The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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66 THE WOLVERINE ❱ NOVEMBER 2026 O ctober 17, 2026, might go down as a watershed mo- ment for the Kyle Whit- tingham era of Michigan football. Or … maybe it won't. It was too soon to tell after a half of football against a bad team in Penn State whether freshman quarterback Tommy Carr is the answer this offense needed after he replaced starter Bryce Under- wood at halftime. The Wolverines were trailing 3-0, had managed 80 total yards of offense, and de- parted the Michigan Stadium field to a chorus of boos from fed-up fans who had just witnessed one of the worst halves of offense from the home team in The Big House's history. That is not hyperbole. A pair of Underwood interceptions, no semblance of a running game, bad body language — the Wolverines were spinning their wheels and the driver (Underwood) was missing open receivers all over the field. Former Michigan quar- terback Devin Gardner went into detail on "The Blueprint Podcast" with Jake Butt in documenting how many plays were there to be made, and it wasn't pretty. "He was 5 of 11 for 43 yards … there were only three 'plusses' even though there were 5 completions, all the rest 'minuses' with 2 interceptions," said Gardner in grading Underwood's first half with the same system U-M coaches used to grade him. "You are the coordinator and the head coach … if you're in that position, what do you do? Only three plusses — what do you do? Do you continue to let the entire team suffer … or do you see what you can do with another guy?" The answer was easy, and probably overdue. But what many fail to realize is what's in play when you make a deci- sion like this. Whittingham said after the PSU game, "that's a fine line right there" when it comes to changing quar- terbacks, and for many reasons. Coaches who Underwood grew up with are in- vested in his success, for one, and they have more players to recruit. To some of them, probably, Underwood was an enticement to go to Michigan. The team has its favorites, too … make no mistake. Heck, they had a senior tight end in Zack Marshall, one of the supposed leaders on the team, go off on coaches in a chat saying, "[Offensive co- ordinator Jason] Beck tells Bryce where to go on every play, and it gets strapped," which clearly wasn't true. But it sheds light on what he and another faction of players in the building might be thinking. "For Bryce, he has a lot of money in his pocket, and everyone in his circle — ev- eryone that's a fan of his — says, 'It's everybody else's fault,'" Gardner said. "That's what he hears. 'It's the coordi- nator, it's the head coach; you're being sabotaged, it's the O-line,' this and that, going all the way back to last year." To his credit, Underwood was out- standing in his support of Carr when the true freshman came in and led the of- fense to 3 touchdowns in a 21-18 victory. That's what you'd expect of a Michigan captain, but it can't be easy. As Gardner noted, now Underwood has to come to the realization that, "I've been lied to. Maybe it might be me." In reality, and as we've said, it wasn't one guy. There are plenty of plays we can look at Beck's of- fensive plan that seemed doomed to fail no matter who was on the field, including Carr. But as Gard- ner also added, "In the same of- fense, against the same team, on the same day, [Carr] was able to move the ball. He was able to put it in the end zone, able to convert on third down. Then, the rest of the team saw that, felt that, and ev- eryone started to perform better." Linemen held their blocks lon- ger, receivers ran better routes, and the backs ran harder. No, it wasn't personal or anything against Un- derwood, Whittingham noted. Carr just provided the needed spark to show, "hey … this can work," and the buy-in follows. "He did a nice job. He's always pre- pared," Whittingham said. "I walk by that quarterback room 12 times, 15 times a day. He's in there pretty much every second he doesn't have class. He's in there watching film. "He was very prepared when his num- ber was called." Though Whittingham wouldn't com- mit to Carr as the starter, either in the PSU postgame or at his Monday press conference, it was clear to most where this is headed. The freshman will get the nod, and yeah, there will probably be some bumps in the road they have to navigate. His future, though, looks bright. What that means for Underwood's fu- ture? We don't know. But he could prob- ably use a fresh start. He's got potential, and his final chapter isn't close to being written. In Ann Arbor, though, there's a new Carr in town. It's time for the freshman to show what he's got. ❏ Michigan making the move to Tommy Carr to start the second half against Penn State paid off with 21 second-half points against the Nittany Lions. 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 Carr Switch Was Only Move To Make