Everything Sherrone Moore said on Inside Michigan Football pre-Purdue

On his what he saw during film review after the Michigan State win

A physical win in all three phases. I thought up front, set the tone early with how physical we wanted to be. I was really proud of the offensive line. Still things to work on, but rushing for over 200 yards again in another Big Ten game is huge. Thought those young guys played extremely well, played with attitude, with the want to. Thought D-line played well.

We had a couple runs that got out, and besides those, I think, two plays, the run game was non-existent for them. And when you do that in the Big Ten, you know you’re gonna be successful. So felt like it was a really good win, really good team win for us as a team, and gotta continue to move on.

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On what he heard from the defense after giving up big runs vs. MSU

I mean, it’s as simple as you lose your gap integrity, and then the ball splits. And then you’ve gotta get somebody to get the ball down. And we did that on every other play but those two, and that’s football. And you gotta do one every play. Because as much as you wanna just completely shut them down all the time, it doesn’t happen. But you gotta do that as much as you can, right?

And so I think that the fixes that were made throughout the game, they did a really good job. And you look at the drives, the last drive that they had, and there was two other drives that were over 10 plays. The other drives were five and out or less. And I think there was like 14 drives on defense that they had, and they had 11 of them were five-and-out and less, which was huge. So it was a dominant performance, but we have to cut those big plays out.

On how significant forcing the turnover was early in the game

Yeah, it was huge. Big thing you think about in a way game, especially in a rivalry game, is crowd noise and taking the crowd out of it. And the hit by the tone setter himself, Brandyn Hillman, was huge. Then the recovery by Jimmy. If it wasn’t Jimmy, it was gonna be somebody else because there was like three or four guys over there as fast as possible. So it was huge.

And then to have the offense go down and get points, you like to get the touchdown down there, but to get points was huge. One thing I’m proud of the offense was we had a third and one, or fourth and one. I said, we’re going for it. Last week, the week before, weren’t successful. To get the ball and run it right at them on fourth and one, and to get that first down was huge for us. And the confidence throughout the game, running the football.

On trying to set the tone during the first drive to the redzone

Yeah, I think you’re going with the inclination of what you think you’re gonna be successful with, right? And that always changes as you go throughout the game, and we wanted to stay balanced.

You had the two runs, and you thought that you can get open in the passing game and do some things and allow us to be creative down there, which I thought the play calls were great and aggressive. We had two alignment things that if you have the alignments right, you’re probably gonna score the touchdowns, but those didn’t happen. You came away with three, but the next time we get down there, we went and scored. So it was huge to recover from those things.

On Bryce Underwood’s decision-making early in the game

The first throw, the alignment actually affected where the ball would go because we had a ball going to — it would probably go to the flat to Semaj in man coverage, but pressure got on him a little fast from the edge, so he had to scramble around. Overall, his decision-making of not putting the ball in jeopardy was good. Early, well, early, the first play, he had a throw that possibly could have been picked, and we were lucky. Later on in the game, he did a much better job of that. So continuing to emphasize those redzone throws and making good decisions there.

On how much during a game is he addressing decision-making fixes with Underwood

I think you got to address it right away, and you got to do it in a way that he understands it, and it doesn’t have to berate him and yell at him for making the decision because he’s trying to make a play. And you want to be a playmaker. You don’t want to take that away from him. But you got to address the things and making sure he does it the right way.

On whether this was one of the better defensive performances he’s seen

The last touchdown, we should take that one away, and he’d have a garbage time touchdown, but I think so. I think just the physicality and the way they performed and how calm they were in situations, because there was a lot of times there was a lot of extracurricular activity. You know, I watched the film, there’s face masks being grabbed and things happening. Our guys just played the game. We really harped on that all week, and I thought our guys did a really good job of that.

Performance-wise, they played really well. We tackled well for the most part. We played physical up front. We played a lot of guys. We continue to do that and have great depth doing it.

On the improved defensive play was due to better tackling and better angles

Yeah, both. We always talk about effort and angles, so funneling guys and knowing which hip to attack, but then body-on-body tackles instead of trying to grab and reach and running your feet through defenders. I thought they did a really good job of that.

