After a 17-point win over New Mexico on Saturday night, Michigan football will face its first true test of the 2025 season against Oklahoma.
There were some spectacular moments from Bryce Underwood against the Lobos. Justice Haynes was stellar, too. The defense was just fine. People have been worrying about nothing. Michigan have up 271 yards and one play of more than 20 yards.
New Mexico scored on a trick play and a drive that featured a 25-yard pass, which wasn't a completion, being called a completion, after not being reviewed, and the worst targeting penalty in college football history.
Regardless, that, along with frequent substitution patterns can help explain the 17 points. That's all to say we didn't learn much about Michigan football in Week 1, outside of the fact that Bryce Underwood might be the most talented quarterback the Wolverines have ever had.
Week 2 is when we start to learn just how good Michigan football can be this season and here are five questions ahead of the Oklahoma game.
is Bryce Underwood ready for primetime?
It was just New Mexico, but he sure seemed ready last week. The third-and-14 throw was extremely impressive. The coaches didn't shy away from putting the ball in Underwood's hands in a key spot.
The fact that he delivered in that moment should have Michigan football fans very excited. Underwood can make all the throws. He's got impressive movement skills, and even though he didn't run last week, I think we'll see a few runs in key situations this week, just like we used to see from J.J. McCarthy. His biggest runs were reserved for the biggest games.
Underwood is a competitor -- just look at the block he threw -- and we'll see if he's ready to produce in a game like this.
How will the offensive line hold up?
Underwood's performance could be directly impacted by how the offensive line holds up this week. Jim Harbaugh said it best in the past when he said that every position group depends on the success of the offensive line to have success.
Underwood needs time to throw the ball. He had it for the most part on Saturday night, but Oklahoma and New Mexico are different. The Lobos did have some stellar pass rushers.
Oklahoma only had two sacks against Illinois State last week. The Sooners only allowed 34 passing yards but also surrendered 126 on the ground. Regardless of the stats, this will be a stern test for the offensive line, one that will tell us a lot about that group moving forward.
Will the explosives continue?
All offseason we heard Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore, as well as offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey talk about how they want the offense to be explosive.
In the first game against New Mexico, Michigan football certainly delivered on that promise. The Wolverines had three plays that went over 25 yards. There were two long runs by Justice Haynes that actually covered over 50 yards each, plus three completions of over 27 yards.
After only four completions of longer than 30 yards a season ago, Michigan football had two pass plays go over 30 yards against New Mexico. That won't be as easy to do against Oklahoma. Brent Venables has always been known as a stellar defensive coordinator.
He's going to try and confuse Underwood. We'll see if it works, but either way, the running game will be the key to unlocking explosive plays.
Will the secondary hold up?
Michigan football allowed New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne to complete 66 percent of his passes. The Lobos had 217 yards passing on 40 attempts. The yards per attempt wasn't anything to worry about, but New Mexico was able to complete a lot of passes underneath.
Last week, John Mateer, the former Washington State quarterback, was nearly perfect in his debut, completing 31 of 38 pass attempts for 392 yards. That's 10.6 yards per pass attempt. His effort also included three touchdowns compared to one interception.
The fact that Underwood was able to avoid turnovers was maybe the most impressive part of his debut. Mateer couldn't do that against an FCS team. Keontez Lewis had nine receptions for 119 yards and two scores. Jaren Kanak, a former linebacker, had five receptions for 90 yards.
It's a fair question to ask if Michigan can hold up on the back end. The Wolverines did against Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams last season, and they did it in the bowl game without Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
But Mateer is a different kind of quarterback. Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry are both proven at this point. But if Rod Moore is still out, Michigan will need to get deeper into the depth chart, even at nickel, which can impact corner and safety, and that's where the question lies. Can the 3rd-4th corner hold up?
Can Michigan's D-line dominate?
One of the reasons Oklahoma went 6-6 last season was the offensive line. It wasn't very good. The Sooners made a flurry of additions this offseason, but you aren't going to learn much against Illinois State.
What we did learn is that the Sooners still had a tough time running the ball. Oklahoma managed just 103 yards on 32 carries last week. That, and the 126 rushing yards allowed to Illinois State should have the Wolverines licking their chops.
Oklahoma got out-rushed by the Redbirds and won the game with ease. But that won't be the case on Saturday night. If Michigan can run the ball and force the Sooners to be one-dimensional, it's going to be a tough night for John Mateer.
Yet, on the Michigan side of things, it will also be difficult if the Wolverines aren't able to run the ball, although Underwood can help with that if his reads are activated.
As much as we focus on the quarterbacks, it feels like this game will come down to the defensive line. Which teams does a better job against the run and who hits the quarterback more? That team will probably come away with the win on Saturday night.