Will Michigan Football History Repeat Itself With Sherrone Moore?

Three days ago, with Jim Harbaugh suspended by the Big Ten Conference, interim head coach Sherrone Moore stepped in and led the Maize and Blue to a 30-24 victory over No. 2 Ohio State at the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI. The win boosts Moore to 4-0 as a head coach, including a pair of impressive top-10 wins during his short time as head coach. Now let’s look back to 1995, when Lloyd Carr was the interim coach and beat No. 2 Ohio State 31-23 in Ann Arbor before taking over the Wolverines and winning a national title two years later in 1997. Could Michigan football history repeat itself with Moore?

Michigan football history repeating itself with Sherrone Moore?

When Gary Moeller was fired ahead of the 1995 college football season, the Wolverines turned to then-assistant Lloyd Carr, who quickly led Michigan football to a solid 9-3 season during his lone year as interim coach. Included in Carr’s year as interim coach was an impressive 31-23 win over No. 2 Ohio State in Ann Arbor — much like the win that Sherrone Moore picked up over the Buckeyes last weekend. Perhaps ironically, Carr was in attendance last weekend.

Guess who else made it out today ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OMLNDFqjEL

— CJ Mangum (@cjmangum_) November 25, 2023

Moore following in the footsteps of Lloyd Carr?

With the future of Jim Harbaugh and his time with the Michigan football program in question right now, largely due to his flirtation with the NFL and the sign-stealing scandal that has plagued the media surrounding U-M as of late, no one is quite sure what Michigan’s coaching staff will look like next year. In fact, it’s widely believed that Sherrone Moore will be someone’s head coach in 2024, even if that means Jim Harbaugh stays and Moore goes elsewhere.

That said, if Jim Harbaugh’s time in Ann Arbor is to come to an end, Michigan football history could repeat itself, as U-M is bound to have an incredibly quick coaching search seeing as Sherrone Moore, perhaps the best assistant and leader in the country, is already on staff.

More Michigan football history that could repeat: a national title run

Another bit of Michigan football history that may repeat itself is a national title season. The last time U-M beat Ohio State three years in a row was 1995-1997 — a stint that concluded with the Wolverines’ most recent championship when Lloyd Carr and his team went 12-0 and won the Rose Bowl nearly 30 years ago.

If you’re wondering what that has to do with Michigan’s 2023 team, it’s pretty clear: Michigan football is 12-0 right now following its third-straight win over Ohio State, is projected to make the Rose Bowl game, and is currently the favorite to win the national title.

Before talks of a national title can fully get going, Michigan football has boxes to check, starting with this weekend’s Big Ten title game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, who improved to 10-2 after beating Nebraska 13-10 last weekend.

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