If Bryce Underwood is going to keep his job as the Michigan starting quarterback, he will have to play better than he did against Minnesota.
He knows that. Underwood started the Minnesota game fine, but got worse and worse as it went on. However, there are more people to blame than just the Michigan football quarterback.
Jason Beck, the offensive coordinator is one of them.
Kyle Whittingham talked about how the team needed to run downhill more, something that seemed obvious. Michigan did run some outside zone last season, but that's different than the jet sweep runs Beck keeps using with Savion Hiter.
It's just a poor fit for the personnel. Hiter should be running at the line of scrimmage, just like Jordan Marshall, not side-by-side with it as he tries to get upfield. It's hard to figure out why it took five games for Whittingham to realize Michigan football needed to get back to more of a downhill running game.
But it was good to hear him talk about something that needed to be fixed. Hopefully, it will be. One other thing that needs to be fixed or taken out of the playbook completely is the rhino.
Michigan was supposed to have Andrew Babalola be the rhino earlier this season. If he gets healthy, it might start working, but the Wolverines are using it too much.
Michigan has had 52 dropbacks with six offensive linemen on the field — 39 more than the next most in the Power Four (Iowa State; 13), according to Sports Info Solutions.
— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) October 6, 2026
The Wolverines have 52 dropbacks with six offensive linemen on the field. That reduces the amount of pass targets you can have to four at the most. It's three if a running back stays in to block.
That's not something you see a lot in a modern offense. Yet, the Wolverines have made it a staple through the first five games. No other team has had six offensive linemen on the field for more than 13 plays this season on a dropback pass. 39 snaps seem like a big difference, especially when it hasn't worked.
At times, the rhino is being used to block an EDGE rusher, which isn't a great matchup. It would be better to have a tight end capable of catching a pass. At least that player would force the defense to defend him.
It just doesn't make sense, like a lot of things about the Michigan offense. Whittingham talked about getting back to a more traditional running game. It's time to do the same thing with the passing game and give up on the rhino, which would help Bryce Underwood.
Until the coaching starts making more sense, it's hard to place too much blame on Underwood. Getting rid of the rhino, something many have said since Week 1, would be a good plce to start.
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