00:00Doug Carr, Scott Anderson, 97.1.
00:02All right.
00:03I mean, look, it's no Lions this week coming out of a weekend of NFL.
00:08We'll talk more about what happened in the National Football League
00:10and mostly how it impacts our Lions and get into the Lions and Packers a little bit.
00:14But Kyle Whittingham this morning meeting with the media,
00:16according to Chris Ballas of the Wolverine,
00:18says they have a plan for the quarterback position going forward
00:21but won't divulge it to the opponent.
00:24And so, look, you've got a guy who's played more than the other,
00:31but you've got one that clearly provided a spark.
00:33I don't know how close people pay attention,
00:37and so I kind of want to recap last week leading into Saturday
00:42because the Michigan quarterback situation has got a ton of discussion.
00:47And, you know, coming out of the Minnesota game,
00:50there were calls for people that wanted Tommy Carr to start.
00:54And I made the comment at that time that, look, it's understandable.
00:58What I have discovered through the years is that when you go to practice,
01:01you usually can see why one guy's starting over the other.
01:04I have not been to practice in the last two weeks.
01:09I reiterated it on Monday that that was what I believed.
01:13Look, if Tommy Carr closes the gap,
01:16it could increase the likelihood that we will see him.
01:20After discussions through Tuesday into Wednesday,
01:25on Thursday's show was the first time where I'm like,
01:28hey, Tommy Carr has repped very well.
01:31And at that point, I knew he had 50% of the snaps.
01:34By the time we hit air Friday,
01:36he may have noticed that I was bringing up that, you know,
01:39this could be a game where we see him.
01:43And, you know, one of the things that people like to say
01:46is they should have put him in there earlier.
01:48That two weeks where he could rep with the first team makes a difference.
01:52That two weeks where he got more snaps with the first team
01:55is where the gap really started to be closed,
01:58or at least they felt more comfortable going to him
02:02because he is still a freshman.
02:05And I don't know that he is a solution just yet.
02:09As far as long-term, there's no question that team was sparked
02:13when he got in there.
02:14They had only one game where they scored three offensive touchdowns,
02:17and that was the UTEP game.
02:19And so this is the,
02:21and they did score three offensive touchdowns in the half.
02:23Now, two of them did come with short fields.
02:25Let's be clear about that.
02:28But, you know, it's obviously something that was very encouraging.
02:32They ran the ball much better in the second half.
02:36You know, one of the things that has held back Michigan's run game
02:38is the inability to make people respect that they could get burned downfield.
02:45Bryce tried to go downfield twice in the first half.
02:48Both times they were picked off.
02:50One was a bit of an underthrow and a little bit of a bad bounce.
02:53The other was an unbelievable interception,
02:54but they were still interceptions nonetheless, and they had zero points.
02:57They had gone 75 minutes without scoring any points.
03:00They'd gone 12 consecutive drives without scoring any points.
03:04So, I mean, I don't know how many people are listening to the broadcast,
03:07but on the broadcast, we made the point that it very well might be Tommy time.
03:11You know, they've got to go in there and make a decision,
03:14but it's feeling like this is the time.
03:17And sure enough, they came out of the locker room,
03:20and you could tell by the demeanor of the players,
03:23lots of high-fives to Tommy Carr,
03:25and he's taking snaps from the starting center.
03:27Oh.
03:28Now, what's weird is, in this business,
03:32you don't want to report something unless you know,
03:34and there was no confirmation from the bench that they were going to Tommy Carr,
03:37and so you're trying to set up the second half
03:40without reporting that he's starting, because you don't...
03:42Jason, what are you seeing on the sideline?
03:44It seems like some players would be really happy for somebody
03:47that may or may not be starting the second half.
03:50Yeah, bingo.
03:52Now, is it an encouraging performance?
03:56Yeah.
03:57Yeah, you know what it is, Gator?
03:59It's something to monitor.
04:02And just like the Lions' pass defense with the man-to-man coverage,
04:06which they played twice as much of against Arizona in their last game,
04:11if they do it this time out against Green Bay
04:14and that passing attack, stamp of authenticity.
04:17If Tommy Carr plays, if they score points
04:21and he plays as well against Indiana as he did in that half
04:25against Penn State, stamp of authenticity.
