UConn coach Jim Mora: Michigan 'looks better than ever,' has no weaknesses

The combined record of the two teams Michigan Wolverines football has faced so far (Colorado State and Hawai’i) is 0-5. The Maize and Blue will face a 1-2 team in UConn Saturday afternoon at The Big House. The Huskies, who have totaled 5 wins since the 2018 season, have losses to Utah State (31-20) and Syracuse (48-14) with a win over Central Connecticut (28-3).

Michigan is 2-0 and ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll. Once conference play begins after this weekend, the Wolverines will look to defend their 2021 Big Ten title, continue a push for a second-straight College Football Playoff berth and attempt to capture their first national championship since 1997.

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In his Tuesday afternoon press conference, UConn first-year head coach Jim Mora raved about what he’s seen from Michigan on film.

“This is a great opportunity for us to play against one of the premier teams in college football, a team that played in the College Football Playoff last year, and to me, looks better than ever,” Mora, who most previously served as UCLA‘s head man from 2012-17, said.

“Obviously, they’re extremely well-coached, they’re big, they’re physical, they’re fast, they’re skilled. They have their sights set on a national championship, as they should. They’re certainly worthy of that goal and expectation, when you look at their film.

“This is a team with zero holes. As you look at it, they do not have a weakness. This is going to be a great challenge for our young men, and we’re going to go up there and fight and compete like crazy, and do all we can to win the game against a very good team.

“We’re not going there for any other reason than to give it our best effort to win the game, and I think it should be a fantastic, fantastic opportunity and challenge for our guys. I think they relish this opportunity.”

The bulk of Mora’s coaching career has been in the NFL. Mora was the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach from 2004-06, and he was at the helm of the Seattle Seahawks in 2009. He and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who played 15 NFL seasons and was the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14, have crossed paths.

“I’ve known him from a distance,” Mora explained. “I don’t believe that we’ve ever competed against each other. I have great respect for him. I think he’s one of the premier coaches in all of football, at every level. I think he’s proved that with the records he’s been able to put up in the NFL and at Michigan.

“I have great respect for the way he kind of weathered that storm a couple years ago and hung in there and built this thing the way he wanted to build it. I’m sure that wasn’t easy on him, to be criticized the way that he was, given the skins that he’s put on the wall.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him. I think he’s a guy with incredible integrity. I’ve met him and we’ve talked, but we don’t have a personal relationship.”

‘They want to pound you into oblivion’

The Michigan defense has allowed just 17 points through two games. The combined 472 yards the unit has given up are the fewest the Wolverines have yielded in the opening two tilts of a season since 2017.

Syracuse held the UConn offense to 105 yards passing and 97 yards rushing. The Huskies gained just 10 first downs and averaged 4.4 yards per play.

“Structurally, they’re different,” Mora said, comparing Syracuse’s defense with Michigan’s. “Syracuse did a lot more in terms of trying to penetrate. Michigan is big, they’re fast, they’re physical, they run to the ball and hit you. They have great confidence in what they do, they sit on routes because they know they can because they have the speed to go deep with people. They’re very violent with their hands when they disengage.

“When you watch their film, you’re not going to see guys loafing, you’re not going to see guys on the ground — and they just try to pound you into oblivion. They get off the field on third down, they stop the run.

“They’re fun to watch on defense, now, unless you’re getting ready to play them. I appreciate great defense, so I appreciate the way they play.”

Jim Mora won’t mention The Big House atmosphere to his team

While Mora understands all that comes with playing Michigan at The Big House, he won’t address what the environment will bring with his team this week. He wants his Huskies to focus on what they can control.

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it, but I’m not going to talk about it this week,” Mora explained. “We talked about it in camp — we talk about all of these things. Our objective is to go into any place we go, and shut out the noise and concentrate on the things that we can control — and that’s what’s happening in front of us on the field, not what’s happening around us in the stands, not the noise, not our opponent. It’s just what we can control, and what we can control is our ability to focus during the game on what’s happening on that green grass with the white lines on it.

“I think it’s a distraction if you talk about other things. So, that’s our mindset. Now, I’ll tell you what we do. We always go to the stadium the day before the game. We do that so that they can walk into the stadium and see it and feel it and understand where the locker room is and how they get to the field and where the play clocks are and where the scoreboard is and what the turf is like. That helps them adjust, rather than just running on the field on a Saturday.”