On the play of the secondary and limiting Nick Marsh

Huge, because he’s a dangerous player. He’s a really good football player, one of the better receivers in the conference. So to be able to hold him without those yards after carries was huge.

The one play, the big play he got, we gotta do a better job rerouting there, but overall, I mean, the secondary, just in general, they’ve played at a really good level. Old guys, young guys. Jyair Hill and Zeke Berry are playing at a high level right now, and it’s fun to watch them.

On how Rod Moore is handling missing games

Yeah, he’s doing well. Just mentally, he’s a kid, right? So you try to help him along and do things, and we’ll see how he looks this week. I think he’ll get back to a little bit more activity this week, and he did last week, but I’m not in his body, and I’m not gonna force him to do anything, so we’re gonna make sure that he feels right before he gets back in there.

On Mason Curtis’ performance this year

Yeah, proud of him. Had some injuries, came back, fought through those, and he’s playing at a really good level, too. I mean, just that whole safety room, continue to elevate their level of play.

Without Rod playing, and whether it’s Brandyn, whether it’s TJ Metcalf, whether it’s Mason, whether it’s Jaden Mangham, all those guys are playing at a really good level, and just continue to challenge each other and push each other throughout practice.

On what was causing issues in the pass game

Yeah, I mean, early on, obviously in the red zone, we didn’t execute a couple of throws that we thought we would hit. Just coverage-wise, there were some things that we were getting. And then we mixed it up. I thought Chip did a good job of getting him on the move, taking some shots early on. We’re being pretty aggressive. And then some pressures and protection things with the young offensive line just kind of got mixed up.

We adjusted to it and we’re able to pick it up. But I think what really happened is, as you get in the game and you see what type of game it is, the defense is playing the way they’re playing, and you’re trying to melt that clock. We kind of leaned on to the run game.

The beautiful thing about it is our kids, our quarterback, our receivers, our tight end, just say, okay, we got to do what we got to do to win. And at that point, we leaned on that, and it became a strength. And we just kept chewing that clock and really did a good job of that. I think when you come out the second half, your plan is to do both. But when you have a 20-yard run and then another 20-yard run, it’s like, you’re pretty insane to stop doing it. And then you go down the field and you go score. So I think our coaches overall, staff did a really good job of adjusting when they needed to.

On getting away from the pass game simply came down to MSU not being able to stop it

Yeah, I mean, and then we’re very cognizant of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. You run the ball well, you break a 25-yard run, and all of a sudden, if you throw it and then you throw an incompletion, everybody’s like, why’d you throw it? You should have ran it. I was like, well, because we wanted to. But I thought we did a good job because we did throw on the touchdown drive. The second one, we ran the ball a couple of times, got it down there and scored.

The second one, we ran it, and we threw a play-action pass to Andrew Marsh, and then it got down there, and then the next play was a touchdown. So I think there was still balance in there.

On the impact of Justice Haynes being back

Yeah, it was awesome. It was good. Justice ran super hard. So did Jordan, man. I mean, just both those guys are super talented, play at a high level. It was great to have him back.

But really credit Jordan, too, for just, he’s a violent runner. It’s hard to bring him down. I know he’s — after the game, he’s probably sore, but I know they’re probably even more sore. And excited for him, excited for those guys. That whole room’s doing a really good job.

On whether he expects Justice Haynes to play this week

Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what he looks like as we go through the week.

On the confidence having a rushing attack with Haynes and Marshall gives the offense

Yeah, Jordan’s like that. Like, he obviously has the explosive playability, but he’s like the bad weather, it’s cold, the perfect winter, fall running back, because it must be hard to tackle him. I mean, he just doesn’t get negative yardage plays. He’s always gaining two, three, and if it’s three, it’s four, five, six. He’s so violent, runs so hard, but then has obviously shown that he has that play to break it and go to the house. So it’s a great luxury to have.

On managing the workload for Haynes and Marshall when healthy

Yeah, I think workload’s a big piece of it, but also, you look at the hot hand, who’s hot-handed, but both of those guys get hot really quick. So yeah, you just try to figure out what the best rhythm is, but also gotta manage them both at the same time.

