What did Michigan’s Citrus Bowl loss to Texas say about Kyle Whittingham’s future?

The Wolverines finish the season 9-4 with a new quarterback after the head coach was fired.

Orlando, FL • After the month Michigan just had, it would be hard to blame the Wolverines for not showing a four-hour Cheez-It commercial on New Year’s Eve.

Teams opted out of snack-themed bowl games for less than the firing and arrest of the head coach. But Michigan showed up in the Citrus Bowl, if only to try to be a foil Arch Manning’s 2026 Heisman Trophy Inauguration.

A month that felt like a lifetime for Michigan ended Wednesday with Bryce Underwood throwing passes into the teeth of the Texas defense and The Longhorns ran away with a 41-27 win. The Wolverines gave a better effort than anyone had any right to expect considering everything that has happened since the firing and arrest of Sherrone Moore three weeks ago. They even led in the fourth quarter before the wheels came off. Still, the best part about this season is that it’s over now Kyle Whittingham was can begin in earnest.

Michigan’s new coach kept a low profile this week in Orlando. Place to coach Utah in the Las Vegas Bowlhe met individually with every player on Michigan’s roster, trying to get to know the personnel and personalities that make up his new program. He watched the game from a suite at Camping World Stadium and entered the ESPN booth in the third quarter.

“We’re going to lock ourselves in the film room this weekend,” Whittingham said on the air. “Jobs 1, 2 and 3 are to get to know the staff here, find out what we have, find out what we need.”

Whittingham must have been encouraged by much of what he saw on the pitch. Other parts probably made him grind his teeth. That’s what Michigan signed up for when it put its hands on a freshman quarterback this season. Once the coaching staff is in place, Underwood’s next big decision will be: Stay at Michigan and play for Whittingham, or try what should be an active transfer market?

If Michigan can finish 9-4 with a freshman quarterback and a head coach who was clearly in over his head, imagine what the Wolverines could do with Whittingham and a more polished Underwood. That’s an optimistic direction for next season. A more sober view is that Underwood is a long way from being a finished product, as his three interceptions in the second half showed.

Underwood’s freshman year wasn’t a total loss, but he didn’t develop as expected for a player ranked No. 1 in his recruiting class. Moore and Michigan’s offensive staff didn’t do him much favors. Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck, Whittingham’s choice to lead Michigan’s offense, should bring a scheme that can highlight Underwood’s strengths as a runner and passer — strengths that haven’t been fully utilized this season.

“I’m not going to say too much, but I think the handcuffs were off in this game,” Kendrick Bell said. “We have to work on some things. We have to be there for him as well, especially as a young guy. He’ll be fine in the future.”

Michigan went conservative against Ohio State and never had a chance. Interim coach Biff Poggi opened things up Wednesday and got the good and the bad from Underwood: two touchdown passes, a touchdown on the ground and three picks.

Poggi was adamant that Whittingham had no plans to rebuild. Michigan played Oklahoma and Texas, two SEC powerhouse programs, and was competitive in the fourth quarter against both. The Wolverines hung with Texas despite playing a depleted roster that was missing both running backs, three starters and starting running back Jordan Marshall, who was medically cleared but still dealing with a shoulder injury.

If Michigan can keep Underwood, Marshall, freshman Andrew Marsh, offensive lineman Andrew Babalola and several other young stars, the Wolverines should be able to rebuild quickly under Whittingham. And even if they lose a few players, which they inevitably will, it shouldn’t be the complete meltdown that some Michigan fans feared when the transfer window loomed and Michigan was without a coach.

“This is not a rebuild at all,” Poggi said. “I think it would be a short trade of kids and where they’re at. I think coach Whittingham is going to do a fantastic job here. … I think he’s going to find a very, very full closet, a lot of very willing kids that are just great kids.”

Even with the core of the team returning, Michigan will look significantly different next season. A sense of finality hung over the locker room as players said goodbye to coordinators and position coaches, most of whom will be looking for new jobs. As brutal as the past month in Michigan was, it had a galvanizing effect on the people who lived through it.

For all intents and purposes, Michigan’s season has been over since late November. It’s really over now. The Citrus Bowl was mostly a formality on the way to what Michigan is becoming under Whittingham, but the Wolverines still managed to show off. Now it’s about what comes next.

“Every year, the bowl game is always the last time you get to play with your team,” quarterback Cole Sullivan said. “We know next year will be different.