Bryce Underwood didn’t look prepared for his first big game in loss at Oklahoma, but fans shouldn’t be concerned just yet
Despite a disappointing showing against the Oklahoma Sooners, Bryce Underwood deserves some grace due to the situation.
The Michigan Wolverines suffered a critical loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, going down 24-13 in primetime. With College Gameday in town, the eyes of the college football world were on this matchup, as many were eager to see their first glimpse of star quarterback Bryce Underwood.
It…didn’t go as planned for Underwood in his first career road start. Underwood was harassed all game by Oklahoma’s pass rush and looked uncomfortable all game by the disguised coverages and looks the Sooners were throwing at him.
A week after dicing up New Mexico, Underwood looked confused and scrambled on several of his passes. The freshman finished just nine of 24 passing for 142 yards, with most of that coming on two explosive completions. However, there’s no reason to panic yet about Underwood’s performance if you’re a fan of the Wolverines.
Bryce Underwood Still The Freshman Phenom Despite Setback
Quite frankly, if you expected more from Underwood in his first start against that Oklahoma defense, that’s a mistake on your part. It was his first road start going up against a defense that returned virtually every starter from an elite unit a season ago and was coached by one of the premier defensive minds in college football.
There wasn’t a lot of hope for Michigan to begin with. They were overmatched offensively from the get-go, and quite simply pinned their hopes on Underwood turning into Tom Brady in this game. That didn’t happen, although Underwood showed a lot of promise.
Underwood made a few nice throws on the move, showing off some nice touch downfield when he was asked to, and made a few good plays with his legs to catch Oklahoma’s defense sleeping.
However, it was a lot of the routine things that Underwood missed at. Some easy layups just weren’t there, and it was clear Underwood wasn’t exactly comfortable all night.
The Internet immediately exploded, harping on Underwood’s rather large NIL deal for a quarterback that couldn’t pass, but this shouldn’t be the time we judge Underwood. Yes, he played poorly. No doubt about that. It was still miles better than anything Michigan put out there last season, and we saw a glimpse of what this offense can look like once Underwood puts it all together.
He’s a true freshman who turned 18 years old just two weeks ago. Underwood should have been worrying about homecoming and not being thrust into the starting lineup against Oklahoma in one of their biggest games of the last few years. Almost all of Underwood’s mistakes were correctable, typical freshmen mistakes.
It’s up to Underwood and the Michigan coaching staff to iron out those weaknesses in the coming weeks as he takes more and more reps in the lineup and gains more experience.
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