On the message hitting home about composure vs. MSU

I think the biggest thing that we said is play with emotion, not emotional. Don’t react, respond, respond to anything. So take a deep breath if something happens, and don’t just immediately react and try to defend yourself from doing things. We know you’re tough, we know the deal. So those were the messages, and I think our guys did a really good job of that.

On Blake Frazier’s first start

I mean, besides from a couple plays, really, really good. A redshirt freshman playing in a rivalry that means so much to him. Obviously, all of us, but him being a kid with his father playing here and having the history to play the way he did. He played with some violence, with some tenaciousness, and hopefully, he made that 77 proud. He played, I mean, he played really well. Excited for us, but excited for him and his confidence as he played in that game.

On gap blocking allowing the OL to be more aggressive

Yeah, I mean, I think it just creates a little less thinking for them, lets them be more violent, and kind of built who they are. We’ve got to be able to do the other things and have the outside zone and the pin pulls and get the ball in the perimeter. But what we’re made of and how we’re built, the physicality and running at people, is something that we do. So we’ve got to continue to be able to do that, but we’ve got to have the other pieces to have a successful run game.

On how Jake Guarnera’s evolved this season

I mean, he’s been really good, especially since he’s put on that Trevor Keegan neck brace. I’m almost intrigued to make everybody in the O-line wear one. He’s played at a high level for a, again, another young guy, redshirt freshman, to come in there and doesn’t get nervous. It’s not too big for him and goes in there and plays at a high level, plays nasty, plays strong, and has those things to work on. But like the kid, he’s a really good player and excited for him.

On whether he feels the defense is finding its rhythm like last season

Yeah, it feels like it hit a little earlier. It feels like the Washington game really started to take off, and it’s the way we’ve practiced and it’s the way we’ve played. Obviously, the game plans are put into it, but the guys, the kids, the coaches have coached really hard and pushed the little things. The players have practiced really hard and prepared as high as they could.

On the concerns Purdue brings to the table

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I know Coach Odom is a great coach. He’s from winning backgrounds, done it at a high level at Arkansas, coached at UNLV, and had those guys win at a high level. Their offense is good. Their offense, they’ve got skill. They’ve got guys like Nitro Tuggle to transfer. I think he’s from Georgia.

Quarterback transfer’s good. The Mockobee kid, the running back, he runs so hard. He runs so physical. We’ve faced him in the Big Ten Championship in ’22, and they’ve got two quarterbacks. One of them’s the mobile guy, but the other one’s mobile as well. So they’re a good offense, and defensively, they do just enough to keep you off balance. Got some familiar transfers like Breeon Ishmael that’s over there. Got a couple of former five-star players playing corner. So it’ll be a challenge.

On what the next step is for his team

Our step right now is to attack today, get better today. Don’t look too far ahead. Know that we got a really good team that we’re gonna play. Record aside, you’re in the Big Ten, and any team can beat any team if you’re not on your game. So you watch college football throughout the year, and you see it every week that somebody just, they just get lackadaisical or they get complacent. So we’ve looked at complacency as a plague around here. It’s something you gotta stay away from. Continue to strain and keep the urgency in the program.

On having conversations with his staff about staying focused as job opening season approaches

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest goal that we have to have is to go win. And if you focus on that, all those other opportunities will come down the road. And I want my coaches to be successful. I want them to accomplish all their goals. But for that to happen, you gotta accomplish the goals here first. So, really just worried about today, just like we talked about the players.

On how he develops his coaches

Yeah, I mean, I’m hard on them. I take a lot of pride in the coaches we have because I think they’re really good coaches. I think they do a good job, but also challenge them a lot and put them in positions for them to put their players to be successful.

But also, give them the ability to speak out, give them the ability to talk, give them the ability to present things in front of the team so that they’re growing as coaches as well.

On whether he’d like to see Andrew Marsh make a better decision at punt return

Yeah, absolutely. We wanted to return that, and we just gotta do a better job communicating with the young guy. You take the penalty, you’re gonna get a good field position, so you’d like to take that and return that, but you gotta learn from it and you gotta move on. Same thing with Semaj backing up after the 10-yard line. Absolutely, same thing.