Michigan Wolverines loss to Oklahoma Sooners a sign of repeat problems under new coaching staff that they have to solve if they want to play in College Football Playoffs
The Michigan Wolverines have a major problem with their coaching staff that has marred the team’s success in recent years.
The Michigan Wolverines‘ 24-13 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday left a bitter taste in the mouth of head coach Sherrone Moore and fans across the country. For Moore, this was a chance to emerge triumphant playing in his first game back at his alma mater. Instead, the Wolverines got ran off the field and outmuscled across the board.
Michigan barely got anything on the ground and their defensive line, the pride of the team, was largely negated all game by a fierce Oklahoma offensive line. The issues of last year reared their head early on in 2025, souring the expectations for the rest of the season.
While Sherrone Moore will say that they just have to execute better, there were more than just execution problems for the Wolverines on both sides of the ball. Quite simply, Michigan did not look like they belonged on the field with the Sooners. That repeats a dangerous trend that has followed Sherrone Moore’s brief tenure as head coach of the Wolverines.
Michigan’s Coaching Staff Has Too Much To Fix Overnight
It’s hard to beat teams when you execute as poorly as the Wolverines did. Even with multiple turnovers and bad penalties committed by the Sooners, Michigan squandered opportunity after opportunity to try and put pressure on Oklahoma.
The biggest issue, however, was a complete lack of physicality. Michigan got flat out bulled offensively by Oklahoma’s defensive front, while they could not keep up with the Sooners in the open field on defense. They did not have the team speed to threaten Oklahoma’s secondary, and they couldn’t stay disciplined enough to corral John Mateer and Oklahoma’s diverse quarterback run game.
These issues have been the same problems plaguing Michigan’s coaching staff since last season. Outside of their (what feels like a fluke) victory over Ohio State, the Wolverines haven’t looked like the better squad in most of their games with this staff. They have talent, there’s no doubt about that, but the elite talents on the team are squandered by poor discipline and physicality across the board.
Michigan committed numerous offsides penalties against Oklahoma to go along with several missed tackles and assignments. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has had these same issues for a full year. Before the game, I made a tweet discussing the ways I would attack Michigan’s defense because it was the same issues that never got corrected from last season. Sure enough, the Sooners followed them to a T and ran roughshod over Michigan’s defense.
Sherrone Moore’s inexperience as a head coach creeped up in this one as well. He frustratingly burned two timeouts virtually back-to-back in the fourth quarter, leaving Michigan virtually without any for their final drive of the game. This has been a weakness of his going back to last season, and so far, it doesn’t look like he’s begun to correct his mistakes.
We haven’t even talked about any playcalling issues or anything like that. These are just simple, fundamental mistakes that have plagued this coaching staff in two straight seasons now, and there isn’t a lot of time left for Moore to fix these if this year ends up like last season. Their loss to the Sooners was a beatdown that makes the rest of their schedule that much more intimidating.
The clock is ticking on this Wolverines’ coaching staff, and they need something to change, and soon.
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