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Michigan Football Coach Throws Bryce Underwood Under The Bus With Refusal To Blame Play Calling

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iStockphoto / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham threw his QB under the bus.


The Michigan football team is struggling to find success in Kyle Whittingham’s debut season. The head coach refuses to blame play calling.

With that refusal, he threw starting quarterback Bryce Underwood under the bus. The Wolverines are failing because their signal caller does not grasp the offense.

The comments came after a loss to Minnesota, the team’s second straight in Big Ten play. You could argue that Michigan should be 2-3 exiting its bye week after being gifted a win vs. Western Michigan.

Offense has been the issue. The Wolverines are averaging 23 points per game. The majority of that damage came in a 52-17 win over UTEP.

Michigan has scored just 63 points in its other four outings. The team has not reached 20 points against any opponent outside of the Miners.

They rank 17th in the Big Ten in total yardage. They’re in the bottom half of the league in passing, interceptions, and time of possession. It’s been a poor product.

Can it be fixed?

Michigan football coach puts the blame on Bryce Underwood.

Whittingham believes there is a fix, but it rests in the hands of the quarterback. He sat down with Detroit sports anchor Tina Nguyen during the off week to open up on the offensive struggles through five games.

He refused to blame the play calling. Whittingham has faith in coordinator Jason Beck.

“Jason Beck’s track record has been very, very good offensively. It’s been an offense that’s very hard for defenses to deal with when it’s functioning at the level it needs to function at. When you lose a couple of games, everything comes into question. You cannot just make wholesale changes.”

-Kyle Whittingham

Whittingham has no plans of shaking up the staff or scheme. He has complete confidence in Beck as a play caller. That shifts the blame to the signal caller. The head coach does not believe Bryce Underwood is making the correct reads.

“It’s a new offense for him… There are a lot of reads that need to be made in this offense, a lot of RPO aspect to it. There’s going to be reads not only in the throw game but in the run game. Those reads are critical to the success of the offense. We’ve just got to continue to work on making the correct reads in those situations.”

-Kyle Whittingham

Is play calling an issue?

According to tight end Zack Marshall, it is. He said as much in a leaked text chain following a loss to Iowa.

Marshall suggested that Jason Beck was the problem in a conversation with friends. According to the pass catcher, he is wasting Bryce Underwood’s talent. He refuses to use the tight end as a safety net. The coordinator does not know what he’s doing.

“Basically, our offense sucks… We have no answers… (We) run different versions of power read every play. Beck tells Bryce where to go on every play and it gets strapped. Bryce is a good QB. Beck is a problem.”

-Zack Marshall

Marshall suggests that Beck is telling Underwood where to throw every play. It contradicts the head coach’s commentary on reads and decision making.

Beck was hired this past offseason, following Kyle Whittingham to Michigan from Utah. Last year, his offense ranked fourth nationally scoring at a clip of 41.3 points per game. There’s been a significant dropoff in Ann Arbor.

Players say it’s coaching. Whittingham insists it’s execution. There is a clear divide inside the locker room. The Wolverines will hope to mend it before their next matchup with Penn State.