ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the first time since 2020, Michigan football has lost three games in a season. And for the first time since 2014, the Wolverines were unable to score more than seven points this past week in a 21-7 loss to Illinois.
With the schedule being daunting from here on in, with three ranked teams coming up in the last five games, and a Michigan State rivalry game forthcoming this week, head coach Sherrone Moore is looking for answers to keep the team focused, and not let the season spiral to the point where the Wolverines don’t even make a bowl game.
“Obviously not happy with the record. Not happy with the losses,” Moore said. “I really just want our kids to be in a good place mentally and spiritually. So that’s where we are. We’re 4-3, but our job now is to get better to be 5-3 this week.”
So, why has the season gone off the rails? After the loss at Illinois, Moore praised the defense, which did hold the Illini passing attack to the lowest output they’ve had since 2021. Though Moore says there’s no finger-pointing inside the building, really, the bulk of the struggles have come on the offensive side of the ball.
And there, it’s mostly turnovers.
Last season, Michigan was No. 1 in turnover margin, having only lost eight possessions all season. However, this year, Michigan is No. 117 out of 134 teams, having turned the ball over 15 times in seven games.
As Moore notes, a team cannot win turning the ball over an average of 2.14 times per game.
“Just execution on offense,” Moore said. “Turning the ball over, big thing. There’s enough good, but not enough good. So we can’t turn the football over. That’s really the end of the discussion. If you don’t turn the football over, you’re going to win the game. It puts you in a position to be in a good place. But we did that, so we have to take care of the football at all costs.”
Moore says it’s somewhat inexplicable that Michigan is turning the ball over the way it has been given what he’s seen during the week.
The axiom is that teams generally play as they practice but in practice, Moore hasn’t seen the same issues that he’s seen on Saturdays, where interceptions and fumbles have happened continuously. So now, he’s looking for answers as to how to stem the turnovers from happening on the offensive side of the ball.
“Yeah, I feel like we’re protecting it way better in practice, and it’s just not translated to the game,” Moore said. “So we have to figure out as coaches, as a team, how to translate all that stuff to a game. There’s things that you’re doing in practice that have to replicate like they have before in the game. And for us as coaches, whether that’s simplifying, doing things less, so we can be better at those things, especially on offense. And that’s what we’ll work toward doing that.”