Michigan beat Penn State 21-18, but Bryce Underwood gave the Wolverines another reason to regret their massive investment. The highly touted quarterback completed just 5 of 11 passes for 43 yards and threw two interceptions before Kyle Whittingham benched him at halftime. Tommy Carr stepped in and helped Michigan pull off the comeback, leaving Underwood’s future with the program in serious doubt.
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On the latest episode of the Air Torres Podcast, host Aaron Torres didn’t hold back. He floated a wild scenario that would send the young quarterback straight to one of Michigan’s fiercest new Big Ten rivals: the Oregon Ducks. With backup Tommy Carr now preparing to take over as Michigan’s starting quarterback, Torres believes Underwood needs to start thinking about his next move.
If he were advising the young signal-caller, his first phone call would be to Oregon head coach Dan Lanning.
“If I was Bryce Underwood’s advisor today, if it hasn’t happened yet, I’d call up Dan Lanning… He’s done a very good job of taking young quarterbacks, and he’s done a very good job of taking backup quarterbacks, young quarterbacks that haven’t had the success that they want, and convince them, hey, come here, be a backup, learn how to play the position. There is no pressure, and then after a year, you’ll be ready to play,” Aaron Torres said.
Oregon’s recent success with Dante Moore is a good example of why Torres is making that suggestion. Lanning convinced Moore to come to Eugene and spend a season as a redshirt backup behind Dillon Gabriel, giving him time to learn the offense without the pressure of being the starter. The plan allowed Moore to develop before getting his chance to lead the Ducks.
And the gamble paid off for Moore. He helped Oregon finish 13-2 in 2025, including an 11-1 regular season, and reach the College Football Playoff semifinals. His performances also established him as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick, although he ultimately chose to return for another season.
Lanning is now working with another former starting quarterback in Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola. While Raiola didn’t start against his former team on October 17, he came off the bench in the fourth quarter, completing 11 of 18 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown to help Oregon secure a 17-14 comeback win.
Considering Underwood’s current situation, Torres believes transferring to Oregon, sitting behind Raiola for a year, and preparing to take over in 2028 could be the best move for his career.
But how did Michigan get to the point where its highly touted quarterback is being encouraged to join a conference rival? According to Torres, head coach Kyle Whittingham has been dealing with an extremely difficult situation since taking over the program.
Torres believes there has been considerable pressure from Michigan’s higher-ups and wealthy donors to make the Underwood experiment work, regardless of whether Whittingham thinks the quarterback is ready to lead the offense.
“Once Kyle Whittingham got to campus, there has been a lot of internal pressure to keep Bryce Underwood as the starting quarterback… because, frankly, a lot of people are investing a lot of money in him, and so there has been like an unofficial edict to Kyle Whittingham: try and make this work, or you’ve got to make this work, and so I don’t blame Whittingham. He was put in an impossible spot,” Torres said.
Torres also suggested that Whittingham might have made the quarterback change weeks ago if he hadn’t faced that pressure. Looking back at the press conference following the Western Michigan game, there were already signs that Underwood’s position wasn’t entirely secure. When asked about the quarterback, Whittingham bluntly described him as the starter “for now.”
The situation finally reached a breaking point after a string of losses and another game in which Michigan’s offense struggled to get going. Whittingham knew he had to try something different, and that opened the door for true freshman backup Tommy Carr.
Carr wasn’t expected to see much playing time this season, but he made the most of his opportunity, sparking a second-half resurgence and leading Michigan to a gritty comeback win.
With Carr running the offense, Torres believes we may have seen the last of Bryce Underwood in a Wolverines uniform. Unless Carr suffers an injury that forces another change, Underwood might not get another opportunity to start for Michigan.