Everything Sherrone Moore said after Michigan's 24-22 win over Northwestern

On what he’s thinking after a game like that

Emotions. When you coach this game, when you’re part of this game with these young men, coaches, staff, and you’re with them for hours and hours on end on the day, and you go through that emotional rollercoaster like that, you appreciate the hard work, you appreciate their fight, their grit to finish. I haven’t been a part of a five-turnover game and win the game. The last time Michigan had five was South Carolina in 2018. We lost. You know, having five turnovers. So, there’s things that we know from a decision-making standpoint. We’re going to take that as coaches, not as players. But, at the end of the day, we found a way to win, and that’s the most important piece. So, really excited for our team to be 8-2 right now as we go into this next game, as we go to prepare for Maryland.

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On what it means having Dominic Zvada hitting the game-winner after struggling earlier

Just the mindset of the next play, we’ve got to keep rolling. And the team had a lot of confidence in him. The one was pretty long. It was a 60-yard one. He had the distance for it, just missed it. So, seeing them make it, you’ve got to have trust in your kicker in those situations, especially against a team like that that’s going to chew the clock and play that type of offense. So, just so happy for him, so happy for our team, and making that field goal.

On whether he’s monitoring Zvada’s demeanor after the game

I see him, but I’m not talking to him. Like I told you, I can’t coach kickers. I let the kicking coaches coach him, but his demeanor just never changes. I’ve never kicked before. I’m sure nobody else has. Maybe anybody in here kicked before? Madden. Huh? Madden? Yeah, Madden. It’s different. The little meter goes like this, and you can hit that every time you make every kick.

But it’s a lot different on big noon on national TV, and the clock is at three seconds and they freeze you, and then I see them over there talking to one of their guys, and I’m like, oh, yeah, he’s about to bang this through. But there’s still that in the back of your head. So, yeah, the closest is Madden. That’s the closest I’ve got. Madden, NCAA. So, yeah, I’m proud of him. Proud of him for that kick.

On Andrew Marsh’s performance

12 catches for 189 yards. Just did what we thought. You know, I didn’t know he’d have 12 for 189. Great job, Chip. A little. Didn’t think it would be 12 for 189. Thought he’d have a good day just because of how he practices, how he prepares. But he’s just taking that next step as that playmaker that we want, that we want to see on the outside lane. So is Bryce, you know. Had the turnovers, but there’s some throws in there, some incredible plays that he’s making. The throw he made down to Andrew on the right side was a dive. It was a dive. And there’s so many positive things to reflect on with this young group. You talk about, I mean, we’ve got six freshmen starting. I’m very sure freshmen are freshmen. It’s wild. It’s an unbelievable ride. It’s so fun to be around these kids. They work so hard. They prepare so hard. So you want that win for them more than anybody. For them to pull it off like that is unbelievable.

On whether he was worried about the team’s response after the turnovers

I mean, you just look. You see it. And to see Jaishawn Barham go to the offense, give them a vote of confidence. To see Cam Brandt and Rod and all those guys in that huddle that last two minutes. It said everything. It said how close the team is. There was never a divide.

So these guys just see the vision. And in college football, in the Big Ten, it is hard to win. Every week it’s a battle. So, you know, you can’t have five turnovers a week. That’s not going to help you win. So we got to clean that up. But I thought, I mean, we moved the ball on offense. We got a good 496 yards of total offense. Defensively, you know, held them at 61 yards rushing. That’s incredible. That’s an amazing job on the defensive staff, defensive front. But, again, proud of the team in the win.

On whether Jordan Marshall’s injury is serious

No. He just got an X-ray. He feels like he’s in a good place. So he’s going to get a nice ice bath. Make sure he gets the best masseuse in town. They get to take care of him. I can’t pay for that, obviously. So let him handle that. They got plenty to handle that. So let’s take care of him. We’ll get him ready for these games coming up.

