Kyle Whittingham had quietly indicated a shorter leash could be coming for Bryce Underwood after the bye.
In his press conference in advance of Michigan football's 21-18 victory over Penn State
, the head coach mentioned turnovers almost 10 times. He said if the team kept losing that battle, "nothing else matters." He even implied it would be the lifeline for those like Underwood, without directly saying his name.
"If we don't get this turnover thing fixed rapidly, then you know something's got to give," Whittingham said.
On Saturday, it gave. Michigan had five possessions in the first half, three of which ended punts, including two 3-and-outs. But the two possessions that ultimately forced offensive coordinator Jason Beck to bench Bryce Underwood
and put Tommy Carr in the game were the third and fifth drives of the half, both of which ended with interceptions.
Once Underwood heaved a ball deep down field for JJ Buchanan and under-threw it where Josiah Zayas was able to make a leaping, one-handed catch, Beck, who spoke with radio color commentator Jon Jansen on "Inside Michigan Football" earlier this week, felt there was no other choice.
"It was just one of those things: the turnover margin is such an important part of winning football games, and we’ve been on the wrong side of that early in the season, and we were on the wrong side of it in that first half," Beck said. "That’s what spurred the need to make a change for that second half. Fortunately, our D was able to get three takeaways, so we ended up coming out ahead on that turnover margin. But you don’t want to be counting on getting three takeaways to come out plus-one.
“We need to protect the football ... to give our team the best chance to win.”
Beck said the conversation to move from one quarterback to another can be difficult, but there was no doubt the team needed a spark after having just one offensive touchdown against four turnovers (five including special teams) in the prior six quarters.
In some ways, U-M had very little to lose, given the unit had produced close to nothing prior. Fortunately for Beck and company, Carr was able to flip the switch. Michigan scored 21 points in the second half, a mark the team had achieved in an entire game just once this year (vs. UTEP).
It should be noted Carr was the beneficiary of three turnovers created by the defense, two which set up short fields, but he's the one who capitalized on them. He protected the ball, completing 5 of 7 passes for 47 yards while running four times for 36 yards, including the game-deciding 12-yard score in the final three minutes of the contest.
When the staff liked best, other than ball security, was how he didn't panic.
“I was really impressed with just how composed he was when he got in there,” Beck said. “That’s the big question mark: You do not know when somebody stepping into real meaningful minutes for the very first time, in a Big Ten game, what it’s going to look like. Man, he looked just like practice.
"Tommy was able to communicate this and that, and, ‘Oh man, I totally missed that read on the play.’ And just his composure and his ability to look like he does every day in practice.”
Whittingham hasn't announced a starting quarterback for Week 8 against Indiana (noon, Fox), but there's a near-consensus belief outside of the building it's going to be Carr. Whittingham said he's never been much of a two-quarterback guy − he referenced the adage "if you've got two quarterbacks, you don't have one" − but IU's Curt Cignetti isn't it ruling out, even if he expects the man who finished last week to get his first career start.
"I'd assume it would be him," Cignetti said of Carr being the guy. "There could be two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. That would not surprise me. They did a lot of that at Utah, and the other guy [Underwood] can make plays. So, schematically, they didn't change a whole lot in the second half."
It's not as though Michigan set the world on fire in the second half. It had one drive of more than 43 yards, which was also the lone drive of more than four plays and the only drive that lasted more than three minutes. It's not as if Michigan was marching up and down the field with Carr.
He completed one pass of 11 air yards and missed both deep shots that were more than 20. But again, he finished three drives with points and didn't turn the ball over; that's the name of the game for an offense that has been floundering all season long.
From the sounds of it, Beck's decision to pull Underwood was supported by the entire offensive staff, as well as the head man. Whittingham was trying to camouflage who would be under center against IU as best he can. Unless he employed some reverse psychology and is actually going with Underwood, it didn't hide much.
“We saw good stuff out of what Tommy did in the second half," Whittingham said. "We know exactly what we’re doing and the plan going forward."
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: Why Michigan football had to 'make a change' from Bryce Underwood
