Michigan is expected to start true freshman Tommy Carr at quarterback against No. 6 Indiana on Saturday, replacing Bryce Underwood, per a report from 247Sports on Tuesday night. Maize n Brew, Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports all carried the report. It would be Carr's first career start. He is the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and the brother of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr, per Yahoo.
The change follows last Saturday's 21-18 win over Penn State, where Carr came in for Underwood at halftime and, in Maize n Brew's words, put points on the board. Yahoo headlines describe the move as a benching, and one of them attaches a "$12 million" figure to the shakeup. The feed summaries don't say where that number comes from or what it covers, so treat it with caution. We have no on-record comment from Michigan or its coaches. Everything so far rests on the 247Sports report.
Our box score gives the likely reason for the halftime switch. Underwood went 5-of-11 for 43 yards and two interceptions against Penn State. Carr went 5-of-7 for 47 yards, and he ran four times for 36 yards and a touchdown, with a long of 22. That is a small sample. Carr's season passing line is 70 yards and one touchdown, with no interceptions. His only other action was two attempts against UTEP, when he completed both for 23 yards and that touchdown.
Underwood's season has been uneven. He has 924 passing yards on 72-of-124, with five touchdowns and six interceptions. Two of the interceptions came in each of the last two games, at Minnesota and against Penn State. His best games were 276 yards and two touchdowns against Iowa and 223 and two against UTEP. He has also fumbled three times and lost two. Whether CBS's question about his future in Ann Arbor has an answer is unclear, because no outlet has reported anything beyond this week's starting job.
Michigan is 4-2 and 1-2 in the Big Ten, 12th in the conference. It lost 20-19 to Iowa on Sept. 26 and 20-14 at Minnesota on Oct. 3 before beating Penn State. Indiana is 6-1, 3-1 in the league and third in the Big Ten. It has lost its last game, 19-15 to Ohio State, after beating Nebraska 20-17 and Rutgers 47-15. Indiana's two most recent wins and its loss were all one-score games.
Michigan hosts Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 24. The game is a first start for a freshman against a ranked opponent that will be looking to bounce back from its first conference loss.
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