Everything Michigan HC Sherrone Moore said during his pre-Ohio State press conference

On keeping Bryce Underwood composed for his first big rivalry game

He’s well-educated on the rivalry. He knows everything about it. I’ve seen it from afar, and we’ve talked about this game for a very long time, whether it be spring ball, whether it be training camp, whether it be the summer. So everybody knows what this game is all about. They all understand it. So it’ll be about going through the routine and just doing the things that he’s done at this point to get him prepared for the game.

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On the message he has for the fans this week

Be the loudest, most ravenous, craziest, energetic environment that we’ve had in Michigan Stadium ever. That’s what we want it to be, the loudest place it’s ever been. I don’t know what the decimals have been or what they could be, but we need them to reach peak on Saturday.

On what the team has done to beat Ohio State this week

A lot. Woke up, worked out, prayed, watched a lot of film, met with our coaches, met with our staff, already met with players, anything possible, and then just tried to be in the same routine that we’ve done and create the edge that we need to win the game.

On whether he believes the program has a mental edge over Ohio State

I just think we’re just going to go prepare for the game. I don’t know what — outside the building, none of that really matters. What people think, what people say, doesn’t matter. What matters is how we prepare, how we get ready for this game mentally, and that’s it. So I don’t know what the mental edge piece is, I just know that we’re going to just go prepare to go win the game.

On how Michigan has been able to flip the rivalry around

Yeah, obviously, our players, our players playing really well in those games and executing those games has been a huge piece. We’ve had good game plans, but our players have played their best games in those games, and that’s ultimately been the difference.

On Ohio State’s passing attack

Yeah, it’s potent, man. It’s one of the best in the country, obviously the best team in the country. You know, the receivers are elite. Four, Jeremiah’s elite. Carnell Tate is elite. You know, they got Brandon Ennis, he’s elite. Tight end Max Clair is a really good player as well, and quarterback is elite. They’ve got elite players everywhere on the field from a skill position standpoint. Running back’s really good. O-line’s good. So it’s a challenge. I know our defense is ready to go take on.

On having a blowout puts the team in a good spot this week

Momentum is a real thing, right? Guys understand how they played, and they prepared that way. So we expected to play well, can’t really worry about what the outcome and the score is going to be, but felt like we played good comparatively, especially on offense, how we played the game before, but can’t say we played extremely bad offense.

It was just turning the ball over, right, in the game before. So we moved the ball, but we just took care of the football. We scored in the red zone when we needed to and did the things that we thought we could do to win the game. So it gives us good momentum in the game, but again, that doesn’t mean anything. You still got to go prepare for it.

On whether there’s value having a multi-game win streak over a rival

I just know that being a part of rivalries, the other games don’t matter. Whatever happened in the past doesn’t matter. So all we can do is focus on now. This is a new team, new staff, new players, new coaches. Again, new environment, you know, different. And so all we can do is focus on today, and that’s it.

On players on the team knowing what it takes to win in the environment

Yeah, they understand what the game is about, but again, it’s a different team. They’re a different team. We’re a different team. So we can’t predicate this win or the prediction of a win or the prediction of the game or the score on what has happened in the past. All we can do is work to be successful on Saturday.

On Tony Alford’s development of the running back room

Yeah, he’s been outstanding. Tony, ever since I hired him, I knew he was a home-run hire from a recruitment standpoint and development standpoint, and now it’s just proof in the pudding. He’s got third running back rushing for over 100 yards and runs hard, runs physical, and he demands it out of all of them. They all play that way. They all work that way. They all practice that way, and it’s awesome to watch.

It’s awesome to watch those guys develop and how he coaches them, push them. Him and Coach Jackson are an outstanding combination to coach those backs.

On Ohio State winning a championship after losing The Game lessens the impact of the rivalry

Yeah, I don’t think anything changes the intensity. It’s as intense as a rivalry you’ll see in sports, so I don’t think the outcome, regardless, win or lose, is not going to change it. It’s a new year every year. It’s a new game, so, yeah, I don’t think that’s going to change the intensity.

On how the team channels intensity

Just the way this place is built, what Michigan is all about, the intensity, the intentionality of how we practice, how we prepare, that’s what we want. We want it like that. We want that physical battle. We want the toughness. We want the violence. That’s what we want, so it fits us, but, I mean, they’re playing really well. They’re playing physical as well, so we’ve got to match it, and they’ve got to match us.

On how he would describe the rivalry against Ohio State and what he cherishes the most

Yeah, it’s funny you say that because I was talking to Coach Lindsey about it. He’s been in the Iron Bowl, and we’ve talked to people that have been in the Iron Bowl and been in this one. It’s different. You can’t describe it. Like, literally, I could try to describe to you the feeling of exactly what it feels like. Oh, it feels like this. It feels like this. I can’t. Like, I remember last year going on the field with Jaishawn, and we’re running out during warm-ups. He’s like, oh, this is different. And Jaishawn don’t say much, so for him to say that. He said, this is different.

So it’s a feeling that you can’t really describe. It’s an intensity. It’s just an aura about it that you can’t describe until you get on the field. But it’s awesome to be a part of. It’s great to be a part of. It’s the best rivalry in sports, in my opinion. It’s the funnest one to be a part of. It’s competitive. But there’s nothing like it.

