Michigan Is Expected to Start Tommy Carr Over Bryce Underwood Again: What It Means for a 4-3 Team
Michigan is expected to start true freshman Tommy Carr at quarterback against Rutgers on Saturday, according to Pete Nakos of On3. Kyle Whittingham has not announced it, and on Monday he would not say. “That’s to be determined.”
Read the word “again” carefully, because most of the aggregation Wednesday skipped past it. Carr already made his first career start, last week against Indiana. Saturday would be start number two. This is Michigan holding its position, not Michigan making a change.
What Happened Against Indiana
Michigan lost 13-6 in overtime at Michigan Stadium, Indiana’s first win there since 1967.
Here is the detail that explains the whole season. Michigan outgained Indiana 224 yards to 212 and scored six points. Carr went 20 of 32 for 167 yards with no touchdowns, one interception and a lost fumble, and he was sacked four times. A sack in the final minute of regulation pushed Michigan back far enough that a 26-yard field goal was all it could manage.
Carr took it himself afterward. “Both turnovers, completely on me.” He is 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, out of Saline High School in Michigan, and he is the grandson of Lloyd Carr and the brother of Notre Dame starter CJ Carr.
Bryce Underwood Took One Snap and It Lost a Yard
Underwood was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class. He started all 13 games as a true freshman last season and all six games this season before the benching.
His 2026 line: 72 of 124 for 924 yards, five touchdowns, six interceptions. More picks than touchdown passes, at 58.1 percent completions. Against Penn State on Oct. 17 he threw two first-half interceptions and did not come out for the second half. Carr finished that one and Michigan won 21-18.
Against Indiana, Underwood stood on the sideline for the first snap, took one quarterback draw in the second quarter for a loss of a yard, and handed off once after halftime. He did not attempt a pass.
Whittingham has been emphatic that the sophomore handled it well. “Bryce couldn’t have handled it any better. He was supporting Tommy and helping him between series.”
Whittingham Keeps Pointing at His Own Staff
The most interesting thread here runs through the coaching staff, not the depth chart. A first-year head coach keeps refusing to put any of this on either quarterback.
“We’re not getting it done from a coaching standpoint at this point in time,” he said Monday. “We have to coach better at every single position.” And: “There are plenty of issues to go around, but it all starts with coaching.” After the Indiana loss he said flatly, “I’m not putting this on the players at all.”
Whittingham arrived in December 2025 after 21 seasons running Utah, and brought offensive coordinator Jason Beck with him. Michigan is 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten, with wins over Western Michigan, No. 11 Oklahoma, UTEP and Penn State against losses to Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana. Those three defeats came by one point, six points and seven points. Nobody is blowing Michigan out. Nobody is scoring, either.
The Transfer Talk Is One Analyst’s Guess
You will see headlines saying Underwood’s exit has been made clear. It has not. The source is a column by Antonio Morales of The Athletic saying Underwood “will likely need to find a change of scenery.” That is a prediction. Underwood has not entered the portal, has not said a word about leaving, and has not commented publicly on the benching at all.
Rutgers is 2-5 and 1-3, coming off a 42-14 loss at Northwestern. Kickoff is 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Piscataway on Big Ten Network. If Michigan cannot score on that defense with either quarterback, the conversation stops being about the depth chart.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
