The 2025 Michigan football season has gotten off to an interesting start. They looked inconsistent in their first game against New Mexico and struggled to move the ball against Oklahoma in Week 2. The biggest difference maker for the Wolverines needs to be Bryce Underwood under center. He has been solid so far, but has not been completely allowed to use his legs in this offense yet.
So far, Underwood has totaled five carries for negative sack-adjusted rushing yards. He’s stuck to passing for the most part, completing 30 of his 55 passing attempts for 393 yards and one touchdown. Moore is still careful with how they use Underwood, but he intends to have him use his legs more as the season continues and progresses.
“(If) you run your quarterback, you better have two,” Moore said. “And I’ve always believed that, even did that with JJ (McCarthy). JJ wanted to run every game. And I was like, No, you’re gonna get hit, you’re gonna get hurt.
“We will (run Underwood), and I think there are parts of where we tried to in that game, they just were pretty good at not letting us, because they didn’t want him to run. And I think there are ways we can get him to run in different ways and make sure he’s protected. So we’ll work that as we go game by game and have a strategy.”
Bryce Underwood performed well in his first start, throwing for 251 yards and a touchdown with a 67.7% completion percentage. However, he struggled in his first road start against Oklahoma. He finished with a 37.5% completion percentage, only completing nine passes and totaling 142 passing yards. Still, despite the loss, Moore focused a lot on the positives from the performance.
“The kid kept his poise for a freshman to be in that environment,” Moore continued. “I mean, there was never the wide-eyed look where it’s too big. So I understand that he can do it.”
The Michigan football team gets a chance to right the ship this week against Central Michigan. It is also worth noting that, due to the fallout from the Connor Stalions' cheating allegations, Michigan will also be without Sherrone Moore in this game due to a suspension. Biff Poggi will be the interim coach for this game and the next one.