On what has impressed him about Bryce Underwood this year and OSU’s defense

Yeah, I’ll start with Bryce, man. Just how he’s grown so fast. And, I mean, he was here at 11:45 last night watching them with Donovan McCulley and the guys. He’s so intentional with everything. And, I mean, then again, he was in here this morning with Coach Lindsey watching the game. He wants to be so good.

He works his tail off, and he’s so humble about it. And so great with his teammates. He roots for his teammates and so close with his teammates. And to me, that’s such an awesome piece. When in this world today, he could be about himself very easily and not think about the team at any point. You know, and to have a balanced attack like we have on offense right now and for him to be just so humble and so grateful to be a part of it is an awesome thing to see.

Reese and Downs are excellent players. You know, Arvell is as elite as an edge rusher, as an edge player as we’ve seen all year. Caleb Downs is probably one of the smartest football players in college football. Just from seeing a lot of football, played a lot of football, and both those players are elite players that we’ve got to deal with.

On things Andrew Marsh is doing now that he might not have been doing in September

Just the making of the plays, but being able to do all the different things, lining up different places and different positions, is different. He wasn’t able to do that at first in training camp, but now we can put him all over the field and he doesn’t make the mistakes. He knows exactly where to go. He knows exactly what to do. And obviously, he continues to make plays. He’s been doing that since he’s got here. But being able to go in all those different positions has been special.

On what needs to happen to make sure a young team isn’t overwhelmed with the moment

Yeah, I mean, we try to educate them throughout the year of what this game is all about, you know, training camp. Speakers come and talk about it. We’ll talk about it throughout the week. Throughout the building, they see it every day. They see it even more now. But I don’t think there’s really a way to just take away that initial feeling that you’re going to get when you walk on the field.

And you kind of don’t want them to take that away. You want them to feel that intensity, that burn. That’s that little extra motivation. It’s like putting on that favorite song on your ear pods right before the game. So you want them to have that feeling a little bit to get that little jolt right before the game.

On why Michigan has had success in the second half against OSU

I mean, again, the players. The game plans are great, but we always talk about the how, not the what. And the players have just executed, and their will to break is, you know, they’re unbreakable, especially in that game. They want to be unbreakable. They want to do everything they can to go win that game. But again, this is a new game, new year. So we’ve got to reset the clock and try to do that again.

On last year’s postgame scuffle with OSU having any bearing on this one

No, we talked about that at the beginning of the year, and we’ve been pretty good about any post-game interactions. When we win a game or when you’re in the game, we’re going to go to our student section and go to our band and shake hands, cordial ending and be done with it. And that’s it. So our guys have been good about that, and we’ll continue to do that.

On Matt Patricia’s defense

I think one, those guys play together. They play really good together. There’s so many different coverages, fronts, front variation, blitz variation, and it’s game by game. There’s a story in each game of how he calls the game. It’s not just this game is doing this. It’s not just by formation. It’s just not just by personnel. It’s by game. So we’ve got to do a good job of identifying that early in the game and figuring out how to play that through all four quarters because I think it changes as you go half to half.

On the status of Max Bredeson, Ernest Hausmann and Semaj Morgan

Max, you know, X-rays, we’ll see. Didn’t look great, but if anybody can push through it, it’s Max Bredesen. So we’ll know more as we go through the week.

Semaj will be fine, and Ernest will be day-to-day.

On Rod Moore’s status

Rod will be out, yeah.

On whether Moore is out for the season

Yeah, most likely, yes.

On potentially playing for a CFP spot

I mean, I think that’s something you talk about, something guys know, they acknowledge, they understand the importance of this game, that it’s different than last year.

You’re playing for something big, and that’s what you want. We always talk about they remember November, and to be able to play for that, play for a spot possibly in the playoff, and even in the Big Ten Championship, like, all those things are at hand, and I think our kids deserve to know that they’re in that position, and, you know, we’ll talk about it, but at the end of the day, we still got to go prepare.

On what allows him to meet the moment in rivalry games

It ain’t me. It’s the kids, man. Like, I’m not out there playing. I love it. I love doing this. I love being a part of this team, and we work tirelessly as a staff to go win these games, but it’s not me. It’s those kids that step out on the field.

On the importance of Dominic Zvada making his final kick at Maryland and diagnosing where he’s at

Yeah, I mean, it was huge for him to make that kick. Needed the confidence for him and needed him to do it, and obviously hasn’t kicked as good as he wanted to throughout the year, but made the ones that we’ve needed him to, so that’s been good to see.

On how the team dictates style in a game like this

Yeah, I can’t give you all that answer right now, man. It’s going to be a different style of fight. We’ll see what happens, but we definitely got to do what we can to dictate it.

On how Michigan wins this game

Yeah, I mean, one, you got to win the line of scrimmage. Always got to do that. You can’t let outside variation, outside things, outside noise control the preparation and the progress of what we’re doing and the process of what we’re doing because there’s a lot of things going on, right? It’s College GameDay. It’s Big Noon Kickoff. It’s this. It’s that.

There’s going to be a lot of people here, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to channel our focus on our preparation, and that’s how you win, you know, prepare the way we prepared for those last three games.