One Saturday, two programs
Nov. 7, 10 a.m. Mountain time, Rice-Eccles Stadium, 52,901 in the seats. No. 3 Utah trails No. 9 BYU in the Holy War, a rivalry Utah had lost three years running. In the second half the Utes shut out BYU, and Trey Reynolds and Nate Ritchie intercept Bear Bachmeier in the fourth quarter, his third and fourth picks of the day. Devon Dampier accounts for all four Utah touchdowns. Utah 28, BYU 20. The Utes are 9–0, and they have won 15 straight.
That night, 1,600 miles east, 111,172 people at Michigan Stadium watch Michigan State kicker Liam Boyd make five field goals. Michigan doesn't score until 1:35 remains. It finishes with 192 yards, four turnovers, and 2-of-10 on third down, and loses 15–6. The Paul Bunyan Trophy goes to East Lansing for the first time in five years. Afterward, the coach who spent 32 seasons at Utah stands at a podium in Ann Arbor and says this:
It's my job as a coach to rally them back up and get them ready to compete for these last three games. … I don't know, are there any more trophies in these last three games? I don't think there's any more trophies.
The last of those three games is at Ohio State. Within 24 hours, Michigan fired offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the coordinator Whittingham brought with him from Salt Lake City.
It's a rare sequence. Coordinators follow head coaches to new jobs all the time, but they rarely get fired by that same head coach nine games into the first season. And the partnership was shorter than many fans assume. Beck had been coaching since a 2007 internship at BYU, but his only season on Whittingham's staff was 2025, when Utah ranked fifth nationally in scoring at 41.2 points per game (Michigan's staff bio). Whittingham staked his first Michigan season on that one year together, and nine games in, he ended it. Devon Dampier, the quarterback Beck coached at New Mexico and then at Utah, stayed in Salt Lake City. He is 9–0.
The timeline makes it stranger. After the loss, Whittingham said he would wait until the end of the season. Michigan announced Beck's firing early Sunday evening, less than 24 hours later. On3's Pete Nakos reported that as of noon to 1 p.m. Central on Saturday, “the decision had not been made. It almost came across that he wasn't planning on making any staffing changes at that point.” Whittingham said the film changed his mind.
Watching the film really was the deciding factor, and I had the intention of waiting till after the season. … There's just too much regression in the offense in that particular game.
He said the call was his alone (“Just my own analysis, my own feel, my own gut instinct.” “Zero outside influence.”) and that Beck wasn't the only problem: “It's not all Jason. Anytime you have issues like we have, it's more than just one guy.” Offensive line coach Jim Harding is now the interim coordinator and play-caller. Per On3, Whittingham wants the permanent hire to have a proven record, preferably with Michigan or Midwest ties. For at least one player, the firing was personal. JJ Buchanan followed Whittingham and Beck from Salt Lake City.
Coach Beck's a great mentor, great person, great family. … Obviously he's one of the reasons why I'm here today.
Not everyone buys the solo-decision framing. In his premium Inside the Fort column, TheWolverine's Chris Balas wrote: “Several have opined that removing him was not Whittingham's choice. He's said it was 100 percent his own, and whether or not you believe that, we do know that's how the athletic department wanted it framed, too.”
How he left
On Dec. 12, 2025, after a 10–2 regular season, Utah announced that Whittingham would step down after 21 seasons as head coach and 32 with the program. He was 66 and had 177 wins, the most in school history. The statement never used the word retirement.
The time is right to step down from my position as the head football coach at the University of Utah. It's been an honor and a privilege to lead the program for the past 21 years.
He made the rest clear to reporters that week.
I'm a free agent. I'm in the transfer portal. Like I said, I'm at peace and I did not want to be that guy that overstayed his welcome.
Michigan had fired Sherrone Moore for cause earlier that month. On Dec. 26, Whittingham signed a five-year, $41 million base deal: $8 million in 2026, rising $100,000 a year, and 75% guaranteed. That same day he told his Utah players in Las Vegas that he would not coach the bowl game (ESPN). Athletic director Warde Manuel called him “a leader of exceptional character and principled leadership.”
