Kyle Whittingham picked freshman Tommy Carr as Michigan's starting quarterback for the second straight game against Rutgers on Saturday, and it resulted in a 28-21 Wolverines win. Carr had a highly efficient game, going 22-of-27 for 266 yards and a touchdown, along with 12 carries for 54 yards and two rushing scores.

That performance was apparently enough for Whittingham to finally commit to Carr as his starter over Bryce Underwood moving forward.

“Not a surprise, but Tommy Carr is Michigan’s starting QB this week and for the ‘foreseeable future,' Kyle Whittingham says,” per Austin Meek of The Athletic wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “He noted that if you extrapolated Carr’s numbers against Rutgers to a full season, he’d be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country.”

The Rutgers game was a nice bounce-back performance for Carr after his challenging outing in the 13-6 overtime loss to defending national champions Indiana. He went just 20 of 32 for 167 yards against Hoosiers, with one interception.

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Carr won't be facing that relatively low level of competition every week, but he has shown enough in his last few outings to win over the job outright over Bryce Underwood. As Whittingham noted, he apparently likes Carr's passing efficiency. Excluding the Indiana game, Carr has completed 29 of 36 pass attempts this season, an 80.5% completion percentage. Moreover, Carr has been taking much better care of the ball than Underwood. He has one interception over 2.5 games compared to Underwood's six picks in 5.5 games.

With Carr's status as the starter secured, he will look to maintain Michigan's dominance over fierce rivals Michigan State when they clash this weekend. The Wolverines have won each of the last four meetings between the two.