Michigan Sports

Clock least of Wolverines’ worries vs. Sooners

ANN ARBOR -- Michigan’s football team has much bigger problems, including No. 11 Oklahoma, than a clock controversy.

The dramatic ending to the formerly 16th-ranked Wolverines’ 13-12 win over Western Michigan -- with a disputed second on the clock that gave Bryce Underwood another chance to complete a Hail Mary -- has been one of the most talked about topics in sports for nearly a week.

“That was a crazy game,” said Sooners linebacker Cole Sullivan, who transferred from Michigan after last season.

The conclusion and fallout from Michigan’s last game has overshadowed, to some degree, how poorly it played in all three phases during coach Kyle Whittingham’s debut with college football’s winningest program.

“We got plenty to fix,” Whittingham said.

And not a lot of time.

The Wolverines, who fell out of the AP Top 25, are 6 1/2-point underdogs on Saturday at home against the Sooners in a Big Ten-SEC matchup.

Underwood walked out of the locker room and down the tunnel for last week’s prime-time kickoff with a music and light show during his energetic entrance, slapping his helmet and pumping his right fist in a demonstrative display of emotion.

The closely watched quarterback, in his second season after being the nation’s No. 1 recruit, got off to a great start with his arm and legs on a game-opening touchdown drive.

Underwood struggled for the rest of the game -- his game-winning, 47-yard touchdown throw notwithstanding -- and was often seen expressionless and speaking to no one on the sideline.

“I just feel like we’ve got to come out and dominate and be aggressive -- how we were the first drive -- every single play,” Underwood said. “We can’t get down, our energy can’t get down.”

When asked earlier this week how firmly entrenched Underwood is as Michigan’s QB1, Whittingham said the sophomore has to improve to keep his job.

Underwood’s seat could get hotter if he doesn’t make better decisions and throw more accurately against the Sooners, especially if they shut down Michigan’s running game as the Broncos of the Mid-American Conference did last week. Michigan’s No. 2 quarterback is Tommy Carr, whose brother CJ is Notre Dame’s quarterback and grandfathers are in the College Football Hall of Fame, including Lloyd Carr who coached Michigan and played a year at Northern Michigan University in the 1960s.