The buzz began to gather toward the end of halftime, when the backup quarterback began taking snaps from the starting center, and the crowd could see something was about to change.
They grew more hopeful when Tommy Carr finished practicing his reps with center Blake Frazier and began hopping up and down, trying to loosen up. From there, he slapped shoulder pads with the rest of Michigan football’s offensive lineman.
And when he ran onto the field with the offense, the crowd cheered. Then rose. Then roared when he completed his first pass – a first down – on the first meaningful play of his Michigan career.
Underwood benched
Did Michigan score? someone in the press box asked.
No, they hadn’t, but it sounded like they had. That’s the power of the backup quarterback, which is to say the power of the unknown, which is to say the power of the future, a more hopeful future.
Where that future leads is hard to say after two quarters and a narrow win over equally middling Penn State – U-M held on to win, 21-18, on Saturday, Oct. 17. But the youngster had made a difference.
That much we can say.
The youngster can also run, and throw a little, and take his time and let a defense show its hand. He did that in the final minutes when he took a snap, ran left, waited for a gap, slipped through it, and scored the winning touchdown.
The crowd roared then, too. Mostly for what might come. Also, for the change.
They’d seen enough. Everyone had. They’d seen what Bryce Underwood could do – well, couldn’t do. They’d seen four picks in his past four quarters, plus countless missed open receivers, missed throws, hesitancy (lots and lots of hesitancy).
What they hadn’t seen was Carr. They’d only heard, and caught a few plays at the end of a blowout of UTEP a month ago.
The 19-year-old came in with the familiar name on his back – that of grandpa Lloyd Carr, the longtime U-M coach sitting in the stands Saturday, as well as star Notre Dame QB CJ Carr – but also with the buzz that comes from promising practice reports. That was part of the drama. It always is.
Still, coach Kyle Whittingham tried his best not to undermine Underwood, even after his struggles at Minnesota two weeks ago.
When Whittingham told reporters he was sticking with the sophomore for the Penn State game, he believed it was because Underwood gave the Wolverines their best chance to win. And he said that, several times.
Yet when he talked about Carr this season – and he was almost always asked about him first – he unintentionally undermined Underwood.
“We believe in Tommy,” he told reporters after U-M's win over UTEP in September. “He’s got a bright future.”
Even reports from camp back in August told a story about a poised freshman quarterback with sneaky running skill who threw a nice ball and had a nice presence in the pocket. Those kinds of reports are harmless when the starter flourishes.
But when he struggles?
They become sharp-edged and heavy, and ammunition for the fanbase. When Underwood was finally pulled, it wasn’t only production; it was the promise of what Carr might be, based on the throwaway words of the coach.
First half rife with boos makes decision easy
Underwood had to have felt that. But then that’s part of the game, and the business. Whereas young players with raw talent like his used to be given more time, time isn’t part of the equation in college football anymore.
Whittingham, again, had no choice. And by today’s standards, Underwood was given every chance.
It hurt that U-M couldn’t run the ball when he was in the huddle. Sometimes in football, though, everything is about who is manning it, even the run game. Sometimes a team just needs a change and, boy, did the Wolverines need one. (U-M's defense getting three turnovers in the second half helped a bit, too.)
The Wolverines were booed after their first series on offense, mostly because of incompetence. They were booed again after the second series, because of the coaches' conservative play-calling, which seemed more of a tribute to the run-and-muck 1971 Big Ten title team set to be honored during the first half than a viable offensive strategy.
U-M simply couldn’t block, couldn’t throw and couldn’t run – especially when it stubbornly kept trying to run into an overstuffed box.
On third-and-3 during the Wolverines' second series of the first half, offensive coordinator Jason Beck called a run ... straight into the box, into the den – the room in the house, and the Big House, where everyone had congregated.
The run gained 2 yards. More boos. Another punt. More angst.
The third time U-M took the ball, Beck dialed up a downfield pass. Underwood underthrew it. Not egregiously, but enough that Andrew Marsh had to slow up and drop to the ground to try to grab it, basket-style. It bounced off his stomach and into the hands of nearby cornerback Zion Tracy.
More boos.
Then, on the last series of first half, Underwood overthrew Savion Hiter on a short out on first down. Missed J.J. Buchanan over the middle on second down because he locked in on Marsh, who was blanketed on the sideline. Scrambled for three yards on thid-and-15 – a false start had set U-M back 5 yards.
When Underwood was tackled near the Penn State sideline, a scrum ensued. The crowd booed again. The Wolverines punted ... again.
But, wait, it wasn’t over. On the fifth – and final – offensive series of the first half, Underwood threw a second interception. The crowd didn’t boo the pick. The defensvie back made a Charles Woodson-like one-handed grab, maybe even more spectacular.
The silence didn’t last. And after Penn State took a knee to end the half, the crowd booed some more. Five series, no points, less than 70 yards of offense. It was a brutal scene after a horrid half which had followed a miserable loss at Minnesota.
Whittingham no doubt had his mind made up he was benching Underwood before he got to the tunnel. He’d given the former five-star recruit every chance he could.
He had to do something. He finally did. The freshman with the legacy name made the difference.
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Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tommy Carr gave Michigan something Bryce Underwood couldn’t: Hope
