The first three weeks have given Kyle Whittingham plenty to like about his new Michigan team. It is 3-0; it beat Oklahoma, and Bryce Underwood looked far more comfortable throwing the ball in the 52-17 win over UTEP. But the season is about to move into a different kind of football.
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Iowa is coming to Ann Arbor with Phil Parker’s defense, and Michigan has a weakness that is hard to hide. That is what former LSU HC Brian Kelly focused on when CBS Sports asked him about the matchup.
“When your quarterback’s the leading rusher in a game like this against Iowa and Phil Parker’s defense, I just lean towards the guys that have always done it,” Brian Kelly said on CBS Sports on September 22. “And he’s always been there with great run defense.”
Bryce Underwood should not have to be Michigan’s best running option. Through three games, he is. Underwood has carried 33 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns.
Jordan Marshall has 135 yards on 34 carries. Savion Hiter has 83 on 24 attempts. Add the three together, and Michigan has a functional running back rotation, but Underwood is still the team’s leading rusher. According to Kelly, that won’t work against Iowa.
“They’re going to have to run the ball. Michigan, they’re going to have to be much more diversified,” Kelly said. “And if it’s the quarterback as your leading rusher, I’m going to go with Iowa.”
Phil Parker has spent years building defenses that do not give quarterbacks many easy answers. Iowa has finished in the national top 20 in scoring defense for 11 straight seasons, and Parker’s unit has allowed fewer than 20 points per game in each of the last 10.
The Hawkeyes also enter the matchup 3-0 and have allowed 4.33 points per game through three games. Michigan cannot expect Underwood to keep rescuing the offense with his legs. The problem showed up early in the season.
Against Western Michigan, the Wolverines struggled badly enough that the quarterback’s running ability became a major part of the answer. Against Oklahoma, Underwood ran 18 times for 87 yards. That helped Michigan win 17-10.
But it also showed how much the offense can lean on him when the running backs are not creating enough on their own. Kyle Whittingham’s own staff has acknowledged it.
Before the UTEP game, offensive staffers talked about wanting to get more out of the running backs. Michigan’s offense had struggled to establish the ground game, putting more of the burden on Underwood.
Former Michigan center Jon Jansen noted that the staff had decided Underwood needed to be used more as a runner after seeing what he could do in the opener. So, there was progress against UTEP.
Underwood threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-25 passing. Michigan also improved its running attack, particularly between the tackles. Whittingham called it the quarterback’s best game of the season. Iowa, though, presents a much different test.
Parker is not likely to sit back and let Underwood pick apart the same looks all afternoon. Underwood has been noticeably less efficient against zone coverage than man coverage during his young career, while Parker’s defense is known for changing pictures and waiting for quarterbacks to make the mistake.
Michigan needs Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter to make the defense respect the handoff. The offensive line has to create enough movement that Iowa cannot simply squeeze the box and make Underwood solve everything himself.
And Underwood still has to make the throws when Parker takes away his first read. Can Kyle Whittingham finally learn from his mistakes and test Iowa’s defense to come out with a win?