Can Sherrone Moore Fix Michigan’s Growing Pains?

The honeymoon in Ann Arbor for Michigan football is over.

After a lackluster Week 1 performance, the defending national champions could’ve erased any doubt that new head coach Sherrone Moore would replicate the success of his predecessor with a defining win over No. 3 Texas.

Playing at home with strong winds, a crisp breeze, and a maize out, the Wolverines had every environmental advantage – but it didn’t matter, losing 31-12.

In their first loss at home since 2020, Michigan was mauled and outmanned on both sides of the ball behind the arm of Quinn Ewers, the creativity of Steve Sarkisian, and lack thereof by the U-M offense.

Texas was nearly perfect, starting the game 7-of-8 on 3rd down and finishing 10-of-16 while holding Michigan to an abysmal 3-of-12 mark. Ewers was 24 for 36 with 246 yards and three touchdowns, leading the offense to nearly six yards per play.

Back to Reality for Michigan Football

It’s a ‘back to reality’ moment for Moore, a first-time head coach who took over after a storybook three-year run for the program. And despite the consensus expecting regression this season, a strong defense was supposed to be enough to keep the team in every game.

Maybe they’ll get there, but that was far from what happened in Week 2 against Texas. From early in the first quarter to the final whistle, the Longhorns were the better team – by a long shot.

If it wasn’t obvious already, replacing nearly the entire offense – namely quarterback J.J. McCarthy – comes with growing pains.

“Yeah, I never really thought about the growing pains – more so just what we do to get better,” Moore said to the media after the loss to Texas. “We knew we were a new team … we never tried to wrestle our lowers … we won the National Championship last year. So for us, it was about what we’re going to do to get better and make this team good. So we’re at where we’re at, and we’re going to continue to grow and get better.”

Now, it’s Michigan’s job to find what’s fixable and fix it.

“I mean, I think the turnovers are the easiest fix. The first pick was a tip pass. The second one was a communication in the route concept. And then the fumble was, you know, Colston just didn’t tuck it away fast enough,” he said. “And those are three things that, if you don’t have those, then you’re in a difficult ballgame. But they happened, and they did a good job capitalizing off of them.”

“And then for us on defense, it’s tackling. We’ve got to make sure we wrap up because they had 135 yards after contact. So for us, those little things, you fix those, you put yourselves in a better position – but you can’t do that against a good team.”

A Week to Test Things Out

They won’t have to enter a gauntlet quite yet – though the 2024 Michigan football schedule will continue testing them – with an easier matchup against Arkansas State next week.

Evaluations on film and in the game will be key, as the Wolverines have more than just growing pains to assess – they have to decide on the most important position in football.

After Davis Warren‘s second-straight disappointing game, there’s a glaring issue at quarterback. Will Moore make changes?

“We’re going to watch the film and figure that out. I don’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction and just say something after we watch the film,” Moore said. “Watch it, evaluate it, see what we need to do to put the right people in the right places to make us successful, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Next week will be an ideal setting for this team to test out new looks and more players, but it’s more of a sandwich between two of the biggest games of the season: Texas & USC.

With one already going the opposite way, will the Wolverines have time to alleviate these growing pains enough to overcome a revived No. 13-ranked USC team?

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