Michigan football won the game on Saturday night against Western Michigan, despite all the crying happening on the internet.
However, there aren't many things for Michigan fans to feel good about. Bryce Underwood started the game well, completing his first five passes, before finishing it with a touchdown run.
Yet, the fact that Michigan went heavy with extra offensive linemen and couldn't push Western Michigan into the end zone without taking four tries was a sign of things to come.
Kyle Whittingham's debut was a disaster. The product on the field looked worse than anything we saw during the Sherrone Moore era. Michigan football was undisciplined, at times got pushed around, and is very, very fortunate to be 1-0.
Looking back at the 13-12 win for the Wolverines, here are three disturbing things we learned.
Bryce Underwood has regressed
Somehow, Underwood managed to look worse than he did last season. The first drive was great. The feet looked good. The ball was accurate. All seemed to be going well.
After that, it was a disaster. Michigan couldn't run the ball. Underwood was part of the issue there, because there were some zone reads that were wide open if he had made the right read.
Savion Hiter was open in the flat on a third down, with only one man to beat for a first down, and likely an explosive play. Underwood threw the ball at his feet.
Underwood finished the game by completing 12-of-22 passes for 170 yards. He had two total touchdowns and two turnovers, along with 47 rushing yards, a team high.
The last Hail Mary was a good throw. J.J. Buchanan saved the day, but outside of the first series and the last throw, Underwood's performance was a disaster. There's no other way to describe it.
Michigan was pushed around in the trenches
The defensive line played better than the offensive line. However, Western Michigan shouldn't be able to put together a 16-play drive. Time of possession was a factor, but part of that is on the defense.
Western rushed for 132 yards compared to 106 for Michigan. That's flat-out embarrassing. Whittingham's teams are known for being tough, for being able to run the football.
The fact that Michigan couldn't stop the run, especially in the second half, or establish any sort of consistent running game might be the most disturbing thing about the 13-12 win.
If the quarterback isn't good and the Wolverines can't run the ball, how is this offense supposed to function? You have to believe Whittingham, Jim Harding, and a group of talented players up front will figure it out, but the season opener was shockingly bad.
The coaching looked worse than last season
It's the first week of the season, so take things with a grain of salt, but it's hard to ignore the fact that Michigan looked even sloppier under Whittingham than it did under Sherrone Moore.
Moore was responsible for his own downfall, but maybe he wasn't to blame for Bryce Underwood's. Even after working with a QB coach and Jason Beck, Underwood looks about the same, maybe even worse.
The coaching goes beyond that, though. Underwood wasn't calling pass plays from his own 20-yard line instead of running out the clock at the end of the first half. That sequence of play calls was insane.
It led to three points for the opposing team and should have been six. There was another instance on third down when the extra offensive lineman in the Rhino package, a former defensive lineman, was blocking an EDGE, which led to a sack.
Savion Hiter touched the ball three times. There was zero creativity, and Jordan Marshall should have been given the ball more, although, again, Underwood missed some reads, forcing Marshall to run into the teeth of the defense when the EDGE was wide open.
Jim Harbaugh once said the biggest improvement in a team can happen between the first game and the second. Michigan football fans better hope that's true of the 2026 Wolverines. Otherwise, it could be a long season.
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