Utah had planned for this. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley had been named head-coach-in-waiting in 2020, and athletic director Mark Harlan formalized the succession plan again on July 1, 2024. In 2020, after a university review of a racial slur Scalley had used in a text message years earlier, he kept his job and took a pay cut (ESPN). Deseret News, citing ESPN's Pete Thamel, reported he had turned down defensive coordinator jobs at Texas, Oregon, Florida and USC to stay. Scalley coached the Las Vegas Bowl five days after taking over and beat Nebraska 44–22.
This program will always be bigger than one person, and it will continue to be Utah football and not Morgan Scalley.
Whittingham brought pieces of Utah with him: Beck, offensive line coach Jim Harding, his brother Freddie (tight ends), his son Alex (linebackers), and four Utah transfers in JJ Buchanan, John Henry Daley, Jonah Lea'ea and Smith Snowden.
The Michigan season
| Date | Opponent | Result | The story |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 5 | Western Michigan | W 13–12 | One second restored on review, then a 47-yard Hail Mary. “Fire Kyle” chants were heard before the final play. |
| Sept. 12 | No. 11 Oklahoma | W 17–10 | Defense held OU to 3-of-13 on third down. |
| Sept. 19 | UTEP | W 52–17 | Season high in points. |
| Sept. 26 | No. 17 Iowa | L 19–20 | Iowa TD on the final play. |
| Oct. 3 | at Minnesota | L 14–20 | First road loss to Minnesota since 1977. Little Brown Jug lost. |
| Oct. 17 | Penn State | W 21–18 | Underwood benched at halftime. Freshman Tommy Carr in. |
| Oct. 24 | No. 6 Indiana | L 6–13 OT | Indiana's first win in Ann Arbor since 1967. |
| Oct. 31 | at Rutgers | W 28–21 | Carr 22-of-27, 266 yards. |
| Nov. 7 | Michigan State | L 6–15 | 192 yards, four turnovers. Beck fired the next day. |
Whittingham didn't duck the Michigan State loss. “As disappointed as I've ever been as a head coach and as frustrated as I've ever been as a head coach,” he said. “Falls on me. I'm not hiding from that at all. Anything that happens has my name on it.” He said Michigan State “outplayed us … And they outcoached us,” and he boiled the night down to one number: “We were minus-4 in the turnover margin, and really nothing else matters beyond that” (On3).
The Michigan State game wasn't a one-off. Michigan (2–4 in the Big Ten) has scored fewer than 20 points in six of its nine games, ranks 132nd nationally in total offense at 302.6 yards per game, and was sacked five times by the Spartans.
The scheme fit never came together. Beck's offense relied on motion and perimeter runs to stretch defenses vertically and horizontally (MLive). Michigan has started five different offensive line combinations in nine games. It ranks 126th in scoring (19.6 points per game), 125th in passing, and 129th in red-zone touchdown rate (15 of 26). It has 23 plays of 20-plus yards and is one of three FBS teams without a play of 50 yards or more. Whittingham owned it in plain coaching language:
You've got to be able to adapt to your personnel. And we didn't do a good job of that this year. Plain and simple.
The offensive line is where it stings most. Michigan's 2025 line was one of 10 Joe Moore Award semifinalists, and CollegeFootballData.com ranks it seventh in FBS in stuff rate and 13th in line yards. Two starters, Greg Crippen and Giovanni El-Hadi, left for the NFL draft. The core came back: Blake Frazier, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague and Evan Link all started games in 2025 and returned, along with a healthy Andrew Babalola. Michigan then hired Jim Harding, who coached 2025 Outland Trophy winner Spencer Fano at Utah. The line still went backward.
| Michigan offensive line | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Line yards per carry | 3.32 (13th) | 2.91 (95th) |
| Stuff rate allowed | 13.7% (7th) | 17.0% (54th) |
| Rushing EPA per play | 0.205 (16th) | 0.029 (102nd) |
| Havoc allowed | 12.1% (13th) | 17.0% (109th) |
| Sacks per dropback | 5.8% | 7.9% |
| Yards per carry (sacks included) | 5.5 | 3.6 |
Source: CollegeFootballData.com; FBS ranks out of 136 teams in 2025 and 138 in 2026. Sacks per dropback = sacks ÷ (pass attempts + sacks). [GRAPHIC: “SAME LINE, WORSE RESULTS.” 2025 vs. 2026 rank arrows for each line metric.]
