Sherrone Moore after Nebraska win: Michigan football 'in a great place' and 'not going anywhere'

Michigan Wolverines football head coach Sherrone Moore missed the team’s last two games and wasn’t with the program from 12:01 a.m. the day of a 63-3 win over Central Michigan until 11:59 p.m. the night of a 30-27 triumph at Nebraska.

He’s back with the Wolverines now, though, as Michigan holds its bye week and heads into an Oct. 4 home clash with the Wisconsin Badgers. Moore held his weekly press conference Monday morning and made it clear what his focus would be — the team and players.

“First of all, good to be back,” Moore said. “Missed the players, missed the coaches and staff. Vibes, energy are high. Vibes and energy were high when I left for Central [Michigan]. I felt like we had a really good week of preparation, and we played well. And I felt we did the same for the Nebraska game.

“Just wowed with the connection of this team. They’re just completely locked into the task at hand and what we need to do and how we need to get better.

“Always things to fix and correct, but how they played was really the most important piece, and we really emphasized that. It’s the ‘how.’ It wasn’t the ‘what.’ It’s the ‘how.’ There were some things we felt we needed to change and fix and do a little bit different, and really adapt to our players and adapt to the people that we have in the building now, not to what we’ve always done or anything like that. So, felt really good about that.

“Really want to talk about our team, our players — not my week, not what Coach Moore was doing for eight days. Worry about the players, this team, because the team right now is the most important thing, the players are the most important thing, what they’ve done, how they’ve handled everything, what the coaches have done. They have just continued to attack this right now, and that’s all I’m worried about. All I’m worried about right now is these players. 

“I got numerous text messages at 12:05, 12:01, and then seeing all of the guys coming in yesterday, just overwhelming love for these players and this team, so that’s what I want to talk about is the players.”

Michigan went to Lincoln and dominated on the lines of scrimmage in a 30-27 victory that could’ve been more lopsided in the Wolverines’ favor. Michigan entered Saturday 2-1 with a loss to Oklahoma, and another setback this early in the season would’ve made its College Football Playoff chances slim. The Wolverines got the job done, however, even though Moore wasn’t with the program all week.

“A lot of trust in the staff, a lot of trust in the players and who they were and their thought process and their mindset, what they were going to be about,” Moore said. “So, it was extremely refreshing to watch them be who I thought they were going to be on TV on Saturday.”

While Moore didn’t say where or with whom he watched, he said he “was taking notes” and “graded every play.”

All week, Michigan’s players called it a ‘statement game.’ The Wolverines were slight favorites and came out with a close win, now 1-0 in conference action.

“In a great place — 1-0 in conference at the end of the first quarter of the season,” Moore said. “And the statement was that we’re not going anywhere, that we’re going to keep getting better and better with the young team we have. Really excited to see where they go and how they attack it.

“And just watching the guys coming in here this morning, the 6:45 workout this morning with the young boys, there was so much juice, so much excitement. So, they’re not satisfied, and that’s huge to see.”

Michigan doesn’t have a game this weekend, so rest and recruiting will be at the forefront, but also improvement.

“Opportunity week,” Moore said. “So, an opportunity to get better.

“Reevaluate, look at every position, make sure the best players are playing on the field. Give guys opportunities to play, but they’ve got to go earn it. So, be more fundamental. Attack our fundamentals, attack our technique, attack the ‘how.’

“And keep everybody healthy and get guys back that aren’t healthy. We’re going to do a great job with the plan of how we’re attacking the week, being smart with what we do in practice, so we make sure we get some guys back and get the guys who are playing, get their legs back. That’s going to be a key piece to what we do this week, and then attacking the game plan as we go next week.”