Bryce Underwood stars, sloppy play must be cleaned up for Michigan
Tony Garcia breaks down key takeaways from Michigan football’s 34-17 season-opening victory over New Mexico at Michigan Stadium, Aug. 30, 2025.
- 18-year-old Bryce Underwood debuted as Michigan’s starting quarterback, throwing for 251 yards and one touchdown in a 34-17 win over New Mexico.
- Underwood’s performance set a new Michigan record for passing yards in a true freshman debut, exceeding Tate Forcier’s mark in 2009.
- Despite his historic performance, Underwood gave himself a C+ grade with a lot “to work on and also the team as well.”
Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore simply shook his head and chuckled, sitting next to perhaps college football’s most intriguing player.
It wasn’t as much at what had just happened, but Bryce Underwood’s assessment of it. About half an hour after the Wolverines put the finishing touches on a season-opening 34-17 victory over New Mexico on Saturday, Aug. 30, Underwood was asked to grade his performance.
“A C-plus today,” Underwood said. “It’s a lot of things I got to work on and also the team as well. So if we go back to the drawing board, we’ll come back better next week.”
Here’s one thing to know: If that actually was Underwood’s C-plus game, the rest of the Big Ten is in serious trouble. Not someday, but right now. To be clear, this was a historic night for Underwood, despite grading himself as just one tick above average.
(We graded his performance an A-minus.)
Underwood completed 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards and one touchdown, surpassing Tate Forcier (2009) for the most yards for a freshman in a debut in 146 seasons of Michigan football. Perhaps even more importantly, it directly correlated with an improved offense for the Wolverines.
They scored more than 34 points just once in 13 games a season ago, never passed for 251 yards and never had 452 yards, as they did in Underwood’s debut.
All of this by a player who turned 18 less than two weeks prior. Just how new was all of this? When he led the team off the bus, he turned to the right and started walking toward the visitor locker room, instead of left to the tunnel into the Michigan locker room.
“Honestly, I’d say it’s insane, really,” Underwood said of making his first start. “This is for sure No. 1 on my list, honestly. That was a surreal feeling, being in the Big House. I’ve been coming to the games since I was 8, 9 years old, so it’s just a surreal feeling to have the Block M on my chest and to score a touchdown.”
It also leads to the question: If Underwood can play as he did Saturday with that little experience in this situation, what will he do as he becomes more accustomed to college football?
There is credit to go around. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey deserves a good portion for helping Underwood settle into the game. Each of his first eight throws were one-read plays. He completed six; the only miss that was “on him” — Fredrick Moore had a drop on a ball that hit him in the chest — came when he was flushed from the pocket to the right and overshot a streaking Channing Goodwin up the seam.
The two made amends on third-and-14, after New Mexico cut U-M’s lead to 17-10 with just a few minutes left in the first half. U-M converted the first five third downs of the game, but couldn’t do the same on the previous two third-and-longs.
This time, however, Underwood threw a strike up the right seem, hitting Goodwin on a skinny post in stride and letting him take the ball into Lobos territory for a 39-yard completion — longer than any pass play for U-M last season.
Later on the drive, Marlin Klein caught the first touchdown of his (and Underwood’s) career from 15 yards out. Klein, a senior, had the ball while he met with media, but told reporters he intended to give it to Underwood.
And while he didn’t officially grade his new signal caller, Klein agreed with the sentiment Underwood has looked even better in practice than he did Saturday in the Big House.
“He had a really solid game, but there’s some throws out there that he’s going to make this year that he’s made at practice that you guys didn’t get to see tonight,” Klein said. “But you guys will and I just can’t wait for that. … He’s one heck of a player and he’s going to continue to make plays for us.”
But for all the throws Underwood made, his highlight of the night came on the second drive of the game.
Michigan, faced with third-and-3 from the New Mexico 5-yard line, called for Underwood to handoff to his left to Justice Haynes, then roll away to the left.
At the same moment, Haynes saw he had room to the left and hit a jump cut to burst toward the front left pylon. Underwood spotted safety Austin Brawley chasing and peeled back to lay a thumping block with his right shoulder, allowing Haynes to reach the end zone untouched.
Before approaching Haynes, team captain Max Bredeson (Underwood’s roommate during fall camp) came and celebrated with Underwood, screaming at him in approval. Moore felt different.
“I said, ‘Stop! Don’t do it,’” Moore said with a laugh. “But he loves it. He loves the game, he loves football. He loves the physicality.”
Underwood has spent eight-plus months learning since arriving in December as an early high school graduate. He said he struggled both in winter and spring being a vocal leader for the group because he felt “too young at the moment.”
As the weather turned to summer, Underwood said he started to sense it was what the team needed, especially if he were to grasp the starting role.
“Got to the moment where I feel like it’s time for me to step up,” he said. “It’s time for me to use my voice and be able to feel like I know what I’m talking about as well.”
The team has known for months what the college football world saw for the first time Saturday — Underwood has all the tools. But still, he had to show it to everyone.
It’s not like the pressure will go away — he will make his first career road start this Saturday night in Oklahoma, with ESPN’s “College GameDay” in town.
But first, he checked the box in Ann Arbor. He didn’t even let himself to soak it all in until right around the time “Mr. Brightside” echoed through the crowd of 110,648.
“The beginning of the fourth quarter, that’s when the moment actually sunk in a little bit,” Underwood said. “My mindset going through this game is really just to do as well as I can as a freshman. Because that’s what people are going to see me as and I want to change the narrative.”
So, how does he want to be seen?
“I’m a quarterback for the University of Michigan.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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