This may only be the beginning of Sherrone Moore's dominance of Ohio State

The question was intended to bait Sherrone Moore into a commentary on how Ohio State handled a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan. The Buckeyes and Wolverines had skirmished after the clock hit zero. Some Ohio State players took offense that Michigan players tried to plant a literal flag on the field after planting a figurative one in the skull of every Buckeye with a 13-10 win as near-three touchdown underdogs.

“What do you think of the concept of losing gracefully?” a reporter asked the first-year Michigan coach.

Instead of taking the bait, Moore took advantage of the opportunity to remind everyone that Ryan Day isn’t the only coach with a streak in the rivalry.

“We didn’t lose,” Moore deadpanned. “We won. So I’m not going to worry about losing.”

Day has to worry about losing to Michigan. Moore, however, doesn’t know how it feels to lose to Ohio State as the head coach. He beat the Buckeyes last year as Michigan’s acting coach while Jim Harbaugh served a suspension handed down by the Big Ten in the Connor Stalions case. This year, it was Moore’s program that rolled into Columbus and shut down the best offense money could buy.

Saturday’s win salvaged an ugly season by Michigan standards, but it also put the rest of the sport on notice about what Moore’s Wolverines can be when they become fully operational. Moore spent his first offseason hamstrung by the timing of his predecessor’s exit. Michigan returned a wealth of talent on defense but couldn’t use the transfer portal to fill the gaping holes on offense. Instead, the Wolverines stitched together a scheme using three different starting quarterbacks throughout the season. It was ugly at times. 

But on Saturday, as Davis Warren, Kaleel Mullings and an offensive line that has blocked hard with mixed results ground down the clock on one of the best defenses money could buy to set up Dominic Zvada’s game-winning chip shot, the offense was good enough.

It’s going to get a lot better, starting Wednesday when top quarterback recruit Bryce Underwood signs with the Wolverines and continuing the following week when Michigan becomes a buyer in the transfer portal in much the same way Ohio State was last year. The quiet majority of Michigan fans who weren’t holier-than-thou about player compensation used to look at Michigan’s long list of wealthy alums and joke that the Wolverines would be unstoppable once they started firing the Money Cannon at players. That cannon is locked and loaded.

It starts firing next week, and if Moore can keep his team culture consistent even with a different roster-building philosophy, the 2024 edition of the Wolverines is going to be the worst one Ohio State sees for the foreseeable future. That should scare the hell out of Day and the Buckeyes. If they couldn’t beat this Michigan team, they should be terrified of what comes after this one.

Harbaugh didn’t leave the cupboard completely bare for Moore. Defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant are diamond-in-the-rough recruits that Michigan coaches developed into first-round talents. They played like first-rounders Saturday. Edge Josaiah Stewart, who came from Coastal Carolina before last season, was one of the program’s great portal finds. (Thank former Wolverine Mike Sainristil, a high school teammate of Stewart’s, for closing that one.)  Edge Derrick Moore was a top-100 recruit who has reached his lofty potential as a Wolverine.

Those players will move on to the NFL, but given Michigan’s new player acquisition philosophy, the Wolverines should not need two more years to cycle up to a veteran-heavy, loaded roster. It should be able to reload such a roster.

The Ohio State team Michigan just beat is the cautionary tale on that front. It must be noted that the Buckeyes likely will still make the College Football Playoff and could still win the national title, but they won’t last a game in the tournament playing the way they did Saturday. This Ohio State team felt similar to last year’s Michigan team in that a large group of veterans — who would have been well compensated NFL players had they chosen — came back to play one more season together. The difference is that group of Michigan players closed with a a third consecutive win against Ohio State and a national title. This group of Ohio State players suffered a fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines.

The job Moore did preparing this team to beat a group that is probably physically superior at most positions is the most impressive thing he’s done as Michigan’s head coach.

So far.

Saturday’s performance suggests it will only get better under Moore. Remember, Michigan was restricted by the NFL coaching carousel’s timeline this past offseason. Harbaugh was leaving if he got an NFL job and staying if he didn’t. The Chargers offered him the job in late January. By then, the best of the portal was gone. Moore never had a chance to make the 2024 roster his own.

The 2025 roster will be all his. The money cannon will be loaded. The streak against the Buckeyes will stand at four.

And the future will feel limitless.