As part of Buckeye Sports Bulletin’s coverage of Big Ten Media Days we are taking a look at several conference opponents Ohio State is scheduled to play during the 2026 season. Here is our look at Michigan, which the Buckeyes match up with at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 28.
Two words that were very important to new Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham at Big Ten media days were discipline and structure.
Coming to a program that has been in the news many times over the past few years for off-field controversies, Whittingham believes that’s just what the Wolverines need in 2026.
“That’s been part of my culture forever is to be disciplined and structured,” Whittingham said. “Players, in my opinion, thrive on structure and discipline. They like to have a routine. They like to be held accountable. They like to be treated consistently, and that’s what we do every single day.”
Whittingham has had a lot of success over the years at Utah, taking over as head coach in 2005 after Urban Meyer left for Florida. Whittingham had been with the Utes since the 1994 season when he was brought on as the defensive line coach, and he spent over three decades there.
He left with a 177-88 record as a head coach, going 11-6 in bowl games, winning the Pac-12 twice when he was there, as well as the Mountain West in 2008 when the Utes were still in that conference.
Now, at 66 years old, he joins a historic Michigan program that found success in 2023, winning its first national championship since the 1997 season.
He wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when he got to Ann Arbor since he had been in Salt Lake City for so long, but he was happy to find out that in the spring, his players in maize and blue seemed to immediately buy into his system.
“I can’t speak for last year, but when I got here, I was pleasantly surprised by the players’ hunger,” Whittingham said. “We’ve had a great deal of buy-in, and if you can get the top 10 percent of your roster to buy in, everything seems to fall into place. Our top 10 percent is really bought in.”
Returning at quarterback for the Wolverines is Bryce Underwood, who earned the starting job as a true freshman last season and underperformed expectations with 2,428 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Asked if Underwood, a former No. 1 prospect, has what it takes to win a championship for the Wolverines, Whittingham didn’t seem to want to put too much pressure on his QB/
“We hope so,” Whittingham said. “Talk to me at the end of fall camp and I’ll have a lot better of an assessment. If he continues the trajectory he’s on and continues to work how he has, I see no reason why he can’t be very successful because he’s got so much in the toolbox.”
Underwood made a bevy of mistakes in his first season under center, which a true freshman is expected to when they are playing in the Big Ten. But Whittingham said that there were quite a bit of fundamentals that Underwood needing catching up in when the coach arrived on campus for the first time.
“He had a lot of catching up to do fundamentally,” Whittingham said. “Not to make excuses, but he didn’t really have much of an opportunity to become more sound in that regard.”
Underwood also got a lot of work in with more experienced quarterbacks over the summer and tried to take in what he could from pros.
“He spent a lot of time with Joe Burrow and some other guys (over the summer), so we’ll see how that translates in camp,” Whittingham said.
One area where Underwood certainly showed impressive flashes was in the run game. He finished the 2025 season with 392 yards on the ground on 88 attempts. He had six touchdowns with his legs.
With a quarterback who has the athleticism and running ability that Underwood possesses, Whittingham said that as a coach, he needs to take advantage of that.
“He’s got the ability to run the football like a tailback, almost,” Whittingham said. “He’s very, very elusive. He’s got speed and he’s also really good at extending the play and improvising.
“A defensive coordinator, his ideal scenario is a quarterback that’s a statue and a guy that can’t move out of the pocket. In the college game, you have to have the QB run game as part of your offensive scheme.”
Part of the struggle for Underwood last year was that he was constantly under pressure. That was something that stood out to Whittingham when he looked back at the film from Underwood’s freshman campaign.
“I was surprised at how much duress he was under,” Whittingham said. “He would take the snap and the rush would be on him. The two things we can do (to help Bryce) are shore up the offensive line and have a strong run game.”
The head coach went through his offensive line and said that he feels they will have 10 players by the end of fall camp they will be able to count on.
He also was very confident about how good the Wolverines will be in the backfield as well with junior Jordan Marshall and freshman Savion Hiter leading the way.
“We have a loaded running back room. We feel there’s three or four guys that can really carry the load,” Whittingham said. “Jordan and Savion are one and two right now.”
Marshall played in just 11 games last season, dealing with an injury toward the end of the year. Had he played a full year, he likely would have crossed the 1,000-yard threshold in his first season as a starter. He finished the year with 150 attempts for 932 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Now, Hiter joins the room after signing with Michigan as the No. 1 running back in the 2026 class, choosing the Wolverines over Ohio State.
While Whittingham was clear that Marshall is still the No. 1 in the room, he made sure to emphasize that Hiter will have an impact on this year’s team.
“Savion, physically, is dynamite. He’s 6-0, 220 (pounds), and there’s not an ounce of fat on the young man. He looks like he’s in the NFL right now,” Whittingham said. “But there’s always room for the mental part of it — to learn to watch film, learn to study, how to eat right, sleep right.
Whatever Hiter provides, Michigan has to go through a tough schedule this season, with Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State all on the calendar.
The Wolverines will have their work cut out for them if they want to return to the College Football Playoff for the first time since the 2023 season.
