Michigan Football: Sherrone Moore’s Thoughts After Loss to Oregon

Michigan football fell to 5-4 on the year following its loss to No. 1 Oregon at the Big House on Saturday. If anyone needed a sign that it wasn’t going to be Michigan’s day, the first Oregon touchdown was clearly incomplete from certain camera angles and was never overturned. The Wolverines were able to stay within striking distance for the majority of the game (down 14 to begin the 4th quarter), but it wasn’t enough against a team like the Ducks. 

Sherrone Moore’s Thoughts After Loss

Coming out of halftime, the Michigan defense forced Oregon into a three-and-out, allowing the offense to march down the field for a touchdown to make it a 28-17 game. Head coach Sherrone Moore said he liked what he saw in the final two quarters.

“It was awesome to watch those guys in the second half,” Moore said after the game on Saturday. “The energy (and) the excitement that they brought – but we got to start that way. The defense went out there, we said we’re going to go for a three and out (and) they stopped them. Offense went down, 10 play drive, score. So you felt the momentum going… but we got to finish.” 

No Run Zone

Michigan ran for 105 yards as a team on Saturday – its lowest mark since a week two loss to Texas wherein it ran for 80. Running back Donovan Edwards led the Wolverines in rushing (52 yards) for the first time since that same Texas game (41 yards). Moore said the Oregon linebackers made it tough to move the ball on the ground. 

“The biggest thing in the run game (is) there’s not really an assessed amount of yards – you want to get enough yards to win,” Moore said. “Regardless of run pass, whatever you got to do to win that game, that’s what we want to do. There’s a couple things on some run-through backers that we got to fix up front. I thought initially we were moving them off the ball pretty well, but it was the run-through stuff that really got us.”

No Excuses

It’s worth noting that Michigan was missing its top two cornerbacks in Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill. Certain opponents might not require your best cornerbacks, but the top team in the nation with a heisman level quarterback certainly does. Moore said he’s not blaming the loss on injuries.  

“Will Johnson is the best corner in the country, so not having the best corner in the country is always going to be different, and a challenge,” Moore said. “But I thought those guys fought. We always talk about next man up, but when you don’t have your two starting corners, that’s part of the game of football and you got to adjust. You can’t make excuses, just got to go out and get better.”

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