One day, teams will be scared to play Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood. But not quite yet, especially the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night.
Underwood will make just his second career start and endure his first road game when the No. 18 Sooners host No. 15 Michigan at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday in a top-20 matchup between two blue bloods.
Michigan's Bryce Underwood will make first road start vs. Sooners
Common sense says a young QB with little experience, especially one that turned 18 just a few weeks ago, will be prone to mistakes in his first road game. Underwood will experience that with the bonus of that challenge being a primetime game between two storied programs and against a ranked team with one of the best defensive lines in the country.
In 2025, Michigan has continued its tradition of stellar run blocking and paved the way for 6.3 yards a rush against New Mexico in Week 1. However, that same line gave up two sacks against a weak defensive front, and although the unit did not give up any quarterback pressures on the stat sheet, Underwood definitely showed he felt the heat multiple times.
Two instances in particular stood out to show how the freshman QB handled the pressure.
First, on a third-down play, Underwood actually had a pretty nice pocket, but as soon as New Mexico's edge rusher stepped inside to beat his blocker, and another rusher came from the inside, Underwood let it loose. Underwood fired a slant to the middle of the field to a man in tight coverage and threw the ball too high. If not for being tipped, the overthrown ball would have landed in the arms of the safety, and still almost did.
The second occasion was close to the goal line on third down again on New Mexico's three-yard line. Underwood went to boot out right, but New Mexico pressured from that side. Again, Underwood immediately fired before even really getting his head around. A New Mexico defender jumped to swat the pass attempt, which actually helped out Underwood, who threw toward a man that was blanketed by three defenders unless the perfect ball was thrown to the corner.
Although Underwood didn't throw an interception in his debut, the announcer mentioned after that play and several others how balls thrown like that usually end up intercepted. Those pressures and forced mistakes won't only come more often against the Sooners, but OU is also more likely to capitalize on the misfires.
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has praised Underwood's poise and maturity, and Underwood is already head and shoulders above most freshmen, but he's still a roookie. It's a lot easier to be composed on your home turf compared to under the lights with 83,489 fans rooting against you and causing more chaos. New Mexico's defensive line is also incomparable to the Sooners'.
The Sooners and Sooner Nation will force the freshman QB into enough mistakes on Saturday night to negate the plays he does make and be the difference in OU getting the massive early win.
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