On the sense of urgency and cleaning up turnovers

Yeah, I mean, we got to fix it. But that’s something that hasn’t been a piece of our game. So we got to just clean it up right now and that’s decision-making. Continue to do that as we go through practice. Giving those hard, hard looks. Doing those things to help our guys make those decisions. Not fumbling the ball on the punt return. So the people who feel the worst about those turnovers are the guys who had them. So we’ll talk to them. We’ll continue to coach it. But again, the win is what we’re really proud about.

On Bryson Kuzdzal’s performance

Awesome, man. I think he had 15 carries for 53 yards. And to come out kind of cold. Get some spot reps to spot Jordan. But then to come out and run so fast. Run so physical. It was awesome to see. And you could see him turn the corner these past couple weeks. And really needed him. We had full faith that he’d go out there and compete in a big way.

On Kuzdzal’s confidence as he got more reps

Huge. It was huge. Because you only get better at football by playing it. And you got to play in these environments. What about that environment, right? That was cool. That was awesome. Kind of felt like a full game environment. Historic venue. Extremely blessed to be a part of this. And play on this great stage. So, it was fun.

On the fourth-and-one play call

Yeah, the fourth and one. You talking about the kick? Yeah. Wanted to be aggressive. Wanted to be aggressive and go get the first down. Try to go score. We fumbled the ball. That can’t happen. It was just a fumble of the exchange. I think he just caught it and dropped it. There’s a lot of things you could say. You could say, oh, yeah, if you go under center. Well, if you go under center, then they squeeze the defense. And then it’s harder to run it. So, the ability for him to be in the gun is also sometimes good. Because then they got to have a counter to him, too. You know, so, I think that’s all a piece of it. And we just got to execute that better.

On the team not folding under pressure

I mean, they’re a resilient group. That’s how it is. They’re just resilient. We try to put them in hard situations. But I’d like to credit their families, their upbringing, how they’ve been brought up. You know, the situations we put them in. Because they just never flinched. And that was awesome to see.

On Marshall’s injury changing the gameplan

All the same plays. All the same things we were doing. I felt very comfortable with Bryson and what he could do and had Jasper ready if need be. So, those guys are a great group of kids. A great group of backs that play physical. And like we say, in these Big Ten seasons, you’re going to need them all.

On whether he talks to Bryce Underwood on the sidelines

Yeah, not as much anymore. Not as much anymore. I mean, you’ve got to stay positive in those situations. He’s never played quarterback. Been around some really good ones. I’ve seen it. And you’ve got to coach them a little bit different than you do the O-line and the other positions and defense. He’s that guy. I just feel very strongly about his resiliency and how he plays and his no-flinch mentality. And for a young guy, it’s pretty special. He’s got to not throw this, not throw that. But you look at the ones he made, there’s some dynamic plays in there. Some dynamic plays. And just continue to take out those other ones, and we’ll help him do that as a staff and put our arms around and make sure we do that as a group.

On having the Michigan fanbase show up for the game

It was outstanding. Big shout-out to the Michigan family for coming out to support us in Chicago. I thought there would be a good group showing for Michigan, but it was better than I thought. And they came. They were ready to go. They were pumped. They were loud. They were supportive. So, much appreciation. We’ll love that next week in the DMV in Maryland. So, they can come down there and support us, too. That would be great. But that was outstanding.

On what the George Jewett Trophy means to him

Yeah, it means a lot. We talked about the history of that trophy. And, you know, being here, the first time it was introduced was in 2021. And being able to play for that means a lot. Being the first African-American to play in the Big Ten and play for both teams. And to do what he did academically was pretty awesome. So, it means a lot. We talked about that as a group. And rivalry games and trophy games, you always want to win, and you always want to keep. So, that meant a lot.

On Jimmy Rolder returning

Yeah, it felt like he just picked up from where he left off. Big shout-out to Coach Wink, Coach BJ, Coach Ty Martindale. What they do with those linebackers is unbelievable. And they put those guys all over the place. They’re constantly making plays. Jimmy Rolder, to have him back and also be a baseball guy, be back in his hometown, it was huge. They’re hyped. They’re happy. It’s all good.