TheWolverine's Chris Balas didn't soften it. In his view, “The offensive line play is as bad as it's been since Darrell Funk oversaw it under Brady Hoke, and probably worse. The guard play is some of the worst we've ever seen at Michigan.” Balas counts half a dozen or so line combinations, none of them particularly good, and noted that Brady Norton was pulled at halftime against Michigan State. Former Michigan offensive lineman Doug Skene summed it up: “Veterans were making freshman mistakes.”
This is the worst Michigan offense we've ever seen. And that's not hyperbole.
The advanced numbers show how lopsided the roster is. Per CollegeFootballData.com, Michigan ranks fourth nationally in defensive EPA per play allowed, sixth in success rate allowed, and third in SP+ defense. Its offense is 105th in EPA per play, 125th in points per scoring opportunity, and 99th in SP+ offense. In plain terms, Jay Hill's defense is good enough for the playoff and the offense is in the bottom quarter of FBS. Michigan's talent composite ranks 11th in the country. Utah's ranks 58th.
The pressure is now public. Firing Whittingham without cause after this season would cost about $24.75 million (CBS Sports). Manuel is leaving his job, and Michigan's new president arrives Dec. 1, according to ESPN's Dan Wetzel.
I think my guess — this is my prediction, but just my feeling is that Kyle Whittingham's not coaching there next year. I mean, whether that is a mutual thing or there's a firing or a retirement, I don't know.
The power structure that would make that call is in flux. TheWolverine's Chris Balas reports that Manuel is a lame duck, that new university president C. Cybele Raver starts Dec. 1, and that the hope is to have a new athletic director by then, with the search firm Turnkey running the process. On3's Nakos reported that “that loss to Michigan State was an eye-opener for a lot of donors and some board of trustees,” and said bluntly: “A 5-7 finish is on the table.” For his part, Whittingham expects to be back next season and is already working on its roster, according to Balas's sources. Balas also knocked down a rumor that Whittingham wouldn't make it to the Oregon game.
Balas's reporting also cuts the other way. He wrote that in the opinion of “some higher-ups at U-M,” the Michigan State game was “the beginning of the end,” though he noted that what the new athletic director thinks will matter. In his “Five things” column, Balas reported that an administrator said there was “no choice” but to make significant changes at season's end, and he indicated that meant more than coordinators. Balas also says “several good coaches” are watching the job.
Losing the locker room and all these dramatic things, must-win games, all that stuff is just dramatic. … I think that's overblown, talking about losing the locker room.
The noise around the roster has made that harder to believe. On Tuesday, a Michigan spokesman first said sophomore defensive end Nate Marshall had left the team on his own, which set off talk that he had been run off. Hours later, the program changed his status to “suspended indefinitely” for violating team rules (MLive, On3). Michigan hasn't said what he did. In September, Whittingham had called Marshall, a former top-55 national recruit, “one of the best pass rushers on the team, if not the best pure pass rusher.”
Not sure he's going to come back or not, but hopefully it all works out. We have some team rules that we all got to abide by, and he knows what they are. He's being held accountable.
The confirmed sequence, per TheWolverine's Chris Balas: the spokesman first said Marshall was leaving for personal reasons and was expected to enter the portal, then said the same day that his status had changed to suspended indefinitely. No report has said Marshall was dismissed for a specific offense. Powell closed with the long view: “Later in life, he'll call me and thank me for what we're doing.”
