'We're about to go score': Sherrone Moore describes Michigan's epic game-tying drive in Rose Bowl, what made 2023 team a 'juggernaut'

Michigan Wolverines football head coach Sherrone Moore joined FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt for a lengthy interview on ‘Big Noon Conversations.’ Moore, who was previously Michigan’s offensive coordinator, provided great insight on the team’s national championship run under head man Jim Harbaugh, including on the game-tying drive in the Rose Bowl against Alabama, a 27-20 overtime victory.

Michigan was down 20-13 with 4:41 remaining in regulation. The offense had totaled just 41 yards and 2 first downs in the second half to that point, but there was a confidence on the Michigan sideline that the Wolverines would pull through.

“Three instances will be held forever in my mind,” Moore began. “Before that drive … I’m never really nervous to call a drive, I’m never really anxious. That drive, I was looking around. I was looked at the clock, I looked at the time. I was like, ‘This is like the most important drive in Michigan football history.’ That’s how I thought of it.

“I looked up to the sky and asked my grandpa, ‘Hey, pops, I need some help here. Help me out. Love ya.’ And I’ll never forget, I was walking, and all the linemen were strapping their helmets on. And [quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] comes up to me, he said, ‘Hey, pops, we got ya.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re about to go score on this drive.’

“And we had been moving the ball a little bit, but not as much, and that drive we went down and scored. And the 4th and 2 call … so we ran it, had a play-action on 3rd and 2 with [quarterback Alex] Orji in the game [in addition to McCarthy], it didn’t work out. They had it covered. And it was 4th and 2, and I knew Coach was going to say to go for it.”

Michigan rolled the dice on 4th down, sparking the drive.

“And 4th and 2 [from our own 33-yard line], I already knew what call we were going to do — I knew the pick route,” Moore continued. “I knew what we were going to do. I knew how it was set up, because we had used the same motion all game and had ran duo. And then they were calling out ‘run.’ And then [running back] Blake [Corum] pops open, and we go down the field. [Wide receiver] Roman [Wilson] gets the block in the back. Guys were like, ‘Oh, no, it’s coming back!’ I’m like, ‘No, I think we still got the first down!’

“We got the first down, called the run option with J.J. We hadn’t ran that all game. It was set up. I was like, ‘OK, this is the time.’ And then we came back to a play action that we had actually called earlier in the game, but the route spacing wasn’t right. We fixed it on the sideline, and then Roman popped open and made an incredible catch, made the guy miss as he landed. And then the play I called second I was actually going to call first, but I got a little closer and then all of the sudden called the play action to Roman, who slipped out, and it was a touchdown.

“That drive will hold true forever in my mind of how it went down and the time and what happened and the result.”

Michigan’s defense got a stop at the end of regulation to force overtime. The Wolverines scored first and held Alabama at the goal line to win and advance to the national championship game in Houston. There, the Maize and Blue beat Washington, 34-13.

Sherrone Moore on ‘juggernaut’ Michigan team

Klatt, who’s called 16 Michigan games over the last three seasons, has said the 2023 Wolverines were the “most unique team” he’s ever been around.

“I can’t [describe it], either,” Moore said. “I think there was just a love, a connection, a bond that was unbreakable, that you couldn’t break. You could do whatever you wanted, you could talk about them however you wanted, but the love, the connection that everybody had in this building was deeper than anything.

“It just felt like they could not be stopped. It was a juggernaut, just ready to go every game. Any adversity thrown their way, they were ready to break it. It was something I had never been a part of.”

Klatt noted that the “unselfishness” of the Michigan squad stood out every time he and the FOX broadcast team sat down with players in pregame meetings.

“The team, the team, the team — that’s what we’ve been built off of, and it’ll continue to be that way,” Moore said. “It was something that when you work so hard, when you’re so close to something two years in a row and you understand what it takes to get there, you’ll do anything to get to that goal. They set out that’s what they were gonna do.

“Guys came back, but it wasn’t just guys coming back to do that, it was a mindset of, ‘This is how we’re gonna work to do that.’ I think in college football there are times you come back to do something, but are you actually gonna go do it? And the work that they put in, in the darkness when nobody was there, to go attack that moment was something that I had never seen. And that’s what really led it to those moments.”