Defense/ST Notes: Sherrone Moore addresses lack of pressure, controversial touchdown call

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines built a four-game winning streak over Ohio State by owning the line of scrimmage and disrupting upfront on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Buckeyes flipped the script on U-M in this game.

Michigan did not record a sack in Saturday’s 27-9 loss to the Buckeyes, which dropped their record to 9-3 on the season and knocked them out of the College Football Playoff race. OSU’s yearly high-octane passing attack hardly had a wrench thrown into it with quarterback Julian Sayin having enough time to do his taxes and book a massage with the time he had in the pocket.

“We didn’t get enough rush,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said after the game. “There’s things we could have done, and we didn’t do really well enough twist game-wise and things, and they just picked up the pressures, and they did a good job.”

“Our game plan was more coverage-based, and when we did run pressures, we didn’t get home,” senior linebacker Jimmy Rolder said after the loss. “Just overall, we just couldn’t get to the quarterback.”

Ohio State outpossessed the Wolverines 40:01 to 19:59 on Saturday, headlined by a 20-play, 81-yard drive that took 11:56 of game clock in the second half, essentially burying Michigan. OSU also won the rushing battle by racking up 186 yards on 47 carries (4 ypc).

“I thought we would have been better at stopping the run there,” Moore said. “And they did late in the game, they did a really good job of leaning on us. We didn’t do a good enough job of stopping the run. So credit to them, again, I’m not gonna take anything away from them and how they played. They played well.”

Moore touches on headbutting penalty, Jeremiah Smith touchdown

Two major moments on the defensive side of the ball headlined Saturday’s game. The first was a Jaishawn Barham unsportsmanlike conduct penalty where he headbutted a referee, but was not ejected. It gave Ohio State new life down on the goalline on its second possession of the game, and U-M eventually got off the field.

The second was a Jeremiah Smith touchdown on 4th and 5 in the second quarter, where he appeared to bobble the ball before crossing the goalline with possession, then stepping out of bounds. By rule, it should have been a touchback. However, it gave the Buckeyes a 10-6 lead that it would never surrender.

“Jaishawn, an official grabbed him, and he reacted,” Moore said. “He shouldn’t have reacted, but the official grabbed him with two hands. But that was the penalty there.

“But then the Jeremiah Smith fumble or catch, they thought it was a fumble. They said that he had control of it. Didn’t look like he had control of it, but at the end of the day, it’s not my decision on what the official says. So they told me that it was inconclusive, and that he made the catch, and the call was gonna be upheld.”

Big Ten referee Kole Knueppel was asked about the play during the pool report, confirming the explanation Moore was given.

“We did not have a camera angle to determine when the ball was loose as opposed to when it crossed the goal line. So by rule, if we don’t have an angle to confirm by obvious video evidence that the ball was loose before he crossed the goal line, then the play is going to be upheld.”

Some might argue it was a pivot point moment in the game, but Moore said both that and the fact that U-M did not play well enough are true.

“It’s a big piece,” Moore said. “We start out the game with a pick, throwing at Jeremiah Smith, and we start out the game with a pick. And at that point, I think it’s six to three. And if that’s a touchback, that gives us a little momentum. So it was a big piece, but we gotta do the other things. We gotta do the other things in the other spots to go in.

Miscellaneous Michigan defense/special teams notes

• Junior cornerback Jyaire Hill had an interception on the second Ohio State play from scrimmage, which was his first of the season and second of his career.

• U-M’s defense forced at least one turnover in 11 of 12 games this season.

• Rolder had a career-high 12 tackles in Saturday’s game. Others who set career highs included junior defensive back TJ Metcalf (10), senior cornerback Zeke Berry (8) and senior safety Jaden Mangham (7).

• Senior Dominic Zvada was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals on Saturday, including two makes of 40-plus yards (45, 49), which ties him with Jake Moody for the most in that category in program history with 17.