Years from now, it will be remembered as a miracle. But Kyle Whittingham’s debut as Michigan football’s coach could have easily gone down in history as a heinous debacle.
It probably should have, truth be told.
Moments after he chucked the ball beyond the north end zone in his last-ditch effort to save the Wolverines from an embarrassing defeat to Western Michigan, Bryce Underwood glanced at the scoreboard at Michigan Stadium and saw zeros on the clock.
“It looked like we lost the game,” U-M’s sophomore quarterback said Saturday, Sept. 5.
The Broncos stormed the field and celebrated as if they were the victors, convinced they had pulled off a stunning five-point upset in the Big House in Ann Arbor.
But then the officials intervened, summoning a video
review. They found one second still remained.
That sliver of time, controversially brought back from the dead, also revived the Wolverines.
Presented with a lifeline, Underwood accepted a shotgun snap delivered from WMU’s 47-yard line, drifted all the way to his own 40, and launched a high-arcing pass downfield. Near the goal line, JJ Buchanan soared above a crowd of bodies, plucked the ball out of the air and in the process snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Somehow, some way, Michigan won, 13-12.
Fans streamed down from the stands to rush the field, reveling in their team’s serendipitous good fortune.
But Whittingham wasn’t eager to join the party.
“I was mad,” he said. “I’m still pissed.”
In the locker room, his players were just as angry.
“Sick to my stomach is the way I would explain the feeling,” defensive end Dom Nichols said with a look of disgust.
They may have won in improbable fashion, setting a stage for a scene that could only be described as rapturous.
Nichols wanted no part of it, though. He couldn’t enjoy the thrill.
“That wasn’t a moment we really wanted to be living in,” he said. “I mean, it’s Western Michigan.”
Sure, the Broncos may be the reigning champs of the Mid-American Conference. But they had no business pushing mighty Michigan to the brink.
They certainly shouldn’t have been able to dominate the ball, control the line of scrimmage, dictate the terms and draw Michigan into a rock fight that opened the door for David to slay Goliath. Yet all the above happened.
Before the final possession of the game began with 35 seconds left, Western Michigan had outgained the Wolverines by 20 yards and already doubled them in time of possession.
The stats were telling. They were byproducts of Michigan’s inconsistent offense that couldn’t sustain drives and its own defense that struggled to suppress a scrappy opponent with a no-frills attack strategy.
The Broncos ran 19 more plays than Michigan and seized a 9-7 lead in the fourth quarter when they kicked a field goal on the 22nd snap of a possession that lasted 13 minutes, 40 seconds.
“We were not a good football team tonight,” Whittingham said. “And they were.”
It was the harsh truth and it must have been difficult for him to accept.
After a long tenure at Utah, he had come to Ann Arbor last winter to restore a program that eroded under his disgraced predecessor, Sherrone Moore.
Moore was never seen as a good coach, and his teams were outclassed at times. But Michigan also never looked this inept against an opponent residing in the lower caste of the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Its showing Saturday was disconcerting to say the least.
In the eight possessions between their first and last drives, the Wolverines moved the ball just 111 yards and didn’t score a single point. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The offensive line couldn’t create room for running backs Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter, who netted just 59 yards combined on 16 carries – an average of 3.7 yards per carry.
[ MUST WATCH: Make "Hail Yes!" your go-to Wolverines podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) or watch live on YouTube. ]
Meanwhile, Underwood did little to prove he is markedly better than he was during his uneven freshman season. In many ways, he looked like the same inconsistent player who still makes the occasional bad read and has a tendency to throw passes that miss their targets.
Before his final Hail Mary heave, he completed just 11 of 21 attempts for 123 yards. He also lost a costly fumble late in the game and tossed a ghastly interception near the end of the first half that could have been returned for a touchdown had the defender who swiped it not stepped on the sideline.
Asked how Underwood fared, Whittingham said, “Yeah, not outstanding.”
The same description could be applied to Michigan’s entire performance, which was sloppy. The Wolverines committed nine penalties, surrendered two sacks and muffed a punt.
Soon after he arrived for his postgame news conference, Whittingham ran down a list of problems that afflicted his team throughout the night, and lamented the substandard execution he saw in all phases.
“We didn’t play the run well on defense,” he said. “We didn’t run the ball on offense. We lost the turnover margin, three-zip. We didn’t make enough first downs.”
After taking stock of what happened, Whittingham concluded, “The reality is we have a lot to fix.”
Yet they don’t have much time to correct it all. Oklahoma, the ninth-ranked team in the nation, is coming to town next Saturday.
Unlike Michigan, the Sooners dominated their Group of Six opponent, crushing UTEP, 51-0, in their opener.
If the Wolverines don’t make some major improvements in the next six days, the Southeastern Conference power could put up another lopsided score against Michigan.
Before Saturday, it would have seemed far-fetched that such a nightmarish scenario could materialize. Given Whittingham’s sterling track record, the expectation was he Wolverines would resemble a well-oiled machine right out of the gates. Certainly, most assumed they would play a winning brand of football against Western Michigan.
With its public comments in the leadup to the opener, the team gave the impression it would.
But for 60 minutes Saturday, the Wolverines didn’t. Only when one second was added back to the clock did they finally deliver on their promise.
“We’re 1-0. We’re still 1-0, I think,” Whittingham said. “I’ve got to read the paper tomorrow.”
It seemed as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
As honest as that reaction may have been, it was also rather alarming.
The new coach of Michigan football may have avoided a total debacle. But a big mess remains that he must clean up in a hurry.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Even Sherrone Moore's Michigan didn't look as bad as Kyle Whittingham debut
