Sherrone Moore Sparks O-line With Sideline Rant That Got Wolverines Going After Listless Start Against MSU

Michigan got 228 yards total offense in the game's final 33 minutes for a 24-17 victory. Loveland on Moore's speech: 'We all really took it to heart and ended up doing it when we had to.'

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Wolverine tight end Colston Loveland was wide open for the 10-yard touchdown pass from Davis Warren that sparked the offense. Fullback Max Bredeson is trailing on the play.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Sherrone Moore had seen enough, and probably could not believe his eyes.

His Michigan offensive line – of which he was the position coach as well as the offensive coordinator in the perfect season of 2023 – was truly pathetic.

There was no other way to put it. And no way to foresee the 24-17 win here Saturday night over Michigan State – which enabled Moore to become the school’s first coach to win his initial game in the rivalry since Bennie Oosterbaan in 1948.

The Spartans had a 144-37 lead in total offense and a 7-0 scoreboard advantage with 5:23 remaining in the first half.

Former Wolverine and NFL receiver Jason Avant, while working the sideline for the Michigan radio network, observed Moore pulling the Block M together and reading them the riot act.

“He was very emphatic and very angry,” Avant told listeners of Moore’s rant.

And guess what?

The Wolverines (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) came alive immediately after that, driving 64 yards on 10 plays and scoring their first points of the game on a 10-yard pass to tight end Colston Loveland from Davis Warren – who returned to the starting job he held earlier in the season with Jack Tuttle “unavailable” with an injury.

The O-line of tackles Myles Hinton and Andrew Gentry, guards El-Hadi Giovanni and Josh Priebe, center Greg Crippen and Loveland responded with the push and protection that resulted in 228 yards of total offense in the final 33 minutes of play.

Asked what he said to the group, Moore grinned and said, “Well, I can’t say exactly what I said if you get my drift.”

It wasn’t exactly a PG-rated speech.

Moore continued, “But really, what the message was that we’re not operating to the standards that we needed to – especially to the offensive line. The precedent we set wearing that helmet and wearing that uniform, there’s a standard. And I didn’t feel like we were upholding that standard.”

That “standard” was set by the 2021 and 2022 Michigan O-lines winning the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s top blocking unit, and the 2023 front contributing mightily to a 15-0 season with four NFL Draft picks.

“So, just challenged them,” Moore said. “Challenged them to do that, and at the highest level in the biggest game of the year right now. So, it was our jobs to uphold the standard. And it starts up front. So, that was for them, and they responded.”

Loveland smiled and said of Moore, “Yeah, he’s always the first one over there to kind of get us going. He brings that energy and he was just saying, ‘Be Michigan! Be what Michigan’s about – just strain every rep and win the one-on-one.’

“And we all really took it to heart and ended up doing it when we had to. I’m just super proud of the team and the way we handled that thing.”

Tailback Donovan Edwards, who would throw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Loveland for the final points in the fourth quarter, noted on Moore: “He talked to the offensive line because he has a deep connection with the offensive line. And, you know, it starts with them. So, I don’t know what he said. But it clearly got the guys fired up and it got them going. We got off to a very slow start, and he got the guys fired up.

“We all know it starts with them. Without them, we’re not going to go as well. The offensive line just played phenomenal, and Coach Moore got them energized and fired up.”

Moore has been under heat from fans who wondered aloud and on social media if he was the right choice to replace Jim Harbaugh as head coach. But perhaps that fire-up speech to his linemen and a win against the arch-rivals to break a two-game losing streak this month will begin turning the tide for Moore.

The Wolverines also had zero penalties and zero turnovers (after having 15 in the first seven games) to retain the Paul Bunyan Trophy for a third consecutive year.

The offensive turnaround Moore sparked began with that first scoring drive with 2:58 remaining in the first half.

It was ignited by Warren rolling right and hitting a wide-open Semaj Morgan for 6 yards on third-and-5. Then Warren fired a 15-yard completion to Peyton O’Leary, and the chains were moving.

Donovan Edwards totaled 20 yards on three carries to set up the score.

However, holder Tommy Doman couldn’t handle the good snap and tried to pass for 2 points on the failed point-after attempt with 29 seconds left.

But the defense provided an unlikely opportunity.

Josiah Stewart chased down Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles, and got a strip sack. The ball bounded toward the sideline before defensive tackle Kenneth Grant pounced on the ball to recover at the MSU 34-yard line.

Only 14 seconds remained, but a 15-yard pass to Edwards put Dominic Zvada in position for the 37-yard field goal that gave the Wolverines an unlikely 9-7 lead going into the half time locker room.

Then Michigan put together a touchdown drive on its first possession of the second half.

Davis repeated what he’d done on the first scoring march, completing a third-down pass to Morgan for 9 yards.

Alex Orji, who also started earlier this year, came in and sprinted down the left sideline for 29 yards. The stadium was buzzing now.

And things got even better for the maize and blue faithful.

Warren completed a 23-yard pass to Tyler Morris with the best touch he’s put on a ball all season, dropping it into Morris, who nestled into an opening in zone coverage. And it came on a flea-flicker play, with tailback Kalel Mullings pitching the ball back to Warren after the initial handoff.

Orji finished the drive with a touchdown run on third-and-goal at the 2-yard line.

But the Wolverines had more in their tank.

Warren completed yet another third-down pass by rolling right and hitting Kendrick Bell for 12 yards. And another drive was providing hope that the offense had found its rhythm.

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell had yet another trick to pull out of his play-calling bag.

Edwards took the pitch and rolled right. The entire MSU secondary committed to the run, and Edwards had them right where he wanted them. He stopped, set and flicked his wrist to hit a wide-open Loveland right at the goal line for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Edwards had thrown one in the 2021 Big Ten championship game against Iowa – a 75-yarder to Roman Wilson -- and had struck again.

The senior tailback is 5-for-5 for 154 yards and two touchdowns as a passer, and that led to plenty of post-game joking.

Warren threw a 2-point conversion pass to Loveland after Edwards’ scoring pass for a 14-point lead.

However, after the Spartans answered with a TD drive, Michigan suddenly reverted to its earlier offensive malaise. Two runs by Mullings netted 1 yard and then Davis fired an incomplete pass.

So, it was going to be up to the defense to put the game away.

The Wolverines had a 7-point lead and MSU had the ball at the 50 after a poor 24-yard punt by Doman. There was 4:34 remaining.

On fourth-and-6 at the 16-yard line, Chiles was pressured and fired a pass that appeared intended for Michigan cornerback Quinten Johnson. He couldn’t catch the ball, but it didn’t matter much.

The Spartan drive was over.

The Wolverines took over at their own 16.

Orji ran 15 yards on the first play, and Orji salted it away by breaking left on third-and-5 for 8 yards and smartly sliding to end the play for the last of his team-high 64 yards rushing on six carries. The Spartans had only one timeout remaining and couldn’t stop the clock.

The season that appeared to be going totally down the drain late in the first half was buoyant again.