Offense notes: Sherrone Moore challenges team in win over Michigan State

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wovlerines did just enough offensively to hold off the rival Michigan State Spartans by a score of 24-17 on Saturday night at the Big House. The start was about as flat as it could get, but the response was one that was needed from all parties.

After getting completely dominated in the first quarter of the game, including possessing the ball for only 1:29, someone had to light a fire. Head coach Sherrone Moore got on his guys, and it led to the team’s cleanest performance of the season that side of the ball.

No turnovers, no penalties. It was just what the doctor ordered.

“Well, I can’t really say exactly what I said,” Moore revealed in his postgame press conference. “It was really just the message that we’re not operating to the standard that we needed to. Especially through the offensive line, the precedent we set wearing that helmet, wearing that uniform, there’s a standard, and I didn’t feel like we were upholding that standard. So, just challenge them. Challenge them to do that. At the highest level, you’re in the biggest game of the year right now, so it was our job to uphold the standard, and it starts up front. So, that was the message to them, and they responded.”

Michigan made another quarterback change ahead of the showdown with the Spartans, turning back to senior Davis Warren with junior Alex Orji mixed in as a run threat. It was the dynamic that they had run out there in the first three games of the season, but turnovers and inconsistency sunk that plan.

Whatever happened this week in practice led to a change, and Moore was happy with how it went. Warren was 13-for-19 for 123 yards and a touchdown, while Orji mixed in with 6 rushes for 64 yards, including a pair of game-sealing first downs on the final drive.

The Orji packages in general were shouted out in the postgame.

“Guys blocked better,” Moore said. “Guys executed at a higher level. They strained. And you can hear it. When a good run happens, people don’t necessarily hear it. We hear it. So, you heard the pads popping. You saw people get moved and displaced. And that’s what you want. It really comes down to moving somebody against their will. And there’s no better feeling than that.”

Michigan emptied out its bag of tricks in the game, too. Whether it a flea flicker, halfback pass, designed QB runs, and even a Semaj Morgan wildcat carry. It was a much-needed injection of life into a team that needed something to feel good about coming off two-straight losses.

“I always love trick plays,” Moore said. “I love different things. I love variation. Because one, these guys are kids. So, when you introduce a trick play, they all smile. They all get happy. Especially [Donovan Edwards]. He’s got a grin on his face. But it was just to change it up. Give them some variation. And also make people work for something. Work at something. And that’s what we want to be able to do. Because we’ve got a lot of them in the bag to let out.”

Edwards, on his touchdown pass, added: “That’s a play that we had in the microwave for quite some time now. Our coaches had the trust and the confidence to call that play. In reality, too, the safeties triggered very hard — and they’re tremendous athletes, tremendous players, same thing with their whole entire defense. It was something we were comfortable calling in that situation, and I’m glad that we got that off the call sheet.”

The clean performance was needed in the worst way, and Edwards took it upon himself be better as a captain.

“For us as an offense, it’s plain and obvious,” he said. “We’ve had 15 turnovers leading up to this week, and that’s very unacceptable. Two of them came from me, and I’ve harped on myself, I beat myself up on it. But ultimately just as a team, it was something as a whole offense we talked about ball security and not putting the ball in danger. The program is the ball, and throughout the whole week, all we did was basically just a lot of ball security drills and not putting the ball in danger. 

It’s been a proven record for us that, if we don’t turn the ball over, we win the game. I just thought that coaches set us up for phenomenal success today, especially just the mistakes that we made as players. They take a lot of fall on them, but it’s really on us. We can’t do it as players. I thought that they put us in a great situation for us to not have any turnovers. Just playing penalty free, too, that’s a major key to success for us, because we don’t want to give up yards that we don’t have to give.”

Miscellaneous Michigan offensive notes vs. Spartans

• Warren had 10 straight completions to end the first half in one of his most efficient performances of the season.
• Loveland moved into third place all-time in Michigan touchdowns among tight ends with his 9th and 10th career scores in the game, and has 6 of them this season. It is his second career game of two touchdowns, both against Michigan State.
• Loveland’s six catches moved him to third all-time in career receptions for Michgian tight ends, and the 62-yards receiving moved him past Lowell Perry and Jerame Tuman.
• Orji finished the game with a career-high 64 rushing yards and his fourth rushing touchdown. The score was his first of the season.