Michigan football needed change and it needed it fast. After starting the season following the national championship with a whimper, the identity of the Wolverines either was lacking or it wasn’t working.
And the coaches, instead of being prideful, switched things up from their original plan. As a result, a No. 11-ranked USC team left Ann Arbor with its first loss of the season and in its new conference.
ESPN College GameDay host and the network’s premier color commentator Kirk Herbstreit took notice of the coaching job that Sherrone Moore did against the Trojans, and he thusly named him his top performing coach in all of college football this week.
Here are my top performing coaches of WEEK 4:
Sherrone Moore @UMichFootball
Josh Heupel @Vol_Football
Bret Bielema @IlliniFootball
Kalani Sitake @BYUfootball
Adam Fuller DC @FSUFootball
Rhett Lashlee SMU @SMUFB
Morgan Scalley DC @Utah_Football pic.twitter.com/JKuNlno88V— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 24, 2024
What’s more, Herbie named Michigan football his top-performing team of the week, edging out Tennessee which walloped Oklahoma on the road in Norman.
https://twitter.com/KirkHerbstreit/status/1838368498365370466
Moore switched things up by going with Alex Orji at quarterback after starting Davis Warren the first three weeks. Considering that Week 4 was essentially a must-win for Michigan, he then adjusted accordingly — not throwing his first-time starting QB to the wolves and instead relying very heavily on the run game as well as the horizontal passing game. The defense played more to its strengths, playing more zone this week and blitzing less. And the Wolverines hung on to beat the Trojans, despite not having its best offensive player, Colston Loveland, who was out due to a shoulder injury.
The first-year Michigan head coach does have his work cut out for him this year, as a schedule that already looked difficult is looking even harder as weeks pass. Texas is the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 and USC was vastly improved compared to preseason expectations. But teams like Illinois and Indiana — both of which are undefeated through Week 4 — now look considerably more daunting, especially considering both are on the road.