Balas's read, from Inside the Fort: “It appears that he had a change of heart, at least as it pertains to this year, and asked to come back.”
Inside the building, the players pushed back. On3's Zach Sayfie reported a player-led meeting after the loss, with Enow Etta, Trey Pierce, Jake Guarnera and Rod Moore Jr. named among the leaders. Guarnera, the center, drew the line: “I hate losing, but I hate quitters even more. That will not fly with me. … If you're not going to want to play, then there's the door.” Cornerback Zeke Berry, on the outside noise: “We are definitely aware, but we don't care.” Asked about motivating a team with four losses, Powell was honest: “It's been tough.”
I hate losing, but I hate quitters even more.
Balas, in Inside the Fort, wrote that the meeting “was not about a mutiny” but about leaders holding teammates accountable. He also reported the counterpoint: some agents' camps don't want their players “risking injury for this team.” And in his “Five things” column, Balas wrote that Whittingham has seemed “like a detached observer” and that several players Michigan relies on are “checked out.”
Then there's the quarterback Michigan built its future around. Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, was benched at halftime against Penn State, and freshman Tommy Carr has started since. Rumors are circulating that Underwood could enter the portal and pick a big program where he'd sit a year behind an established starter, learn, and then take over. That's the path that worked for Dante Moore at Oregon, and GBMWolverine has already floated Missouri and Kentucky as fits for that kind of plan. None of it has been confirmed.
For the record, On3's Michigan beat reporters have not reported any such plan. The transfer portal doesn't open until Jan. 4. What's on the record is that Whittingham has reopened the job between Underwood and Carr. Carr went 14-of-26 for 138 yards and two interceptions against Michigan State, and Underwood didn't play. For the season, Carr is 63-of-94 for 641 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, and Underwood is 72-of-124 for 924 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. Carr has started the last three games. “There was consideration about whether to insert Bryce,” Whittingham said of the Michigan State game, but “it was determined that we would stay the course.” On his radio show, asked who starts at Oregon: “We will see. That'll be in-house until game time.” ESPN's Pete Thamel expects “it's likely that Carr's going to start again and both are going to get snaps.”
Michigan's recruiting class has held up better than the record. On3's Ethan McDowell reports optimism that it stays fairly intact, but the cracks are visible. Quarterback commit Kamden Lopati, who McDowell reports committed in large part because of Beck, visited Utah on Nov. 7, the day of the Holy War. Michigan has lost commitments from Sidney Rouleau (Syracuse), Darrell Mattison (Ole Miss) and Maxwell Miles (Minnesota), and Ole Miss is pushing to flip safety Tavares Harrington. Offensive line commit Louis Esposito says the coordinator change “does not affect his commitment at all,” and Michigan flipped in-state offensive tackle Braden Chaffin.
Up next: at Oregon on Saturday with Harding as interim coordinator, unbeaten UCLA in Ann Arbor on Nov. 21 (Whittingham's 67th birthday), then Columbus. ESPN's FPI gives Michigan a 63.4% chance to reach six wins.
Michigan heads to Eugene (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1) short on the unit it can least afford to lose. Right tackle Blake Frazier is doubtful, Norton is questionable, and Andrew Sprague and Ace Hamilton are out (On3).
Utah without him
Rank among 138 FBS teams. Source: CollegeFootballData.com, except third down (ESPN).
| Utah, 2026 | Value | FBS rank |
|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 37.7 | — |
| Offensive EPA per play | 0.233 | 23 |
| Offensive success rate | 49.1% | 18 |
| Rushing EPA per play | 0.195 | 19 |
| Passing-downs success rate | 40.4% | 6 |
| Third-down conversion | 52.6% | — |
| Explosiveness allowed | 1.40 | 131 |
| SP+ overall / offense | 21.5 / 38.8 | 9 / 6 |
Under Scalley, offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven and defensive coordinator Colton Swan, Utah is 9–0 (6–0 Big 12) and ranked No. 2 by the committee, the AP and the coaches. Dampier, the Las Vegas Bowl MVP, chose to stay, and the offense has been the engine. Utah converts on 40.4% of its passing downs, sixth-best nationally, which is how an offense survives the snaps that kill Michigan's. Dampier ran for 153 yards and two touchdowns to rally past Houston 21–13 and accounted for all four touchdowns against BYU.
