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What Is The Biggest Challenge For Interim Michigan Coach Sherrone Moore Against Ohio State? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  This is another bonus episode of the Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning Podcast. We're doing a
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  bunch of these this week with interview clips from various Michigan and Ohio State players
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  and coaches. We already did Michigan's head coach for the week, that was
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  Jim Harbaugh. Now we're going to do Michigan's head coach for Saturday only.
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  That is Sharon Moore. Here's the offensive coordinator for Michigan. He is also,
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  while Jim Harbo suspended, going to be the acting head coach for the
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  Wolverines on Saturday. As a guy who was probably not planning on doing that
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  about three four weeks ago, this is quite an assignment. We got a
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  chance to talk to him on Monday up in Ann Arbor about some of his
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  thoughts on the game, some of his thoughts on the team, whole bunch
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  of other stuff. We're going to let you hear directly from him. He's
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  someone who, other than perhaps one postgame interview on the field at Penn State,
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  you probably have not heard a lot from who's a little more composed,
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  a little more calm, a little more PG rated. During those interviews on
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  Monday, all of those things are probably a good thing. So let's start
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  with Sharon Moore's thoughts on the Ohio State offense. What makes this Ohio State
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  offense so dangerous? Yeah, they're electric, They're they're balanced. Trayvon obviously
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  gives them the ability to run the football very effectively. Old line's doing a
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  really good job gelling at the right time. And then defense, and then
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  obviously skill player wise with Marvin and Mecca and Kate Stover and those guys,
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  They've got guys that can make plays on the outside lands. And I feel
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  like the quarterbacks playing is best football. So definitely a challenge that our defense
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  is going to be up for. This will obviously be the first time they
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  will Wolverines and Buckeyes meet on the field since last November, but a lot
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  has changed. The buck guys have strengthened their defense, the offense has kind
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  of gotten rolling recently. So what are Sharon Moore's overall impressions of the buck
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  Eyes this year? Yeah, I mean, I think defensively they're really good.
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  I think offensively really good. I think for us, it's just focusing
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  on what we can control right now, which is the preparation into this game.
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  Mentally, physically and see what the outcome that is after that. The
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  Michigan program is still Jim Harbaugh's program, no question about that. But you
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  have to balance what Jim Harbor wants and getting Jim Harball's input with the fact
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  that Sharon Moore has got to make those calls himself on game day. So
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  how do you balance what Jim Harball wants and getting that input from him and
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  then implementing that plan on Saturday. Yeah. I think the preparation that we've
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  had up to this point in training camp and springball, all through, you
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  know, all through the season, has really prepped us for these moments to
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  think like coach does and at the same time make the decisions that we think
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  he would he'd want, and obviously situationally being aware of what's going on in
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  the game. So we lean on each other all heavily and all those situations
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  to make the right call. Sharon Moore was asked if he was planning on
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  having extra conversations with Jim Harball but best advice on how to handle all the
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  outside noise and pressures specific to this week and this game. Yeah, I
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  mean, I probably might probably the one he's I mean He's trust us and
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  has prepared us for these moments, so it would be probably more so of
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  me than anything than him coming to me. But I think our team is
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  it's all about the players and how they prepare this week and how they mentally
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  attack it and looking forward to it. I'm going to guess that the number
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  of people who have googled who is Sharon Moore or background information on Sharon Moore
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  has gone up pretty significantly over the last few weeks. He's gotten obviously a
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  lot more attention as Michigan's acting head coach. There's a lot more sideline shots
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  of him. He's no longer sort of standing off to the side as Jim
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  Harball gets all the attention on the TV broadcast. So how has Sharon Moore's
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  life changed in the last few weeks. Yeah, a lot more text messages,
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  No, a lot more Facebook messages, which I don't really get on
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  Facebook, so I see him pop up on my phone and just like,
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  okay, probably that more than anything, but right other than that same person,
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  I'm doing the same things. When I go home, I still get
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  yelled at, so it's all good. And my kids still run the house.
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  So for me, it's you know, the seeing you know in more
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  interviews, more things. That's the biggest thing for me than managing the game
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  situations during the game. But other than that, everything's been the same.
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  It is not just all extra text messages. There's a bunch of added responsibility
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  as well with being the acting head coach. So how has Sharon Moore's time
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  management changed during the week with all the added stuff on his plate on the
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  weekend? Probably just thinking more so the situations and as I plan. You
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  know, obviously when you're calling plays, you're thinking about that as well anyway,
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  so that helps versus being on defense side of the ball. So but
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  just thinking about all those situations more so if we're on defense and when the
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  end of half or things like that. So just putting those situations in my
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  head more show times than I would if coach was on the field. You
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  have undoubtedly seen a whole bunch of the Michigan versus everybody's shirts and hats and
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  everything else this week and in previous weeks. That has sort of become a
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  rallying cry for the Wolverines program. How much is all this stuff going on
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  around the program right now really motivate Sharon Moore and his guys. In terms
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  of it really being Michigan versus everybody else. I think the kids just they
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  just do it anyway. They all have a chip on their shoulder sometimes a
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  boulder, and nothing we talk about internally constantly. We don't harp on.
