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Before Saturday, the Michigan football team had not suffered a home loss since November 28, 2020. Before Saturday, the Wolverines had also not lost in the regular season in nearly two years. However, all of that, and possibly more, changed with a resounding 31-12 home defeat against Texas, marking the first loss of new UM head coach Sherrone Moore's career.
Moore, who served as Jim Harbaugh's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach the last three seasons, as well as an interim and then acting head coach, ascended to the full head coaching job during the offseason when Harbaugh left to become the Los Angeles Chargers' new head coach. The first game of Moore's tenure, a 30-10 win over Fresno State, wasn't particularly smooth, but the second game went much, much worse.
Sherrone Moore comments after Michigan loses 31-12 to Texas
Instead of playing Fresno State, a consistently strong Mountain West team that has an interim coach after Jeff Tedford resigned to health issues, Michigan had the daunting task of playing Texas. Like the Wolverines, the Longhorns made it to the College Football Playoff last season, with Texas falling in the semifinal to Washington, which lost to Michigan in the national title game.
There is a big difference between the Texas and Michigan teams from a season ago, though, and that was proven Saturday. Despite being at home in front of more than 110,000 fans, Michigan was dominated by Texas throughout the afternoon. The Longhorns took a 24-3 lead into the half and cruised to a 31-12 win on the back of three takeaways and a 246-yard, 3-touchdown performance by quarterback Quinn Ewers.
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After the loss, Moore, when asked if he needed to make changes to his personnel, which features several new faces after Harbaugh's departure, seemed to indicate that could be a possibility upon further review.
“I don't want to make a knee-jerk reaction and just say something,” Moore said [h/t ESPN]. “I'll watch it, evaluate it, see what we need to do to put the right people in the right places to make it successful.”
In other years, a loss like this could have ultimately knocked Michigan out of the College Football Playoff. Fortunately, this year's format will be the first in which 12 teams will qualify for the CFP, which, in theory, should allow Michigan, if it wins out or even loses one more game, to be in the top 12 at the end of the season.
The Wolverines will have a chance to bounce back next week vs. Arkansas State before beginning Big Ten play vs. USC. Michigan will host the Trojans, rival Michigan State, and Oregon this season, while a road trip will be required for its national championship rematch with Washington and “The Game” vs. Ohio State to close the regular season.
