Sherrone Moore's 2024 Michigan: Big wins vs. Ohio State, Alabama, but losses fuel debate

USA Today

5 days ago

Sherrone Moore's 2024 Michigan: Big wins vs. Ohio State, Alabama, but losses fuel debate
When it comes to ranking Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore, some outlets find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Moore has one year of being the full-time head coach of the Wolverines, but also had four games as the acting head coach. He went 8-5 in his first full season, but also won four games in 2023 -- including at Penn State and against Ohio State. He's undefeated against the rivals, having beaten the Buckeyes twice and MSU once. He's even taken down an Alabama team that was thought by many to be a College Football Playoff-caliber squad.
Yet, those five losses loom large.
The losses in context vs. the wins
Last season, Moore ended up losing three games to teams that were somewhat expected -- Texas, Oregon, and at Indiana. Why? Because those three teams were College Football Playoff teams last year. Michigan ended up playing four in total (Ohio State being the other) in a brutal schedule compared to most teams.
But Moore also lost to two teams he probably shouldn't have -- Illinois and Washington. The Illini ended up going 10-3 last year and were a pretty good squad, while Washington went 6-7, though it was undefeated at home in Husky Stadium. Both games were on the road, and Michigan struggled with quarterback play in both games.
However, getting the two season-end wins against the eventual national champion, Ohio State, and Alabama were among the most impressive in football. Three teams beat the Crimson Tide before Michigan had (Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) but OSU only lost to Oregon and Michigan, and it got revenge against the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. Thus, that win by the then-6-5 Wolverines on the road was perhaps the best win all of last season.
Moore also took over the program late, with Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL in late January and Moore being hired on the 26th of that month. He was still in the process of assembling his staff into spring ball as Harbaugh and Moore were still jockeying over which coaches would stay in Ann Arbor or follow him to Los Angeles. The Wolverines also lost a ton of talent, with 13 NFL draft picks gone and the transfer portal mostly picked over by the time Moore took over. So there is some context to the early-season struggles.
Athlon Sports' very low rating
Still, others get a lot more credit for what they've done. Some of it is understandable -- one season does not a resume make. But even with one year under his belt, two impressive wins, three losses to teams Michigan should have lost to, and two that the Wolverines probably shouldn't have, Athlon Sports isn't impressed.
It listed Moore as the No. 15 head coach in the Big Ten (the fourth-worst), ahead of only Mike Locksley at Maryland, David Braun at Northwestern, and DeShaun Foster at UCLA.
Replacing Jim Harbaugh and reloading a roster hit hard by departures after winning the national championship was a tough assignment for Moore in his debut season in '24. However, after a 5-5 start, the Wolverines had arguably one of the best stretches to close out the year. In addition to beating Northwestern, Michigan defeated Ohio State in a road upset, and knocked off Alabama in the Reliaquest Bowl. Also, Moore scored a huge off-field victory in November when quarterback Bryce Underwood flipped his commitment to Michigan from LSU. Moore still has a lot to prove entering his second year. However, the arrow is clearly pointing up on his tenure.
Yes, other coaches have shown that they can do more than what they achieved in 2024. Jedd Fisch at Washington, Matt Rhule at Nebraska, Lincoln Riley at USC, and Jonathan Smith at Michigan State all had middling (or worse) years, but have track records beyond last season. Yet, few of the aforementioned have a signature win on par with Moore's two at the end of the season, and given the constraints he faced in his first year in Ann Arbor, it's difficult to imagine many other coaches navigating the murky waters he found himself in.
Athlon is correct, the arrow is pointing up, and by the end of 2025, it would be surprising if the outlet (and many others) haven't changed their tune on Moore and his ability to oversee a football program.