Like any sport, football is a game of soaring highs and deep lows.
Michigan football started its 2025 season with a renewed spark after getting a glimpse of what rookie QB Bryce Underwood is capable of bringing to this offense – but that high was met with a rude awakening when the Wolverines traveled to Norman last week and faced a surging Sooners squad. Simply put, Michigan was outclassed by Oklahoma on both sides of the ball, and it’s no stretch to say that their quarterback, John Mateer, has played at a Heisman-level through his first two games of the year.
But the bigger story coming out of last Saturday for the road team was the players that Michigan didn’t have on the field for most of, if not all, of the evening. Chief among these was tight end Marlin Klein, who was dealing with an undisclosed injury and spent the entire game on the sideline (he had been listed as ‘questionable’ earlier that day). Klein, who made The Athletic’s ‘Freak List’ for the second year in a row, is the Wolverines strongest weapon in the passing attack. His absence from the evening loomed large, as Underwood struggled to get chunk plays out of the receiving corps with Marlin off the field.
The woes for the offense didn’t end there. Early in the matchup against the Sooners, left guard Giovanni El-Hadi suffered a lower-leg injury that took him out of the game. El-Hadi, like Klein, is a captain for Michigan on the offensive side of the ball and one of their best players on the O-line. Finally, we get to the third captain on the team who missed significant time in this game: linebacker Jaishawn Barham. Barham didn’t suffer an injury, but was sidelined during the first half as a result of his controversial targeting suspension in the season opener against New Mexico. He would return in the second half, at which point the Wolverines defense was already trailing by two touchdowns en route to a 24-13 loss in Norman.
Michigan left the Oklahoma game broken and beaten – seeing firsthand what can happen against the teams vying for the playoff when they aren’t at their best. All the while, they also knew that the next two games of their season would be played without the services of head coach Sherrone Moore, who will serve a two-week suspension that was self-imposed by the program in the face of his entanglement with the Conor Stalions sign-stealing operation. His suspension will officially begin at 12:01 AM on the Saturday of their matchup against Central Michigan, meaning that, at least this week, the Wolverines have had the benefit of Moore’s coaching in practice.
So, who is set to fill Coach Moore’s shoes when a pissed off Michigan side takes the field in Ann Arbor this week? That would be Biff Poggi. No, not the actual wolverine who was once the mascot for Michigan in the 1920s, but a different kind of animal. One that the likes of Moore and Jim Harbaugh have pointed to as a pivotal, culture-driving figure for the Wolverines during the team’s recent years at the top of the Big Ten, building the foundation that led to their undefeated, national championship season.
Poggi returned to Michigan this season to assume the role of associate head coach after spending the past two seasons as the head coach at Charlotte. Now set to perform the duties of interim head coach in Moore’s absence the next two weeks, he’s been given the enviable task (and less enviable pressure) of coaching for one of the most promising developmental talents the Wolverines have ever possessed at the quarterback position. And Moore has faith that the man who worked right alongside him, going back to his days as the Wolverines’ offensive coordinator, will be more than ready for the task.
“Obviously, he’s not me, but the players have a lot of respect for Biff and they love Biff.”
And Biff will likely get the benefit of some reinforcements in the wake of the Oklahoma game. Both corner Zeke Berry and safety Rod Moore are trending towards being active in the Wolverines’ secondary – with Moore’s update positioning to make his first appearance of the season after suffering a torn ACL in 2024. Marlin Klein is also reportedly showing improvement in his status and has a shot of returning to the field on Saturday against Central Michigan.
While question marks abound about the players who will make it onto the field, there is certainty in the fact that, historically, it’s rarely a good time being on the opposing side of an angry Wolverine squad with a chip on their shoulder.
Michigan hosts Central Michigan this Saturday. Kickoff at 12:00 PM ET.
