Michigan football played perhaps its best game of the year against Iowa, save for one drive defensively (the final one) and a litany of mistakes that piled up. But offensively, no one expected quarterback Bryce Underwood to be able to slice and dice against the stout Hawkeye defense, and yet, he mostly carved them up.
Ultimately, there was one mistake that essentially could have made all the difference from an offensive standpoint.
While there were some playcalling gaffes, such as the fourth-and-1 call or the third-and-5 run that came up short, the first drive of the second half saw the Wolverines drive the field with seeming ease, only for it to end on an interception. In the immediate aftermath, fans questioned if the mistake was on Underwood
for throwing short right to a defender or on wide receiver Andrew Marsh, who ran a longer route, expecting a fade.
On the Inside Michigan Football radio show, head coach Kyle Whittingham didn't assign blame to one party or the other, but did note that it was a miscommunication between the two players.
"Weren't on the same page," Whittingham said. "Yeah, we gotta get on the same page, and that was unfortunate. We just gotta do a better job taking care of the ball. Like I said before, though, one turnover or less, we should be able to be OK, assuming we're getting it done on the other side of the ball, which right now that's not a positive thing for us."
Regardless, Whittingham is pleased with how much better the offense played on Saturday, even if the game resulted in a loss. He noted that the team is still a bit run-heavy in terms of playcalling, with the goal being 50-50 between run and pass calls.
Though the offense was vastly improved, the little things, like the aforementioned interception, did the Wolverines in, but Whittingham wants to see a continuation on a theme in terms of offensive performance.
"Well, hopefully we continue on the upward trajectory, and that's something that good teams do is they get better each week," Whittingham said. "And I feel like we have gotten better each week through the first four games, even though we lost on Saturday. It's more self-inflicted stuff than anything else, but I thought Bryce played his best game of the year. We ran the football effectively over 150 yards, I believe it was. We defended the run exceptionally well. They had 55 yards rushing thereabouts, and that's their lowest total rushing for several games, maybe even going back a few years. And so there's some positives there.
"JJ and Andrew Marsh both went over 100 yards. I don't know if I said that already. There was a boatload of positive things, but the negative things were there as well, and ultimately that's what did us in."
Additionally, the penalties continue to be a problem.
The four penalties assessed in the Week 3 win over UTEP were a season low, but Michigan doubled that up against Iowa. Whittingham is very unhappy that the team continues to be undisciplined. It wasn't just the offense that had the issues, but the maize and blue need to be better on that front.
"The penalties were too high again. You know, we had 70-something yards," Whittingham said. "We need to cut that down 20, 25 yards so we're in the 50 range or less. And really the timeliness of the penalties was awful. I mean, we had some penalties that came at some crucial times, and some of the penalties are the cost of doing business. But some are just bad decisions, and we've got to do a better job with the -- I call them ignorant or thoughtless penalties. And the old adage, you can't win a game until you first not lose it, and I felt like we -- and I'm not taking anything away from Iowa -- but we did some things that are not conducive to winning games."
We'll see if the Wolverines can improve against Minnesota, as Michigan is heading on the road for the first time in 2026. The game is set for a noon EDT kickoff on Fox.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham reveals what went wrong on Bryce Underwood interception
