Kyle Whittingham 'Pissed' After Bryce Underwood, Michigan Avoid WMU Upset on Controversial Hail Mary

Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham was not in a celebratory mood after the Wolverines' dramatic 13-12 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday night.

He told reporters he "was mad" after Bryce Underwood completed his Hail Mary to JJ Buchanan and "still pissed" with a little more time to think everything over.

"Bottom line is we're 1-0, but the reality is we have got a lot to fix, a lot of things to address," Whittingham said. "You know, the things that we didn't do well, we didn't play the run well on defense, we didn't run the ball well on offense, we lost the turnover margin three-zip, we didn't make enough first downs, and all this is squarely on my shoulders. There's no doubt about that, and I've got to do a better job preparing this football team.

"But I'm going to tell you right now, there was not a lot of hooting and hollering in that locker room. In fact, there was none, because we understand that we've got a lot of work to do, and that we've got to be much, much better than we were tonight. Now, give Western Michigan credit."

Underwood's first Hail Mary attempt sailed out of the back of the end zone, seemingly as time expired. The officials added one more second to the clock, however, and the sophomore quarterback capitalized on his good fortune.

A one-point win over Western Michigan typically wouldn't be the kind of outcome that enters Michigan football lore. Whittingham told NBC Sports' Kathryn Tappen this was "one for the history books" based on what happened in the final seconds:

Victory aside, the Whittingham era opened in Ann Arbor with a bit of a dud.

Underwood finished 12-of-22 for 170 yards, one touchdown and an interception. He also had a critical fumble in the fourth quarter that allowed Western Michigan to add to its lead.

The Wolverines watched the Broncos possess the ball for 40 minutes as well. One WMU scoring drive spanning the third and fourth quarters lasted 20 plays and 13:40.

A perhaps telling aspect on the consequential Hail Mary is that Michigan had six blockers on the play to fend off four rushers from Western Michigan. And Underwood still had two defenders bearing down on him when he released his throw.

Whittingham was spared the embarrassment of starting his tenure with a loss to a MAC team, but few will have come away impressed with what they saw.

There's a lot for the coaching staff to iron out ahead of what will be a much stiffer test against No. 10 Oklahoma in Week 2.