Mora really, really appreciates the Michigan defense!
First-year head coach Jim Mora inherited a Connecticut football team that went 1-11 in 2021, but Mora is a well-known coach with an NFL pedigree and coaching big-time college football programs like UCLA.
Mora has already matched last year’s win total by defeating Central Connecticut in Week 1, but the Huskies lost to Utah State and most recently, Syracuse.
UConn will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan in Week 3 and Mora. The Huskies will be playing in front of the largest crowd that they have played under in a long time. Mora said that he has been prepping his team about playing in the Big House. He said that his team needs to control what it can control and to try and block out any outside noise going into the game.
“I shouldn’t shake my head no because that’d be a lie,” said Mora. “Yeah, I’ve talked to them about it, but I’m not going to talk about it this week. We talked about it — and we talk about everything — in camp. We talk about all these things. Our objective is to go into any place we go and shut out the noise and concentrate on things that we can control and that’s what’s happening in front of us on the field — not what’s happening around us in the stands, not the noise, not our opponent. It’s just what we can control and what we can control is our ability to focus during the game, on what’s happening on that green grass with the white lines on it. And so I think it’s a distraction if you talk about other things, and so that’s our mindset. “
For the third straight week, the Wolverines are going into their game as a heavy favorite. Mora thinks his team is ready for the challenge that Michigan will present them. He called the Wolverines a ‘well-coached team that has zero holes’. The former Bruins’ head coach noted that Michigan went to the College Football Playoff last season, but he believes that the maize and blue look even better than they did last season.
“Great opportunity for us to play against one of the premier teams in college football,” said Mora. “A team that played in the College Football Playoff last year and, to me, looks better than ever. Obviously, they’re extremely well-coached. They’re big, they’re physical, they’re fast, they’re skilled. They have their sights set on a national championship — as they should be. They’re certainly worthy of that goal and expectation when you look at their film.”
“This is a team with zero holes. As you look at them, they do not have a weakness. This is gonna be a great challenge for our young men. We’re gonna go up there and we’re gonna fight and compete like crazy and do all we can to try to win the game against a very good team. We’re not going there for any other reason but to give it our best effort to win the game, and I think it should be a fantastic, fantastic opportunity and challenge for our guys. And I think they relish this opportunity.”
Last week, UConn lost to Syracuse, 48-14. The Huskies could only muster 202 yards of total offense in Week 2. But now Mora and UConn will be facing the 11th-ranked scoring defense (8.5 points-per-game) and the 13th-ranked defense (236 yards-per-game) in Michigan.
Mora compared both teams. He said Syracuse did a lot to try and penetrate the Huskies, but Michigan is built differently. Mora said that the Wolverines are big, fast, and physical. He said that Michigan will try and pound the opposing team into oblivion. He really appreciates the way Michigan plays defense, and he enjoys watching them play defense — unless his team is the one playing.
“Structurally they’re different,” said Mora. “Syracuse did a lot more in terms of trying to penetrate. Michigan is — said to start this thing — they’re big, they’re fast, they’re physical, they run to the ball and hit you. They have great confidence in what they do. They sit on routes because they know they can, because they’ve got the speed to go deep with people. They’re very violent with their hands when they disengage. When you watch their film, you’re not going to see guys loafing. You’re not going to see guys on the ground. And they just try to pound you into oblivion. They get off the field on third down. They stop the run. They get off the field on third down and they’re fun to watch on defense — unless you’re getting ready to play them. I appreciate great defense and so I appreciate the way they play.”
UConn and Michigan will play Saturday at noon EDT on ABC.
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