ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If you were to peruse Michigan football message boards during (or soon after) games, you’d think that the Wolverines were in danger of missing a bowl game. But at the moment, everything that the maize and blue hopes for this season, minus being undefeated, is on the table. One rival has been beaten (MSU) while the Ohio State game is still forthcoming. Win that game, the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff are strong possibilities. Lose it? Well, those other goals are off the table.
But for now, the goals are there, regardless of how ugly the last three wins have been.
Advertisement
“We’re 8-2. All our goals are in front of us, we’re playing for a lot,” head coach Sherrone Moore said on Monday. “You’re playing meaningful football in November, which is what you ask for as a football coach, as a college football player, just any player in general in this game.
“And when you’re in November and you’re playing for something that means a lot, especially with a young football team. You go out there with six freshmen on offense and a bevy of them on defense and special teams. Yeah, the mistakes are there that we’ve got to fix, but you’re also very blessed to be able to be in that position of being 8-2.
“But yeah, you’ve got to self-reflect and look at everything that you’re doing and make sure that you’re doing everything right. Offensively, you talk about where we are and obviously the turnovers you’ve got to clean up. The kids have already been in many times throughout yesterday, today, to watch the film, evaluate the film. The coaches have attacked that. They’ll do it again later on here today. Everybody’s very aware of what we need to fix and what we need to do, but there’s a lot of positives in the game.”
Yes, the Northwestern game was the third ugly win in a row, but it was a win. And against a stout pass defense, freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood threw for 280 yards with one touchdown on the ground. But he did have two interceptions in the contest, both of which led to points for the Wildcats.
Advertisement
But that’s not what Moore wants fans to focus on.
There were a lot of positives for Underwood in the game, Moore notes, as well as how dominant the defense was. After all, despite being five turnovers in the negative in the game on Saturday, Michigan won, and the defense held Northwestern to its second-lowest output in terms of yards all season, which gave the Wolverines a chance to come back and win the game at Wrigley Field.
“Bryce, people will talk about the turnovers, but I hope people talk about that third-down throw to Andrew Marsh,” Moore said. “Not just the first one that led to a touchdown, but that second one that led to the game-winning field goal. Or the third down run that he had on third and five to escape to make sure we get a field goal. There were some heroic plays that the young man made in the game that people need to highlight. He had mistakes that we all have to help him out as a team, but he had some plays that were outstanding, along with Andrew and some of the other guys.
“I thought defensively we played really well. You put them in those positions, and they held them to two field goals early in the game, and that’s the game. I’m very proud of the resiliency of this team because of the five turnovers. Last year, SMU had six and won, and that was it. Don’t ever want to be in that position again, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure we’re not in that position.”
Advertisement
Michigan, likewise, had the highest offensive output that the Wildcats had given up all year in terms of total yardage. It was also the second-most passing yards that Northwestern surrendered all year (USC being the first). Despite the two picks, Underwood made plays (especially to fellow freshman Andrew Marsh), and Moore is optimistic about his immediate future in the coming weeks.
“He just saw it really well,” Moore said. “As you went through the bye week, you just saw him progress and progress and progress. It just felt like he’d be in a great position, and he was. He made a lot of great throws and made a lot of great plays. We did a little bit more with him, but we did some things that we’ve already done. We just formatted it a little different. The way that they played allowed for some different looks and some different things to happen. That was a big piece of it, too.”
One notable thing for Underwood in the game is that, despite being under pressure at times, he didn’t appear to be nearly as flustered as he had been against both Michigan State and Purdue in the past two games. He looked as if he and the running backs were on the same page in terms of pass protection, and he worked well running RPOs.
Moore says that as far as his comfort level with the pass protection, Underwood’s time on task and preparation have both helped him greatly, and that so long as the coaches put him in a good position, he’ll continue to get better and better.
Advertisement
“He just continues to just, again, playing football, getting used to it, playing speed in the Big Ten,” Moore said. “He’s done a really good job of adjusting, and he just watches film tirelessly to get better at it, and, you know, practices help and putting him in those positions in practice to help him.
“Going against our defense more and more in practice helps. So he’s just done a really good job, and the O-line has helped. Obviously, there’s some protection things that we’ve got to fix, but that’s also on they blitzed a little bit more than we thought based on wanting to stop our run game, and we had to adjust in the game, and that’s what good coaches do, to adjust, and that’s why the protection as the game went on and got better.”
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Sherrone Moore: Michigan football still has every goal in sight
