Ryan Day and James Franklin might have cracked Bruce Feldman’s list of top-10 college football head coaches, but the fact remains that Sherrone Moore of Michigan football coached circles around them last November.
New Michigan football head coach proven in big games
Moore found out he was going to be the Michigan football acting head coach a little more than an hour before the Penn State game and proved up to the task. Moore saw that the Wolverines’ pass protection was an issue and that combined with the ankle injury to J.J. McCarthy led to 32 straight run calls, against an elite defense.
It was a genius adjustment. But Moore trusted his guys. It was strength on strength and with some extra tight ends and a lot of Trente Jones, Michigan football won the game. Franklin didn’t help Penn State with some strange but typical game-management decisions.
Yet, James Franklin will James Franklin.
Franklin has proven completely inept in the biggest games of his career, despite having all the talent needed to win. Moore beat a top-10 team on the road, with a limited quarterback, in his first full game as acting head coach. It was impressive but not surprising. Some guys are built for big moments and Sherrone Moore is one of them.
Sherrone out-coached Ryan Day too
In “The Game” Moore looked like the seasoned big-game coach, not Ryan Day. From the weird jump around in pre-game to being too scared to attempt fourth down twice near midfield, Day coached not to lose.
Moore did the exact opposite. He went for it on fourth down three times. Michigan football converted all three and each fourth-down conversion led to a touchdown.
When Ohio State attempted a field goal at the end of the first half instead of trying to throw the ball to Marvin Harrison Jr., you could tell Michigan knew it was going to win, while Ohio State was hoping it would.
As Sun Tzu said, the battle is won in the temple before it’s ever fought.
That’s what Ohio State is going up against right now. That’s also why Sherrone Moore, even though it’s too early to be ranked in the top 10, has shown the makings of an elite head coach.
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