The No. 15 Michigan Wolverines lost to the No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners 24-13 on Saturday night and are now 1-1 on the season.
Here are key takeaways from Michigan’s loss.
Bryce Underwood looked like a freshman
Underwood, a true freshman and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, had an exceptional debut last week against New Mexico, but he had a much tougher go of it on the road against a talented Oklahoma defense. Underwood was 9-of-24 for 142 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Underwood was constantly pressured as Oklahoma head
coach and defensive playcaller Brent Venables dialed up blitz after blitz against Michigan. With a minute to go in the game, ESPN commentator Chris Fowler said that Underwood was 0-for-8 against a blitz.
Because of the duress Underwood was constantly under, it’s hard to fully evaluate his game. He had to rush throws, abandon going through his reads, escape the pocket with pressure breathing down his neck — in short, Underwood rarely had a good chance to succeed.
Underwood turned 18 years old less than a month ago, and being thrown into the fire in a rowdy road environment against a talented team would have been hard even if the rest of the operation was churning well around him.
While a loss is never a positive, the silver lining of this performance is that Underwood now has experience against an elite defense and has played in a tough road game. Michigan will play a 2-0 Nebraska team in two weeks in Lincoln. Nebraska beat Akron 68-0 on Saturday.
Offensive line and receivers must improve
Michigan’s offensive line didn’t handle blitzes well enough, and an injury to Giovani El-Hadi and subsequent exit from the contest didn’t help matters either. The line also struggled to consistently run block effectively enough to keep moving the chains via the ground. Michigan had 32 rushing attempts and 75 of their 146 yards came on a Justice Haynes touchdown run to start the second half. Michigan’s offensive line allowed one sack and eight tackles for loss.
Michigan’s wideouts didn’t have their best day either. Receiving targets didn’t consistently gain enough separation. While pressure impacted Underwood’s stats as well as the production of the wideouts, it’s still displeasing to see that Donoven McCulley was the only receiver to record more than one catch (3 receptions for 91 yards). This cannot become a trend.
The offensive line play and the production at receiver are far greater concerns than the play of Underwood. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said in an interview with ABC before kickoff that players around Underwood will have to help him, and the rest of the offense didn’t help him enough in this one.
Tip of the cap to John Mateer
Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is one gritty dude. Mateer beat Michigan with his arm and his legs. Mateer kept picking up first downs with his legs, but made a lot of great throws in key situations. Mateer seemed impossible to sack, and there were numerous times it looked like Michigan had him for a sack, but he was able to keep his legs moving and shed contact to either run downfield or take deep shots. Mateer went 21-of-34 for 270 yards with one passing touchdown, one interception, and added 74 rushing yards and two rushing scores. Mateer can throw at a high level on the run, and he has a never-give-up attitude that has already earned the respect of his new teammates. It’s still early in the season, but Mateer very well could be a Heisman finalist if he continues playing at the level he is.
A mixed bag on defense
Michigan’s defense could have wrapped up better on Mateer, but they were a unit on the field a lot with Michigan’s offense not generating many first downs (just five in the second half). Oklahoma ran 72 plays while Michigan ran just 56 plays. Michigan’s defense still had an interception, two sacks, and eight tackles for loss against Oklahoma. Where Michigan’s defense really struggled was on third and fourth down — Oklahoma was 9-of-17 on third down and 1-of-1 on fourth down.
In summary, Michigan’s defense faced a really good quarterback, and Michigan’s offense didn’t do its defense any favors and had them out there too often.
One loss doesn’t sting like it used to
In the days of four teams in the College Football Playoff, one loss could completely derail postseason aspirations. However, the playoff has expanded to 12 teams, and Michigan’s season isn’t doomed. Next week, they play a 1-1 Central Michigan team at Michigan Stadium and will look to correct errors and improve where they have weaknesses. Playing a team of Oklahoma’s caliber provided a concise reality check as to who the Michigan Wolverines are at the moment. And they are a team with talent, but also a team with a lot to work on.
