Everything Sherrone Moore said on Inside Michigan Football pre-Central Michigan

On his reaction to all three phases after watching the film

First on offense, just the consistency with the execution of what we needed to do in all, you know, whether it was the running game or passing game, whether it be spacing in the passing game, whether it be timing in the run game, just consistency with each guy on each block and knowing how to do it. Not really the what to do, but more the how, and executing that at a consistent level. So take a look at all that and all avenues on offense to make sure that we window it down to the things that we’re really, really good at and executing at a high level. On defense, I thought we played really fast, played really physical, thought they did a really good job on their offense with the quarterback run game. I think that in the run game really hurt us the most because the running back runs we held in check really well. And just eliminating all the big plays, he got out on some scrambles and then the double move on Zeke. But other than that I thought defensively we played well enough to win and I thought we had some really bright spots. How that offense was, I think is going to be pretty explosive, especially with that quarterback. So I thought we played well enough there to win. And then special teams, we created some opportunities. We obviously missed the field goal with Zvada, but we created some opportunities with the muff punt and with the kickoff down there inside the 15 to help us. So we just got to play collectively and better as a team, and we will.

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On whether he asks what happens after a Zvada miss

Yeah. You know, and he doesn’t miss any of those in practice, and rarely misses maybe in the two years that he’s been here, maybe one before. That’s a different position in the mindset and the headspace. It’s a very big confidence thing. So you can’t be as a can’t coach him like you coach alignment and go and go head on and try to rip them and, and get the confidence out of them. So I let JB handle that. And I just looked at him. He looked at me and we kind of had that communication. And after that, he made the rest of them. Something that he feels really awful about. He made up for it in the game, but I know he’ll make it up for it in the future.

On what he thinks a kicker is thinking after a miss

I don’t know what they’re thinking. And I don’t know if they’re thinking very much of anything. I think it’s just that there’s kind of a blank space, this thing that they’re just trying to manifest that moment to make sure that they made the kick. So I try to stay away from Zvada and let him be him because he’s obviously an outstanding kicker, and you want everybody to be perfect, but no one is.

On the importance of having a good punt and to recover a muffed punt

Yeah. I mean, Hudson has been really good throughout camp. We wanted a couple more consistent punts throughout the game. We thought he punted well overall, but there’s some distance punts that we’d like a little farther. But our coverage team did a really good job because of the hang time. And at that point, inside the five, you look back on it, and people are like, oh, you should go for it. I’m like, well, then the ball is down inside the five and then they have to punt it again. So it’s a field position game that you really got to take advantage of it. And it’s important. But Joe Taylor, man, he’s the same guy that had his heels on the goal line. It was the same guy that made the tackle and the guy that muffed the punt. So those are so important for us on special teams.

On whether he goes back and thinks about doing things differently

Yeah. I mean, you always look at it. We have analytics always going, talking about, hey, this is fourth and one or better. This is fourth and two, fourth and three. But there’s also a feel of the game of, hey, we just stopped them on the last drive. The defense has a good feel for it because, you know, you go back to the years I’ve been here, you’ve made the decision to go for it on fourth down.cThere’s also a yardage of fourth down that you actually decide to go for it. Going for it on fourth and four versus going on fourth and inches is completely different. So you always look at that. But in those moments, you try to make the best educated decision that you can.

On Joe Taylor’s impact on special teams

He’s just an impactful player to the whole team. He’s voted an alternate captain. So for a guy that’s not a starter as a receiver, to play receiver and be an all four-course special team player, to be voted as an alternate for a captain speaks volumes of him as a leader and as a person on the team.

On the emphasis on capitalizing on mistakes

Yeah, it’s a huge emphasis and something we’re looking at as a staff to make sure that we fix. It’s always a continual process, whether you have a young quarterback or an old quarterback. Went through the same issues at some point with J.J. And we will get those things fixed, and it’s all about what the guys can do well and do well consistently, and that’s what we’re going to continue to try to do.

On the lessons he learned with J.J. McCarthy that he is appyling to Bryce Underwood’s coaching

Yeah, a lot of them. You live and you learn. And there’s a lot of things that you learn about young men as they go through the process and they go through adversity. And those lessons that I learned with J.J. were definitely put in time now, but you don’t always get the same result. Even when you learn the lesson and you put that in play, those results don’t always equate to being the exact same, but you try to learn from every lesson and put those forward.

On the difficulty of what Underwood is doing now compared to what McCarthy did

It is different. It is more difficult when you are the guy and you are counted on every snap versus you have packages. So he’s in a position where mentally he can’t handle it and we just got to help him as a staff and the players around him to execute better to make it more successful.

On whether the offense will turn to running Underwood more if the offense isn’t producing

Yeah, I think for sure that at some point you’ll do that. It’s a long year and you got 12 guaranteed opportunities. So your quarterback, like I always say, if you run him you better have two because they’re going to take a lot of hits. And he’s a big dude and he wants to do that, but you just got to be very cognizant of how you use him in certain situations.

On telling Underwood to not be a lead blocker

Yeah, speed bump. He wanted to be a lead blocker and I tried to discourage him from doing that.

On the top thing that prevented the offense from being successful against Oklahoma

Third downs. Third downs was the biggest thing. When you look at the third down battle, they were 9-17, I think, and we were 3-14. You don’t convert on third downs and you don’t continue those drives. That’s the biggest thing. You can have a drive where the first down goes for 8, the second down goes for 1, or 3-3 and you don’t get the third down, you don’t get the rhythm. You got to get that first third down to catch that rhythm of the drive.

