Joel Klatt has now seen Michigan football under Kyle Whittingham twice -- the first being a home win against Oklahoma, and the second being an unexpected road loss at Minnesota. So, with Klatt heading to Ann Arbor to call the Indiana game on Saturday, he should have some idea of what to expect, right?
Yes and no. Because the Wolverines changed up the script on Saturday by inserting first-year quarterback Tommy Carr for Bryce Underwood in the second half. And the offense suddenly looked alive in ways it really hadn't previously.
On his podcast on Monday, Klatt broke down what he saw from the maize and blue, why he feels the switch was necessary, and why it very well may pay dividends on Saturday against the Hoosiers.
"Michigan beat Penn State in
the game that I could only categorize as this: You couldn't lose the game, either coach, because obviously the sky is falling for both of those programs," Klatt said. "If you lose that football game now, the sky is only falling in Penn State. I feel terrible for Matt Campbell. It has not gone well for Matt Campbell at Penn State, and here's Michigan.
"And guess what? That Michigan first half, it was like pull your hair out. Oh my gosh. Is this actually still happening? Bryce Underwood starts the game, and they do nothing in the first half offensively. Turned the football over. I will say a couple of those picks from Penn State were incredible plays by Penn State -- trying to throw the football down the field, bouncing off the chest. That's kind of a lucky one. They get the one-handed interception. I think if you underthrow the football like he did on the first interception, that's on you as a quarterback. The second one, you're trying to let your guy make a play, and it was just an insane interception from Penn State -- one-handed; that's not necessarily on Bryce Underwood. But it's now not just the specific -- you can no longer just say, like, well, is this play his fault or not his fault because guess why the offense isn't doing anything?
"It's zero points, and this is off of a bye week, and this, I think is is what's so frustrating for Michigan fans, I'm sure, and maybe even the coaching staff as well -- is like you had a bye week. You think that you fixed some things and then you roll out there and you realize like, nope, it's the same. And by the way, I got wind of this exact type of thing when we came in Week 2 for the Oklahoma game. We rolled in there right after that Western Michigan debacle, and Kyle -- who I admire, you know, to a degree that I admire very few coaches in this business. And he said we practiced great; I don't understand what happened. And I've heard that from him a couple of times this year, where it's like, I don't understand what's happening on Saturday because this is not what it looks like on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday during the course of the week of practice. I can only assume that the bye week went great for Michigan and the practices were looking fine, and they thought, you know what? It's fixed. We'll be OK. Let's go out there, and maybe the guy that played against Oklahoma will show up. Maybe the guy that played against Iowa -- even in a loss, offense did fine -- maybe that guy will show up. And then you're sitting there, and you're playing Penn State, which isn't even a great defense. This is not like, oh, it's Iowa's defense or even like Minnesota's defense or whatever.
"No points. He's forced into a position like you have to make the change at that point. You have to make the change with everything that was going on in the Michigan program, leading into the off week. Everything that was talked about during the off week, and then to play that way on Saturday against Penn State? I think his hand was forced at that point.
"So Tommy Carr walks into the game, and production is the proof, guys. I think this is the coolest part about the position of quarterback is that it really doesn't matter what it looks like. It really doesn't matter what your bio says, what your recruiting ranking says. It doesn't matter how you look in shorts and a t-shirt throwing the football. It doesn't matter what your 40 time is. All those things, can they be important? Sure, sure. I don't want to minimize any of that because obviously that can tell you a story. But at the end of the day, for a quarterback, your job is to go create first downs and score touchdowns. That's it. That's it. And the guy that does it the best goes out and plays. And at least with the evidence that we have in front of us, the guy that does that the best at Michigan is very clearly Tommy Carr. The proof is in the production.
"They scored three touchdowns after the second half, so I don't think you can like go back to that that well, you know. The yardage and the production, it's not just the points. It's the total yards. Total yards, first half: 80 total yards. Second half: 221 rushing yards. First half: 37 rushing yards; second half: 174. Turnovers: first half: two turnovers; second half: zero. They played winning football in the second half. They did not play winning football in the first half.
"So you stay with the variables and the equation that created the success of the second half. The defense deserves a chance for this team. This is a defense that is now No. 1 in the country in yards per play, and they will keep them in every single game. So you just need somebody to go out there and be serviceable on the offensive side. Tommy Carr doesn't even have to be amazing. You're not out there to score 45 points, Tommy Carr. If you do, great, but you're out there to not turn the ball over. Don't create short fields for your defense. Don't put them in precarious situations. Can somebody get the Iowa bible to every quarterback out there because at the bottom level of it all, every quarterback's job is to first not lose the game.
"Curt Cignetti gave us a line, and I wrote it right here. I just showed you guys this earlier. I'm in the production meeting this week, and we're talking about, you guys don't turn the ball over, you do all these things, like what do you? Emphasize, so on and so forth, and he looks at me. He's like, you know, he's chewing his gum -- he's like, well, before you win the game, you gotta first not lose the game. He's chewing his gum, and I was like, well, that's a great line, and I know I've heard that line in some way, shape, or form several other times. But it's like, yeah, before you win the game, you gotta first not lose the game, and as a quarterback, that's kind of what it is.
"And so here Tommy Carr is gonna be, I would expect -- and I'm recording this on Sunday night, just so that you guys know -- I would expect -- I'm headed to Michigan this week -- I would expect to see Tommy Carr."
Klatt will be on the call with Gus Johnson on Saturday, with the game set to kick off at 12:10 p.m. EDT at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Joel Klatt explains why Michigan had to bench Bryce Underwood