The skeptics have real numbers too. FPI ranks Utah 10th, and its strength of schedule 67th. Its offensive EPA dropped from 0.27 per play over the first six games to 0.17 over the last three, with negative rushing EPA against both Cincinnati and BYU. The defense ranks 131st in explosiveness allowed: it gets off the field, but when it breaks, it breaks big. That is the backdrop for First Take on Nov. 10. Chris Canty put Utah at No. 2 in his top five, and Stephen A. Smith went straight at the Utes, calling the list “TRASH.” A 15-game winning streak and a 10–0 record for Scalley as a head coach didn't move him. Former Ute Kenneth Scott answered on X:
The national media needs to put some RESPECT on Utah's name! We EARNED that #2 ranking. Every great team has close games, so stop moving the goalposts.
The stakes: at No. 23 Arizona on Saturday (5:30 p.m. MT, FOX, Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt), at TCU, West Virginia at home, then the Big 12 title game on Dec. 4. FPI gives Utah an 89.6% chance to make the playoff.
The legacy and the exit
None of this erases what Whittingham did. His record at Utah is 177–88, and he is the school's winningest coach. He passed Ike Armstrong's 141 wins in 2021 by beating No. 3 Oregon 38–7. His 2008 team went 13–0, won at Michigan along the way, and beat Alabama 31–17 in the Sugar Bowl, earning him the AFCA Coach of the Year and the Bear Bryant Award. He added the Dodd Trophy in 2019, won three conference titles, coached in two Rose Bowls, and had 35 players earn All-America recognition. He took Utah from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 to the Big 12 and won everywhere. When he left, he was the second-longest-tenured head coach in FBS, and his teams had produced 31 NFL draft picks from 2017 through 2025.
The legacy that Kyle Whittingham leaves distinguishes him as one of the most impactful figures in the history of Utah Athletics.
That's the irony running through the whole season. Utah's 9–0 start is the best evidence of how well Whittingham built it: the culture held, the succession plan worked, and a roster ranked 58th in talent is playing like a top-three team. Michigan's 5–4 is the clearest evidence of how hard it is to rebuild that somewhere else in one offseason, with a borrowed coordinator, a depleted offensive line and a quarterback change. ESPN's Rece Davis called the hire “a near disaster up to this point,” then added that “nothing is going to change the resume and what he built at Utah.”
Writer's room: alternate exits
Alt exits: (1) “He said he didn't want to overstay his welcome. In Salt Lake City, he never did. In Ann Arbor, the clock started the day he arrived.” (2) “Utah is playing for a bye. Michigan is playing for a bowl. The man who connects them turns 67 on Nov. 21, the day unbeaten UCLA comes to town.”
