Michigan was bound to face adversity during Saturday night’s challenge at Oklahoma, college football’s only battle of ranked teams in Week 2. The Sooners had won 20 consecutive non-conference home games coming in, and Brent Venables’ sparkling career record against freshman quarterbacks was a not-so-favorable omen for Michigan five-star freshman Bryce Underwood.
Coach Sherrone Moore’s team never found its rhythm in a 24-13 loss in Underwood’s first career road start. Michigan managed only 288 total yards and converted only three of its 14 third-down opportunities against the Sooners and coach Brent Venables, who assumed play-calling duties on defense this season.
“We had an explosive run. We had a couple runs early. The running game really was just okay,” Moore said, via The Michigan Insider. “We didn’t get the rhythm we needed to. Didn’t get the quarterback in the rhythm we needed to. That’s everybody. That’s not just one person. That’s not just the calls. It’s the execution. We just got to be better.”
Fifteen games into Moore’s tenure at Michigan, he is 9-6 overall, including a 3-5 marked against ranked competition.
A quarter of Michigan’s total offensive production came on Justice Haynes’ 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He managed 50 yards on his other 18 carries of the contest as Oklahoma did a commendable job wrapping up and keeping Michigan’s rushing attack in check outside of the lone breakdown.
“We’ll watch on the film and really gauge and see what we need to get better at,” Moore said. “I thought on defense, the adjustments in the second half were really good. We got to tackle better on defense. I thought there were some missed tackles that we made. And then offensively, just the overall execution. When you play offensive football, one person misses, one person misses here, you have an unexecuted play, so we got to do better at that.”
There were miscommunications in the red zone resulting in a sideline spat and a few other opportunities that went awry, but Michigan did play turnover-free football on offense despite pressure on Underwood given the circumstances. However, the lack of explosion in the passing game and struggles on third down in a hostile environment kept the Wolverines’ offense in mud throughout, notably in the fourth quarter in a one-score game.
Following Oklahoma’s missed field goal with 12:32 remaining, Michigan took possession twice trailing 21-13 to try and tie the game, but managed 32 yards on 11 plays.
“As far as handling the crowd noise and atmosphere and all that, he handled it fine. It was just the execution,” Moore said. “And that’s everybody. It’s not just him. And I think everybody put the pressure him. But we all got to do our jobs. And that’s O-line, that’s receivers, that’s running backs, whoever it is in those situations to make it easier for him.”
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