Michigan from reaching its goals in 2026. The first was whether Bryce Un- derwood could make the second-year leap to become a very good quarterback, and that one's still in question. We're encouraged by his run game perfor- mance vs. Oklahoma (87 yards) and his passing against UTEP (caveat being it's UTEP), but we have to see much more to believe he's arrived. Special teams? Check. Pitt trans- fer Trey Butkowski was hit and miss in camp, but he's been money on his 2 field-goal attempts, from 40 yards vs. the Sooners and 49 vs. UTEP. Both were at key moments, too. And while the re- turn games still need work, sophomore punter Cam Brown has been outstand- ing. Will the defensive front seven be good enough, especially the lineback- ers? Heck yeah they will. The defen- sive line is scary good, especially on the edges, and the linebacker group is one of the team's most pleasant surprises. And Nos. 4 and 5 — whether injured Wolverines would come back to make an impact, and cornerback depth — the latter has been fine, though they still need more to step up, while edge John Henry Daley and safety Rod Moore have come back and elevated the defense's ceiling, as hoped. It's the question marks we missed that still need to be answered, though. We assumed the offensive line would be fine under assistant Jim Harding, but it's been soft, frankly. "They've been coming along week by week, and I expect they're going to continue to get better as we continue to work with Coach Harding and get more familiar and comfortable with the offense," Whittingham said. "Going forward, we'll just keep recruiting and doing things to try to improve the whole football team." Maybe we're reading too much into it, but it sure sounds like they think they need some talent up- grades here. We heard those rum- blings from camp about the tight end group, too, and they also need to improve (a lot). Fingers crossed that junior Hogan Hansen's re- turn will help, and he'll finally meet expectations. Finally, our last new question — will this team bring the energy at the beginning of each game? Because they're one for three in that area so far, and they can't get away with it anymore. "Every week's a little bit dif- ferent, but I told them, 'We're going to be just fine if we get ex- cited about what we're doing,'" Whittingham said after a win over UTEP in which they fell behind early. "I said, 'If you guys get excited and play and have the same energy you had last week against Oklahoma, that's who we can be.'" That's a prerequisite to compete with Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State, and there's no guarantee they'll win any of those even if they do. If they come out flat against the Iowas, Penn States, etc., though, they could abso- lutely lose. There are no gimmes on this schedule. There's a lot to like about this team, starting with the fast and nasty defense. The receivers are good, and the kick- ing game seems to be, too. But both the floor and ceiling will be determined by Underwood and that O-line, and we need to see more from both — and soon — to move off our 9-3 preseason pre- diction. As of now, these Wolverines are who we thought they were, even if the rea- soning behind it might be a bit different than expected. ❑ The improvement of sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood from his freshman campaign has been inconsistent but promising through three games of 2026. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Chris Balas has been with The Wolverine since 1997. Contact him at cbalas@ thewolverine.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @Balas _ Wolverine. INSIDE MICHIGAN ❱ CHRIS BALAS They Are Who We Thought