Sources
- TheWolverine/On3 Michigan coverage (premium, read via Chalk It Up Media subscription): Broome on Whittingham and Beck; Nakos on the firing timeline, donors and trustees; Sayfie on the player-led meeting; Balas on the OL, the AD search and Marshall; McDowell on recruitingOn3 · Nov. 8–11, 2026 ↗
- Jason Beck coaching bio (career history, Utah 2025 offense)MGoBlue ↗
- Suspended Michigan DE Nate Marshall broke team rules, assistant saysMLive · Nov. 11, 2026 ↗
- Michigan edge Nate Marshall's status changed to 'suspended indefinitely'On3 ↗
- Michigan football bets big on returners to lift offensive lineMLive · March 2026 ↗
- Michigan implementing 'the rhino thing' with returning offensive line (Harding, Fano)Michigan Daily ↗
- Where could Bryce Underwood land if he leaves Michigan? 5 intriguing fitsGBMWolverine · Nov. 3, 2026 ↗
- 'You could just tell there's a disconnect': What's next for Bryce Underwood247Sports ↗
- Kyle Whittingham to step down as Utah head coachUtah Athletics · Dec 12, 2025 ↗
- Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham leaving after 21 seasonsSalt Lake Tribune · Dec 12, 2025 ↗
- Kyle Whittingham salary details revealed for contract at Michigan (incl. transfer portal quote)On3 ↗
- Kyle Whittingham signs 5-year deal to coach MichiganESPN · Dec 26, 2025 ↗
- Michigan football reaches 5-year deal with Kyle Whittingham (Manuel statement)USA Today / Free Press ↗
- Kyle Whittingham contract with Michigan football full of bonusesDetroit Free Press · Jan 23, 2026 ↗
- Utah delivers Morgan Scalley's first win as head coach amidst whirlwind weekDeseret News · Dec 31, 2025 ↗
- Michigan's Kyle Whittingham admits costly offensive mistakeMLive · Nov 10, 2026 ↗
- No one's having a rougher season than Kyle Whittingham (trophies quote)FootballScoop · Nov 8, 2026 ↗
- Whittingham stays confident Michigan can get through rough stretch (locker room quote)Ludington Daily News ↗
- This Week on State Street (minus-four turnover quote, Beck buyout)MGoBlog ↗
- Kyle Whittingham buyout: how much would it cost Michigan to fire himCBS Sports · Nov 8, 2026 ↗
- ESPN's Dan Wetzel predicts Kyle Whittingham won't return to MichiganWolverines Wire · Nov 10, 2026 ↗
- 2026 Michigan Wolverines and 2026 Utah Utes football team pages (results, staffs, transfers)wikipedia.org ↗
- Kyle Whittingham career record and biographywikipedia.org ↗
- No. 3 Utah snaps three-game losing streak to BYU with 28-20 winAP News · Nov 7, 2026 ↗
- First Take: “The list is TRASH” (Stephen A. Smith on Chris Canty's top five)x.com · Nov 10, 2026 ↗
- Kenneth Scott response to First Take segmentx.com ↗
- CollegeFootballData.com API: SP+, talent composite, advanced team statscollegefootballdata.com ↗
Confirmed by Chalk It Up Media: Utah's 15-game winning streak, and that Chris Canty had Utah No. 2 in his First Take top five and Stephen A. Smith targeted Utah specifically.
Update, Nov. 12: Morgan Scalley's 10–0 record as Utah head coach (the 2025 Las Vegas Bowl plus the 9–0 start to 2026) is confirmed by Chalk It Up Media.
Rumor-level, attributed as such in the text: Bryce Underwood's possible portal plan to sit a year behind an established starter (reported as circulating; unconfirmed).
Added from On3/TheWolverine premium reporting (on the record, read via the Chalk It Up Media subscription): Whittingham's postgame and Nov. 9 quotes; the Beck firing timeline, Nakos's reporting on donors, trustees and a possible 5–7 finish; Buchanan's quote; the QB competition, stats, and Thamel's expectation; Balas's offensive line analysis (labeled as his opinion) and Skene's quote; the Oregon injury report; Sayfie's player-meeting reporting; Balas's reporting on the AD search, Raver's Dec. 1 start, and Whittingham's expectation to return; McDowell's recruiting reporting; and the confirmed Marshall sequence. Michigan's 2026 scoring and total-offense ranks match MLive. Held pending editor approval and not used: unconfirmed claims about who decided Beck's firing, anonymous administrator and “higher-ups” comments, agent and “checked out” claims, and the Marshall “change of heart” inference.
Update, Nov. 12: the editor approved the four items listed above as held, and they now appear in the text attributed to On3 staff reporter Chris Balas of TheWolverine.com (his premium Inside the Fort column and his “Five things” column). That covers the framing of Beck's firing, the “higher-ups” and administrator comments plus “several good coaches” watching the job, the agents and “checked out”/“detached observer” comments, and the Marshall “change of heart” read. This note supersedes the held list above.