On how much the struggles were on the team vs. Oklahoma’s defense

Yeah, I think it had to do with, one, our execution, but two, they did a really good job of the things that they did and they executed. In this game of football, we always talk about it’s not always the what, it’s the how and how you execute, how you do things. We have to do those things better for us to be successful.

On whether Gio El-Hadi going out changed the plans for the offense

Yeah, it didn’t really change what we wanted to do. Nate was always going to be the next person in regardless of whatever guard went down. He did a good job. Obviously, if he was as good as Gio, he’d be the starter or if he was better, but I think for what we asked him to do, he did a good job and he’ll continue to get better.

On El-Hadi’s status

We’ll see. I’m not really sure, so we’ll just go day by day. I took your answers away.

On the impact of not having Marlin Klein

Yeah, you always feel it, especially in the run game because Marlon’s so powerful in the run game and obviously in game one, he showed the flashes of what he could be in the passing game. So definitely wanted him out there, wanted all our players out there. So we’ll see. We’ll see how he does this week. It looks like he’s trending in a good direction to go play this weekend.

On what he needs to see from the offense taking a step in the right direction

Yeah, consistent execution and how we help them in the game plan with less things and make it more simple for them will be a big part of it. Just be more consistent because we have the skill, we have the talent to go be good and we just need to go do that consistently.

On what has to happen to stop a mobile quarterback like John Mateer

Guys that can do both, you’ve got to keep them in the pocket. You’ve got to make sure that they’re not getting out of running lanes. And when they do get out of running lanes, you’ve got to do a good job of guys covering to make sure they stay on them because guys like him, he’s not always looking just to run. He’s looking to run and then to throw it. And then and his ability to throw the ball then hinders how you can play him in the passing game or in the running game. So you’ve got to be gap sound. Ultimately, you’ve got to be gap sound and tackle. We had some shots. I thought Coach Wink called a great game. And we had some free runners and we’ve got to do a better job with our angles when we tackle. And ultimately, that helps us win games.

On the keys to capitalizing on having free runners on defense

Yeah, it just depends. And when you’re hitting them from different views, it’s how you teach tackling. So when you’re on a side view, you want to run right through him versus when he’s square and he can give you a two way go. So it’s all about the angle of tackling and our guys are — nobody feels worse about it than our players. They’re really down about how they performed on defense from a tackling standpoint. And I’m continuing to promote how positive I was about their energy and how they played for four quarters. And that long drive, it stunk that they had that long drive. But they also held them to a field goal. That tells you that the will and the culture of the team of not give up, you play four quarters, whatever happens. And I was proud of that moment. But we got to be better tackling.

On whether he needs to see more pressure on the QB

I think we’ll get that. You have to play guys differently based on the fact that the guy can tuck it and run. So when you have your defensive ends just rushing up the field, that’s unhealthy because then that opens up rushing lanes. So you got to be very cognizant of the type of quarterback you’re playing, the situation, the down and distance, where he runs, where he doesn’t, to help you with pass rush.

On what the DL is doing to shut down the run

They’re staying square. They’re playing physical. Coach Lou and Coach McPhee are doing a great job. And David Denham, they’re doing an outstanding job of teaching gaps and teaching gap integrity and staying square and knocking guys back. And when you do that, you stop the run. And we just got to continue to do that with everybody when it comes to the quarterback runs.

On whether there will be a shift with the touches Justice Haynes will have

Yeah, I mean, I think as you go through games, because he is so explosive, we’ve got to give him chances to create those lanes. So as we go through the season and we get through these games, and especially we get into conference play, it’s just game by game to see, you know, he’s got a hot hand, especially when he gets in there, but you got to do a good job taking care of him because it is a long year.

On how difficult it’ll be for Jasper Parker to break into the RB rotation

Yeah, it’ll be a consistent theme to see how fast he gets on the field. He will at some point, and he’ll definitely open some eyes because we think he’s going to be a really good player.

On young players he sees becoming good players

Yeah, on offense, the other guy I’d say is Andrew Marsh, quickly becoming one of the better receivers in the room, and he’s going to be really special, and it could be this week, could be next week, could be the week after that. You see that flash. We’re going to move him around and do some things with him to see how he does. And then on defense, the guy that really sticks out, we’ve talked about Cole Sullivan ad nauseum, is Nate Marshall. Great reps as a true freshman, and we think he’s going to be really special.

On why Biff Poggi was named interim head coach

Yeah, I mean, one, from a team perspective, it keeps everything kind of how it is right now with, you know, with me not being able to be there next week and, you know, during the week, and then having him there on the sidelines for the game. It allows Chip to handle everything with the offense. It allows Wink to handle everything with the defense. It allows JB to handle everything with the special teams. And then the nucleus of things and planning of everything else that goes on, he’s with me all the time. He knows it. The kids know him. The kids love him, and it can hold everything together.

On whether he is planning to cram two weeks worth of prep into one week before his suspension starts

Yeah, I’ll be double dipping. I’ll be working my tail off as much as I can on both opponents and have everything. I’ll have a plan. I’ve already started kind of both plans already. So we’ve got the practice schedules and plans out ready for this week. I’ll knock those out for next week and how all that will go, even up to the travel and everything, and then work everything as we go through.

On what he will be doing to keep himself occupied during his suspension

Yeah, I haven’t thought about it yet. I’ll try to stay in the moment, in the day. I know I’ll be watching film. I’ll be watching practice and writing notes down and doing different things and just keeping my eye on the game and keeping my eye on the team and doing whatever I can to help.