Here are three things to watch as No. 16 Michigan football prepares to host No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 12, after beating Western Michigan in the miracle seen around the country, 13-12, in Week 1 at Michigan Stadium.
Rushing recession
For the vast majority of Michigan football's existence, rushing success has been a prerequisite for team success. Few expected there would be major concerns with the ground game, given the new staff that came in from Utah just oversaw a team in 2025 that led the nation in rushing yards per carry (6) and was second in rushing yards per game (266.1) and rushing touchdowns (41).
In U-M's season opener, the run game was lackluster at best. It had a 10-yard carry by Bryce Underwood on its opening drive. After that, it didn't have
another carry of 10 yards or more until there were three minutes left in the game.
On the third and final run play that gained more than 10 yards, Underwood fumbled the ball for what felt like a loss-sealing turnover.
Underwood led the team with nine carries for 47 yards, Jordan Marshall ran 11 times for 44 and five-star freshman Savion Hiter had five carries for just 15 yards, for a combined total of 25 rushes for 106 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and one score.
Not ideal against a Mid-American Conference team that replaced its entire front seven.
The offensive line rarely created big holes or got significant push in the trenches and other times Underwood made questionable decisions on read-options, where he would hand the ball off even when the edge was crashing, which is his main read on the play.
It simply must improve and fast.
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"They had a lot of movement with their defense," U-M coach Kyle Whittingham said of WMU. "If you want to be successful against movement, you got to hit it. You just can't have too much penetration at times, and we did not do a good job picking up movement in the run game, and that was one of our biggest deficiencies."
Bryce Underwood is an enigma
Underwood was given an "A-plus" grade at one point in preseason camp. Another outlet reported someone who watched practice one day said "he looked like he could've been playing for an NFL team" on that day. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck said Underwood had "13 good practices" after the team's 13th practice in August. The difference from spring was said to be "night and day."
All of it seems almost impossible to believe. Underwood, a 19-year-old sophomore, struggled mightily in the 2026 debut. The performance was far worse than his final stat line: 12 of 22 passes completed for 170 yards, one touchdown, one interception and one lost fumble that should've been the dagger.
The pick came when he stared down a tight end on an out-route with 12 seconds left in the first half deep in his own territory; U-M was extremely fortunate it wasn't a pick-six. Another interception was overturned on replay when it deflected off a WMU player who had a toe out of bounds. Another likely pick was dropped when it hit defensive back Micah Davis in the chest.
The fumble came in the final two minutes down 9-7.
According to Pro Football Focus, Underwood had five turnover-worthy plays and zero big-time throws. He graded as U-M's lowest offensive player (35.8) on the site and his passing grade (31.4) was the second-worst mark of 110 qualified quarterbacks who dropped back at least 20 times in Week 1.
“I had a few [missed assignments],” Underwood said after the game. “[That] could have cost us a game, so got to do better on my behalf.”
Bounce back or bust
Michigan fumbled on special teams. The defense allowed a 20-play drive, the team committed nine penalties for 80 yards, was negative three (3-0) in turnover differential and overall lost the time of possession battle, 40:08-19:52.
If there wasn't a second put back on the clock, this would've been one of the three worst losses in program history joining Appalachian State (2007) and Toledo (2008). As it was, it was possibly the worst win in program history.
Now, an Oklahoma team that ran over UTEP in a 51-0 victory comes to town, led by defensive mastermind Brent Venables as head coach. Last season in Norman, quarterback John Mateer gave U-M fits in the run game and the Sooners made sure not to put any of that on tape in the opener (he ran just three times for seven yards).
The Wolverines won't be 0-2 after this game no matter what happens, which would've buried the season before Big Ten play began, but another performance like that will result in a loss. Everybody involved knows that.
"All this is squarely on my shoulders, there's no doubt about that, and I got to do a better job preparing this football team," Whittingham said. "But I'm going to tell you right now, there was not a lot of hooting and hollering in that locker room. In fact, there was none because we understand that that we've got a lot of work to do, and that we have got to be much better than we were."
Next up: Sooners
Matchup: No. 16 Michigan (1-0) vs. No. 9 Oklahoma (1-0).
When: Noon, Saturday.
Where: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Fox, WCSX-FM (94.7).
Line: Sooners by 6½.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The Bryce Underwood enigma grows and daunting Oklahoma test is next
