Sherrone Moore discusses Alex Orji's role, trouble stopping the run against MSU, more

In a 24-17 win over Michigan State, Michigan Wolverines football went with its quarterback setup from non-conference play — senior Davis Warren as the starter and junior Alex Orji as the run-heavy changeup. The Wolverines had no turnovers, no sacks and zero penalties, helping them win the game despite putting up only 265 total yards.

Michigan struggled to run the ball, with its running backs combining for 42 yards on 22 carries, but it did have some success on the ground with Orji in the game. The 6-3, 235-pounder ran 6 times for 64 yards, including a key 29-yard dash on the first possession of the third quarter, and a 2-yard touchdown. He also picked up 2 first downs at the end of the game, allowing Michigan to kneel out the clock.

“Alex coming in there with some big, big runs, and then at the end cementing the game,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “That’s the unselfishness of this team. He might score on that last play, and he just gets down. So it’s pretty cool to see.”

Orji had more green turf in front of him on his final third-down run to move the chains, but he knew if he got down and secured the ball, Michigan would win.

“We’re a very situationally aware team, and we do a lot of things to teach our guys about situations,” Moore noted. “He knew it was a first down, get down situation. Once he got the first down, he got down and knew the game was over.”

Orji started three games and was asked to throw some, but he’s mostly been used as a runner. Michigan has called 118 runs compared to 57 passes when he’s in the game, including 30 quarterback rushes. He was all run against the Spartans, but Moore insists the Wolverines may call pass plays with No. 10 behind center.

“I think it helped us. It gave balance,” Moore said of Orji’s usage. “You equate your balance when you get the quarterback in there as a runner, especially a big, physical runner that can do things. It makes defenses play two different styles of defense, which they don’t want to do. 

“Alex has shown that he can throw enough, that he can throw the ball down the field if need be, so they can’t say it’s always a run. They can say it’s more likely a run, but then they would be guessing.”

Sherrone Moore assesses Michigan defense

Michigan State made it to the goal line on each of its first two possessions, coming away with a missed field goal and a touchdown to total 7 points. The Wolverines settled in after that, though, and Moore was proud of the adjustments and increased level of execution.

“Just our adjustments,” Moore said of the difference. “We played better gap defense. Obviously, the iPads [that players and coaches can utilize to watch film, etc.] are huge. But we just played better, sound gap defense. It wasn’t really the changing of a whole bunch of calls, but we were just more sound and tackled better in certain situations.”

Throughout the game, though, MSU had success running the football, totaling 163 yards on the ground. Seventy five of those came on 8 third-down rushes that resulted in 5 first downs. Those came against Michigan’s amoeba defensive looks, with the Spartans checking into run plays.

“It’s something we gotta get fixed, whether it’s gap integrity … They were just checking to the run on some of those exotic looks, so it’s something we gotta get fixed and we’ll definitely get corrected,” Moore noted.

“You gotta be gap sound. That’s the biggest thing — you gotta be gap sound, you gotta be able to understand what they’re thinking, as well, and adjust. We gotta be better in those situations, and make the changes necessary so that we are better in those situations.”

Of the run defense struggles in general, Moore added: “We just gotta stay gap sound. Sometimes, guys move or they’re running stretch plays — they’re not running direct runs. They’re trying to stretch and penetrate, do some things to get around the bigger guys and not run it right at them. Our guys have to be gap sound fundamentally and fit it better to make sure that those things don’t happen.”

On the back end, Michigan was without junior cornerback Will Johnson, who will return at some point this season per Moore. Sophomore Jyaire Hill has stacked two good games in a row after a rough one at Washington Oct. 5, while graduate Aamir Hall made his second start of the year against MSU.

“I challenged him after the Washington game to really step his play up, and I think he really has,” Moore said of Hill. “He’s played really good football. I was really happy — they tried to attack him with [freshman wide receiver Nick] Marsh, No. 6, a couple times on some quick hitches and try to make the guy miss, and he wrapped up and brought him down. That was really cool to see.

“I thought Aamir did a really good job throughout the game. Missed the one tackle at the end for the touchdown, but overall did a solid job for us.”