Sherrone Moore describes how much Michigan was motivated by sign-stealing saga in 2023

Some people are always going to place an asterisk on the national title for Michigan after the sign-stealing scandal within the program involving Connor Stalions. It doesn’t bother the Wolverines to look back on, though, considering the extra push it gave them to win their first championship since 1997.

Sherrone Moore discussed the drive that that instance provided them in an interview with Joel Klatt on ‘Big Noon Conversations’. While Klatt initially described it as more of a chip on their shoulder, Moore jokingly corrected him by saying that it was far bigger than a chip.

“Boulder sometimes,” said Moore with a smile.

Moore admits that the headlines and criticism did impact Michigan to an extent. It may not have been as much as some thought but it definitely added another layer to their mission.

“I think a little bit,” Moore said.

“I think, when all that stuff started to come out, it was like – it just added a little fuel to the fire, just a little bit,” said Moore.

However, wanting to win the College Football Playoff drove their team more than anything according to Moore. They wanted to win the program’s first championship in over a quarter century. That’s why they focused more so on what they needed to do to achieve that goal in the end.

“I think they were motivated by that more than anything,” Moore said as he looked at the banners in their practice facility. “Winning the national championship, getting to the national championship. That’s all they talked about at the beginning of the year, after the TCU game last year.”

“We always talked about process over prize,” said Moore. “We knew what the prize was. Alright, let’s stop talking about the prize and let’s go attack the process of getting better every day. So we did that.”

This storyline began to play out in mid-October. That’s when allegations that Michigan had been sending people to games of opponents to scout beforehand first emerged. Stalions was the center of the matter and underwent a suspension before eventually resigning. It also led to a settlement that ended with a three-game suspension of Jim Harbaugh to end the season.

Still, one of that deterred the Wolverines from their ultimate goal in the end. They still capped off a perfect season at 15-0 with a Big Ten Championship and a pair of wins in the College Football Playoff.

Michigan didn’t need anything extra to propel them to what they accomplished in 2023. It just didn’t hurt that this took place and caused even more things to charge them toward it.

“We didn’t need any but kind of glad, you know, you had a little fuel. It kept that chip, kept the boulder on their shoulder,” said Moore. “They took it and ran with it.”