04:28But, you know, it's a much tougher challenge
04:31for both the Lions' secondary and Tommy Carr moving forward.
04:34So, I don't think there was any way that Tommy Carr
04:39shouldn't have started the second half.
04:40I think the way things ended in the first half,
04:43the two interceptions, even though I have a hard time
04:46faulting Bryce for either one.
04:47The first one was blatant defensive pass interference
04:50that wasn't called, and this is coming from a guy
04:52who can't stand Michigan football.
04:54That was blatant defensive pass interference.
04:56Wasn't called.
04:57And then even so, receivers should have caught the ball.
05:00He had it, and then he hits the ground,
05:02bounces straight up in the air, and the defender picks it off.
05:05The second interception was Charles Woodson-esque.
05:07It was brilliant.
05:09It was one of the most spectacular interceptions
05:11you're going to see.
05:13The wide receiver who was there,
05:16could he have fought a little bit more
05:17and become a defensive back?
05:19Easy to say in slow motion, hard to say
05:21when things are happening right in front of you.
05:23But nonetheless, it's another interception.
05:26So, the writing's on the wall because last week,
05:28that's what Kyle Whittingham said.
05:29You know, hey, look, we're going with Bryce.
05:31You know, but turnovers are a problem.
05:33We've got to limit turnovers.
05:34He had two of them.
05:35Whether they were his fault or not, he had two of them.
05:37So, that was easy to make that decision.
05:41And the team, here's the other obvious observation.
05:45The team clearly rallied around Tommy Carr
05:48and played for him a hell of a lot harder
05:51than they played for Bryce Underwood.
05:54Now, maybe it's just that lift you're getting
05:56when you know you've got a different quarterback coming in.
05:58Hey, we've got to protect this guy.
05:59He's a freshman.
06:00Let's go out there and you become more invested in it.
06:03But that's the reality, is that they played harder for Tommy
06:06than they did for Bryce.
06:07They opened up holes in the running game.
06:09I mean, they had, what, 150 yards rushing in the second half?
06:14I mean, they had 150 yards rushing in, what,
06:17one other game this year leading up to this?
06:19And they did it in a half of football?
06:23So, if that's what they needed to get the running game going,
06:25then it's a move that should have happened.
06:28And I would imagine that Tommy Carr probably gets to start this week
06:31against Indiana, but I wouldn't etch that in stone
06:34because you don't know.
06:35I mean, this is Indiana.
06:36They're one of the top teams in the country
06:37that came within an eyelash of beating Ohio State
06:41and, frankly, should have beaten Ohio State,
06:43but they didn't do it.
06:44So, they're not going to be angry.
06:45They're not going to be happy about it,
06:46and they'll come in Ann Arbor,
06:47and it's going to be a tough, tough matchup.
06:49But at least they got the ground game going.
06:52And if that's something that they can hang their hat on
06:54the rest of the season, that things finally clicked,
06:57and I don't know if they have,
06:58but they did against Penn State,
06:59who gave up 300-something rushing yards,
07:02they gave up 400 yards rushing to Northwestern,
07:05we'll see where they're at.
07:06But I don't think this is settled yet.
07:08No, and I mean, I got to, for what it's worth,
07:11the body language of Bryce Underwood on the bench
07:13was about as good as you could be.
07:15He cheered on his teammates.
07:17He greeted Tommy Carr when he came off after drives.
07:20Chest bumped him.
07:22It's got to be an incredibly difficult situation
07:24on the young man.
07:25These are two local kids.
07:26You want nothing but the best for them.
07:27But Bryce handled it with a public poise
07:31that has to be a tough thing for a kid to deal with,
07:35but it's life in the big city.
07:37And I've said a bunch.
07:38You can't get carried away in the job of developing guys
07:42or giving guys time.
07:43You do want to give them a requisite amount of time,
07:46but the job's to win football games.
07:48And I, you know, we don't know what would have happened
07:51if they left Bryce in,
07:52but it seemed like it was a far more obvious time.
07:54Hey, champ and chump, we'll get to our nominations.
07:56Start knocking down your phone calls next
07:58here on Carson Anderson on 97.1.
08:00that's why you won't do it.
08:00So,
