Urban Meyer has a lot of familiarity not only with Kyle Whittingham, but also with what it's like to make a quarterback change. And at halftime last week against Penn State, Michigan football had to make a change from Bryce Underwood to Tommy Carr.
On an Urban Analysis segment on YouTube, Meyer explained to former Indiana head coach and Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo why the maize and blue made the call to change quarterbacks at halftime, as well as how it all went down.
"The Wolverines have struggled all year offensively," Meyer said. "However, Bryce Underwood, the Wolverine quarterback, had a really good day against Iowa. He saw some progress. But against Penn State, it wasn't good. The first half, and you can't blame the quarterback.
The offense was not performing. But Bryce Underwood's stats, two interceptions, 5-of-11, 43 yards. So really, struggling offensively. It was time to make a change.
"Let's talk about how it happens. I know Kyle. The way I always did it, Gerry, is I go immediately to the training room. Because you might have some other personnel decisions to make. And then you march right in the offensive area. You look directly at the offensive coordinator and say, no, it's either the coordinator says it or the head coach, or they both agree, it's time to make a change. They make the decision. Once the change is done, then the offensive staff goes to work immediately.
"And this is where it's interesting. If you have two different skill sets, I had, for example, JT Barrett, Dwayne Haskins. Completely different skill sets. Boom. The offensive staff now puts the JT Barrett aside, now we have Dwayne Haskins. Completely different skill set. From watching the second half, I think the Wolverines think Tommy Carr has a very similar skill set to Underwood. So then the offensive staff goes to work, head coach leaves. He goes right to the defensive staff, talks to them, marches right back in. Now you know, once again, you've got 20 minutes. This is going fast. You look at the board, the run game's written up for Tommy Carr, pass game's written up for Tommy Carr. Boom. The coaches break.
"This is really cool. So the assistant coaches now go to their position group. Running backs go to the running back coach. Offensive line, and we practice this. You tell them exactly what's happening so there's no surprises. We're making a quarterback change, here's what we're doing, and get your guys fired up. Offensive coordinator then calls them all up, and the strength coach is in the back of the room yelling, seven minutes! Seven minutes! And you're like, let's go, let's go. Offensive coordinator calls them, explains to them we're making a quarterback change, let's all stick together, let's go. Bam. Two minutes left, the head coach calls them up, bring them up, grab a knee, explain to the team what's going on, let's go get them to the second half."
So, with that in mind, what did Meyer see from Carr once he was inserted?
He broke down a few plays and explained just why the offense was able to move with Carr under center compared to Underwood.
"Tommy Carr in the game, this is interesting," Meyer said. "First play of the second half that shows the confidence that Jason Beck, offensive coordinator of the Wolverines, has in this young quarterback. It's an RPO, he's reading a defender, and he throws a slant right behind him to trustee J.J. Buchanan. The second one, it's a Q counter, this is the Bryce Underwood game plan. So again, if they have similar skill sets, which I didn't know this, the staff must feel Tommy Carr is a very effective runner, like Bryce Underwood. So it's simply a quarterback counter, and I was kind of shocked at his speed, for I didn't hear this about this quarterback, I always heard he's a very good thrower, but a very good athlete.
"All right, this is a really good look. This is a check play at the line of scrimmage, and this is speed option. You can see Tommy Carr taking charge, he's checking. You can see that the Wolverines have numbers to the quarterback's left. There's three blockers, three defenders, you're going to pitch off the defensive end, center left guard and left tackle are going to zone up. They take away the pitch, Tommy Carr makes the right decision, and scores a touchdown."
Meyer, along with the rest of the Fox Big Noon Kickoff crew, will be in Ann Arbor this week for the Indiana at Michigan football game on Saturday. The pregame show is set for 10 a.m. EDT with kickoff slated for 12:10 p.m. EDT.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Urban Meyer breaks down Michigan's QB switch from Underwood to Carr
