For the first half of the 2025 season, the Michigan football offense languished, but not because of the freshman quarterback, Bryce Underwood. However, in the past two games, Underwood hasn’t exactly lived up to his five-star billing, struggling mightily, particularly in the last game against Purdue.
The struggles began in the second quarter against rival MSU, and in the second half of that game, the Wolverines relied almost exclusively on the run game. But against Purdue a week and a half ago, Underwood had his career-worst game, not even cracking 100 yards passing while having turned the ball over twice in the red zone, with one interception and one fumble through the end zone.
Advertisement
Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is still confident that Underwood is developing as scheduled. While he notes the mistakes, he’s still doing things that he’s being asked to, but it will just take the experience to get him up to full speed.
“The more he plays, the more comfortable he’s gonna get it,” Lindsey said. “I think it’s about reps. When you have a young player, again, it goes back. We talked about this, protecting the ball. I think that’s the thing that bothered me the most, cuz he’s really, most of the year, really done a nice job of that. And then I think, all the way around, we gotta do a great job protecting him.”
But the pass game struggles haven’t been exclusive to Underwood.
Before those two games, the big note was that the receivers were struggling to come down with footballs thrown accurately that hit them in the hands. Lindsey acknowledged that while also appreciating that Underwood is doing everything he can to ensure that he thrives when the moments present themselves.
Advertisement
“We gotta do a great job catching the ball when we get opportunities,” Lindsey said. “And it all kind of works together, but I like his growth.
“It’s funny, I was leaving here last night, and this guy’s up here. I know it’s past 10:45 — cuz that’s when I was here — he’s in there watching third downs. The guy loves football, he’s a football fanatic, so to speak, and wants to improve. And that’s really what’s earned him a lot of respect with our team here, is the way he’s operating. He’s coming here, blue collar, go to work, earn his way. And I just wanna see him continue to do that. The more he plays, I think the better he’s gonna get.”
Michigan and Underwood’s next opportunity will come on Saturday when the Wolverines travel to Chicago to face Northwestern at Wrigley Field.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Chip Lindsey: Bryce Underwood ‘only getting better’ for Michigan
