ORLANDO, FL – Barring a national championship, every end to a Michigan football season is bittersweet, no matter the team.
Sure, a win can blunt the pain of knowing it’s the final gathering of any particular Wolverines squad, especially if it also brings a sense of momentum for the following season. Even a loss can bring that, with enough standout returners.
But for this Michigan team those don’t quite apply after the Wolverines fell to Texas, 41-27, in the Citrus Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 31. U-M gave up 17 unanswered points in the final 6:54 to end 2025 with a thud. Perhaps even more unfortunately, that’s the least of the tumult this group faced in December.
A saga that began Dec. 10 with the firing of coach Sherrone Moore, featured jail time for Moore and an arraignment watched across the state, and, eventually, the hiring of longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on Dec. 26 leave the Wolverines in a bit of no-man’s land.
U-M players know Whittingham is a no-nonsense coach who builds his teams with DNA similar to that which Michigan has often espoused at its best: physicality, with a ground-and-pound philosophy on offense and a disciplined, aggressive defense.
But they don’t entirely know how the program will get from here to there under Whittingham. There appears to be brightness ahead, but before then …
‘It was tough in there,’ linebacker Cole Sullivan said of the locker room following the loss. ‘We know that there’s going to be a lot of changes made, it’s not going to be the same group. Any year, a bowl game is always the last time … but we know it’s going to be different next year and it’s unfortunate we had to end it this way.
Biff Poggi on Michigan: ‘This isn’t a rebuild’
The path to a shinier 2026 starts with Michigan keeping its core together.
True freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood struggled at times in Year 1 — including against the Longhorns, when three second-half interceptions turned a back-and-forth duel with Texas’ Arch Manning into a referendum on arm strength vs. turnovers. And yet, Underwood’s upside is obvious, as evidenced by his well-thrown touchdown to Kendrick Bell in the first quarter, his 33-yard rumble to set up a second touchdown pass in the second and his diving touchdown to give U-M the lead in the fourth.
Should U-M keep Jordan Marshall or Justice Haynes — heck, how about both — at running back with incoming five-star recruit Savion Hiter (expected to arrive from Virginia this weekend), Michigan will be looking at one of the most loaded running back rooms in the country.
Combine that with an offensive line that’s young but promising — Blake Frazier, Andrew Sprague and Jake Guarnera all got invaluable experience this year and freshmen Andrew Babalola and Ty Haywood were both among the most highly regarded tackles in the class of 2025 — and interim coach Biff Poggi wasn’t stretching when he pushed back Wednesday at the notion of 2026 being a growing season.
‘This isn’t a rebuild,’ he said. ‘I think that would be shortchanging the kids and where they are. I think coach Whittingham is going to do a fantastic job here. He’s going to have a lot of really good players back. He’s obviously going to bring players in.
‘Been a head coach 20 years, won three conference championships. … I think he’s going to find a very full cupboard with a bunch of really willing kids that are just great kids.’
So who’s coming back for Michigan football?
Select players met with media after the game, including linebacker Jimmy Rolder who is mulling an NFL future.
Bell and running back Bryson Kuzdzal definitively declared they intend to return to Ann Arbor in 2026, while Sullivan said he had to think it over.
It’s not that he wants to leave, but with all of his attention on U-M’s final game — despite meeting with Whittingham and liking what he heard — he waits to wait to see what the staff looks like.
‘Obviously the scheme is one thing,’ Rolder said. ‘Then the mentality of the staff. That’s kind of all I can really say right now. I’m really excited to meet everybody that’s coming and just see what they have to say — hopefully we blend in a good way.’
Others, such as Marshall and Underwood, avoided declaring they’d be back when meeting with media earlier in the week. But there’s belief both will be. They’re the leaders of the program, on the field and in the locker room.
One to watch is true freshman Andrew Marsh. On Wednesday, he helped keep U-M in the game with a touchdown catch and 163 all-purpose yards, including 143 on kickoffs. Come January, he could demand top dollar in the transfer market, though Michigan is well-positioned to match any offer.
If Michigan’s players proved anything in the past three weeks, it’s that they’re able to block out outside noise.
‘Just keep going,’ Bell said. ‘Marsh says it all the time, you know he’s got it on his (eye black): Keep going. So just keep pushing through. … It was emotional in [the locker room] today. I think we all got closer, we all got tight.
‘We know what’s going on, what’s going to happen in the building. … Nobody knows who’s going to be here.’
College football transfer portal on the clock
Per NCAA rules, Michigan players can enter the portal beginning Thursday — five days after a new coach is hired, and one day before it formally opens for two weeks for players nationwide. Even before the transfer portal opened, there was back-channeling, as noted by Poggi last month — there always is, even as Whittingham decried it this week.
‘You don’t tamper with anybody, that’s not my style,’ Whittingham said. ‘If a player we have interest in enters the portal, that’s a whole different ballgame … Now he’s in the portal, he’s going somewhere — so why not Michigan, if it’s a good fit?’
Players will come and go. So will coaches. It’s expected U-M will formally announce most of its staff this week — Whittingham said during a mid-game interview with ABC he expects to have made decisions on his coaches by the end of the weekend.
That’s another step into the future. Perhaps the best thing for Michigan is to go into an offseason wiping the slate clean.
If 2025’s College Football Playoff lineup is an indication, the Wolverines appear to have a a tough schedule in 2026, even without seeing how the CFP and the ensuing transfer portal winds up; there are road games at Ohio State and Oregon, and home games with SEC foe Oklahoma and Indiana. There are also visits due from perennial Big Ten powers Iowa and Penn State.
Then again, Wednesday was too soon for players to even start looking toward that time.
‘I don’t know,’ Bell said about what next year will look like. ‘We’ll take it day by day.’
Never in college football’s history have teams gone from pretenders to contenders — and vice versa — as they do now. Michigan is looking at a major overhaul, and, again, that can be a good thing.
But without the warm feeling generated by a would-be bowl win, that’s cold comfort as January arrives for the Wolverines.