If you have been following the narrative about Michigan football this week, the Wolverines are 0-1. They also have no chance of beating Oklahoma.
In reality, both of those things are false. Michigan is 1-0. The Wolverines are also capable of beating Oklahoma, even as a home underdog.
The Sooners are expected to win. Their defense is elite. Quarterback John Mateer is one of the best in college football. He torched Michigan to the tune of 344 total yards last season.
Bryce Underwood, Michigan's quarterback, looked like a true freshman last week. He struggled to see the field, regressed to poor fundamentals, and had one of his worst games as a Wolverine before salvaging a win with a Hail Mary.
With Brent Venables coming to town, after holding Underwood to a 37 percent completion rate in his second career start a season ago, anything is possible. It could go really bad. Maybe Bryce will bounce back from bad games, like he tended to do last season.
Looking ahead to Oklahoma, a team that's loaded with talent, especially on both lines, here are three bold predictions.
Bryce Underwood will play the whole game and be better
Maybe that doesn't seem like a bold prediction. However, Underwood will stem the tide, have over 200 total yards, with one interception or fewer, and won't leave the game, outside of being hurt.
The backup quarterback is always the most popular player when the team is struggling. Tommy Carr looked great in the spring, too. But spring games are like the NFL preseason. They don't mean anything.
Winning this game through the air will mean taking advantage of Oklahoma's aggressiveness. Venables loves to blitz. The Sooners blitz a lot against UTEP. Expect them to ramp up the pressure against Michigan.
Last season, they refused to allow the bubble screens and took away many of the throws coaches use to get a freshman quarterback comfortable. It was genius. I'm sure there will be some of that in the plan.
Jason Beck better have a counter. JJ Buchanan is a pretty good one. He made multiple contested catches last week. Michigan needs to give him the chance to make a few more this week.
The Wolverines should spread things out, ditch the Rhino (for now), and when the Sooners go man, which they will do, Michigan has to challenge them with Buchanan and Marsh. We didn't see any deep balls outside of the Hail Mary last week.
I wouldn't expect a super high hit rate, but the Wolverines need explosive plays. Throwing the ball down the field to their best wideouts seems like a good way to do it. Underwood will miss many of those throws. He might hit a few, though.
It might not be good enough to win the game, but maybe the talk of benching him will die down. He did have more than 200 total yards in five different Big Ten games last season. He also had 268 total yards, as well as three turnovers against Texas. There is something there.
In home games against Washington and Wisconsin last season, he averaged 268.5 total yards per game with three touchdowns compared to zero interceptions.
Last week was bad. There were rough moments last season, but good ones, too. Some of the good moments followed some of the really bad ones in 2025. We will see if it happens again.
Jordan Marshall runs for 100 yards
Marshall is a Michigan football captain for a reason. He said he was disappointed in the Wolverines' performance last week. The offensive line also knows it needs to be better.
It was sort of shocking that the group didn't show any improvement from last season, sort of like Underwood. It was their first game in the new system, too.
Jim Harding also didn't forget to coach. The offensive line will block better, Marshall will run like a man possessed, and he will get 100 yards. Oklahoma only allowed 2.9 rushing yards to UTEP last week, but that was after four sacks. If you take the quarterback out of it (sacks), UTEP had 87 yards on 21 carries (4.1 yards per carry).
Michigan needs to run Underwood more. It also needs to spread it out to allow Marshall room to work. Jason Beck is a good OC. He will fix things, and Marshall is still one of the best backs in college football.
J.J. Buchanan gets Michigan in the end zone
If Underwood plays better, as I expect with his tendency to bounce back after poor games, then expect Buchanan to catch a touchdown pass.
The Sooners will get overly aggressive and one of the deep shots Michigan hopefully takes will pay off. Donaven McCully had a catch over 40 yards in this game last season. Buchanan can do that, too.
Prediction
I won't be shocked if Michigan covers the spread; however, it's hard to predict a win in this game. John Mateer will run the ball a lot, like last season. He will frustrate the Michigan defense, and the pass rush won't get home often enough.
Michigan's offense will rebound. There will be some three-and-outs. Underwood will get sacked, and it might look clunky at times. But this team is better than it showed last week, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
In the end, though, Oklahoma will be better in the red zone, just like last season, which will lead to a 24-16 victory for the Sooners.
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