Offense Notes: Sherrone Moore addresses 4th down trick play, run game issues

ANN ARBOR – There was not much of a path for the Michigan Wolverines to hang in a shootout with the top-ranked Oregon Ducks, but there were opportunities to be had in Saturday’s 38-17 defeat at the Big House.

Down 31-17 in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines put together an 11-play, 70-yard drive that could have gotten the deficit down to a one-score game. Instead, the offense sputtered on the goalline, and the wind came out of the sails on a 4th and 5 pass from wide receiver Semaj Morgan to quarterback Alex Orji.

And yes, you read that correctly.

“I mean, they did a good job defending it,” head coach Sherrone Moore said after the game. “I think they had a zone pressure and the end dropped into the quarterback. Plays get called, and I’m not going to regret or call out the playcaller or anything like that. So we just got to go execute. So it was [4th and 5], and that was the play that was called.”

More concerning is that in the middle part of the season, Michigan has not been able to run the ball effectively or consistently. One of the only way to level out the “feast or famine” aspect of the offense is to find some consistency and something to hang their hats on. in Saturday’s game, Michigan mustered only 105 yards on the ground on 28 carries.

“The biggest thing in the running game, there’s not really an assessed amount of yards,” Moore said. “You want to get enough yards to win, regardless of run, pass, whatever we got to do to win that game, that’s what we want to do. So there are a couple of things on some run-through backers that we got to fix upfront. Initially, we’re moving off the ball pretty well, but it really was the run-through stuff that really got us. And that’s something we got to fix, but there’s not a magical number of yards that we need. We need to have enough yards so we can go score enough points and win.”

Michigan’s offense got another clean night from its quarterback, though, in addition to pass protection. They were right to say that they felt last week’s performance was sustainable, and we saw a game without any sacks allowed and no turnovers at quarterback.

Despite that, production was left on the field. The Wolverines finished 4-of-12 on third down and only had 165 yards through the air.

“Falls on me as the quarterback,” starting quarterback Davis Warren said. “I gotta be better on third downs. Gotta be able to convert. Third down is the money down, and we talked about it all week and didn’t take advantage of the opportunities when we had them, and that falls on me to be better. … That falls on me as the quarterback to be better on that down, and it’s definitely something we’ll be looking to work on.”

Despite that, Warren took blame and says that the lack of points on the board falls on him.

“The number one thing that was asked of us was to win the football game,” he said. “That’s just what it comes down to. On offense, we’ve got to start faster and keep our defense off the field — let them do their thing. Just being better on third down. Being better early in the game. Starting faster — gotta start faster and bring that energy from the jump.”

Warren’s turnaround is encouraging, but did not add up to a win in Saturday’s game. With tougher games ahead, they are not going to feel sorry for themselves.

“Obviously it’s disappointing,” Warren said. “But it’s not our job right now to have that perspective of, like, feeling bad for ourselves or feeling like this or that. It’s just our job to know that we’ve got another game next week that we’ve got to win. And focus on the next day in front of us, the next play or the next practice or the next game.”

Miscellaneous Michigan offensive notes

• Peyton O’Leary’s touchdown catch was his first of the season and the second of his career.
• A pair of wide receivers made a big play on special teams with Joe Taylor forcing a fumble and C.J. Charleston recovering one on a first-quarter punt return, leading to U-M’s first points of the day.
• Donovan Edwards added two receiving yards on Saturday, moving him past B.J. Askew (777) for second place for career receiving yards from a running back at 779. He is 31 yards from breaking Anthony Thomas’ record (810).
• Loveland has led Michigan in receptions in every game he has played this season, totaling 49 receptions. With 7 catches for 112 yards today, he now sits third in Michigan history for receptions and yards, trailing Jake Butt (138 receptions, 1,646 yards) and Jim Mandich (119 receptions, 1,508 yards).
• Loveland’s game was also his first career 100-plus yard performance.