The victor once again in The Game, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore reflected on his team's gritty 13-10 win over No. 2 Ohio State in Ohio Stadium and the nasty brawl that unfolded immediately after, leading police to deploy pepper spray to regain control of the field.
Before the postgame ugliness, there was plenty more ugly in the form of Ohio State's offense and special teams as the Wolverines controlled the line of scrimmage, outrushing the Buckeyes 172-77.
Moore rightfully enjoyed how his team won with physicality.
That's who we are, so we don't really need to talk about it. We're built. That's how we're built. We don't talk about toughness. We don't talk about that. How we're built in the weight room, what we do on the field, physicality, how we practice. That's just who Michigan is. We don't really need to talk about it.
Entering The Game at 6-5 and without Will Johnson and Colston Loveland as 20-point underdogs, Michigan players had reason not to believe. To their credit, they played with an edge right from the jump. Moore was unsurprised by his team's will and confidence.
Yeah, I don't think we ever say just do not lose. We just talk about how to win and what we need to do to win. Never put the losing factor in your mind. Our guys never had the losing thought in their mind. They walked in the meeting room on Monday, and they were as excited as anything. It was just like we were 11-0 because they knew the importance of the week and what it took. We worked 365 for this game, and that's how we're going to continue approaching it. We're never going to stop thinking about this game. We're going to play, and that's no disrespect to the other players, but this game is the most important game of the year and always will be.
A big factor in Michigan coming out with the win was a defense that held the Buckeyes to 10 points, 3.0 yards per carry and 4.3 yards per play.
I think our defense played outstanding. They held a high-powered offense. Again, another week to 10 points. 77 rushing yards. This game has been won, I think, the last 20 years in the rushing battle. We had 172, they had 77. That's usually the story of the game. Our guys played great, especially the D-line. The O-line played great when they needed to. They got some real good push and we kind of hammered them. The wind was a factor going towards the locker room and away from the locker room. You couldn't throw as much and be effective in throw games. You definitely have to have a good run plan. I thought our guys did a good job.
It's clear the rivalry momentum lies 100% with the Wolverines and Moore believes in how the program has reasserted itself, now winning four straight over the Buckeyes.
I think just our mindset of how we attack it. We started really in 21 with Coach Harbaugh, putting it all over the building. It's a constant thought process. How we practice, what we do, when we practice, thinking about this game, how we build our team, what we do. It will continue to be that way. We're going to continue to build this team, the foundation of who we are, this culture around winning this game, and that's what it's got to be about.
About trying to plant the M flag and things getting out of control from there, Moore said they need to do a better job handling that as a group. The rivalry certainly is alive and well.
It's a heated rivalry. It's one that we all talk about. They talk about it, we talk about it. It's in my office. I walk in and the first thing I see is Ohio State. What are we doing to beat Ohio State today? It's something you think about. 365. We're excited we won the game. We're excited we won the game and I'm proud of our guys.