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  We're just trying to focus on beating the team that we're about to play.
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  This next one is a question that got asked a whole bunch of times by
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  the same reporter or just different asking different players. It's a really interesting question,
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  and it's one the coaches are probably not going to want to go too
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  deep on, but just thought the way people answer this kind of question,
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  it's always sort of interesting to me, so hopefully it's interesting to you as
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  well. The question was how much of the short and long term futures of
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  the Michigan program are tied up in the results of this one game. I
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  mean, we're just again, we're just going to focus on this game.
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  We're not going to try to talk about what's going on in the future or
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  anything like that, and just attack today. That's how our kids have gone
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  about their business week. We haven't looked forward to anything else, and we're
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  gonna try to make this the best Monday we've had. Michigan is coming off
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  one of its closer, sloppier, worst performances of this season at Maryland.
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  A lot of times the game before the Ohio State Michigan game will look like
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  that for one or both of the teams. It definitely did for Michigan.
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  They had a twenty three to three lead and then saw that slip away and
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  then played what was pretty much a sixty minute game against Maryland before getting out
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  of College Park alive. So what are some of the things that Sharon Moore
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  is looking to clean up coming off of that game at Maryland. Yeah,
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  just more detail, which I think that it's crazy. All the guys were
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  already in yesterday, so they've already started cleaning that stuff up. Just detailing
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  little things and finishing. The first half was really good except for the last
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  drive and we drove down the field and had an unfortunate play that he hadn't
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  had since Bowling Green. So just sustaining that same consistency that we had in
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  the first half in the second half, and I think we're excited to ready
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  to do that. Sharon Moore got to coach one game as the interim coach
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  earlier in the season during Jim Harbaugh's first suspension, now during Jim Harball's second
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  suspension. This will be his third game of the second suspension, in the
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  fourth game overall as the interim or acting head coach of the Michigan football program
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  this year. So what does Sharon Moore know now about being a head coach
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  that he didn't know before this all started? A lot more interviews and then,
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  I mean probably that was the interview's post pre Having Dave around as much
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  as you can, I learned that Dave is he's phenomenal. I already knew
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  that he was good at job, but I mean, talk about a guy
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  that's on point at every second. But besides that, I mean the general
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  feel for me, I'm just trying to do my part to help the team
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  win as the game goes on. Sharon Moore also coaches Michigan's offensive lines.
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  He's got the offensive line, he's got the offensive coordinator job, and now
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  he's the head coach, which as well. So how difficult is that during
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  a game? How different is his life during a game when he's got to
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  manage all three of those roles? Yeah, biggest thing is probably the game
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  management stuff and then talking to the refs, where I usually don't talk to
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  the ref at all, and coach wants me to make sure that I'm doing
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  it, So that's that's probably the biggest thing for me. Usually I have
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  no association with the rest at all besides pre game I might know somebody or
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  anything like that, but that's probably the biggest, biggest adjustment. There's been
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  plenty of conversation about what is on the line this weekend inn Arbor, and
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  the answer is a lot, maybe everything. There is an awful lot on
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  the line this weekend. What would it mean for not Sharon Moore, but
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  for the Michigan program to win this game on Saturday. We all know what
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  it means. It's the game, it's the one you practice, you played
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  for, you've worked for all year, so we all know the stakes and
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  I'll give us a chance to go to repeat on the Big ten title.
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  So the words the prep that'll come out a little bit more later on down
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  the week, to try to keep it on a low boil this week because
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  I can get pretty high really fast. So the kids are as prepared mentally
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  and physically as they'll ever be to get ready for this week. So just
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  excited to get with the end today. The Michigan offensive line is not what
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  the Joe Moore Award in the trophy case or their reputation might lead you to
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  believe. This is not the greatest Michigan offensive line, especially at the tackle
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  positions. They've been a little shaky recently. I've had an injury, Carson
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  Barnhart has kind of struggled in pass protection. So what is the confidence level
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  for sure on more in Carson Barnheart right now? And what's Carson Barnhart's confidence
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  level right now? And what do you tell him if as the offensive line
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  coach, what do you tell Carson Barnhart in going into a game like this?
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  Yeah, I mean, I think just in general in football, you're
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  going to have bad plays. You play against really good players. So we
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  always talk about Fido forget it and drive on, and if you don't do
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  that as a football player, it'll harp you. Regardless of your position,
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  quarterback, running back, o line, tight end, defense, all those
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  things happen, So you got to make sure you push on forward because that's
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  going to happen. So now you got to refocus and get ready to go.
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  Earlier, you heard Hiran Moore talk about the fact that he has to
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  deal with talking to the refs. Now that is not something that was in
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  his job description before. Well it is now. So did Jim Hartwall give
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  him any advice on how to talk to those refs? No? I don't,
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  and I'm not going to talk to him like how he talks to him.
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  He's earned he can say whatever he wants to the refs. I just
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  try to communicate and just get an understanding for what's going on and what they're
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  calling, what they're seeing, and do what's best for our team and help
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  our team as much as they can going into a game like this on this
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  kind of a stage, with this kind of magnitude of everything going on,
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  how do you balance not having JJ McCarthy do too much. You don't want
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  him to do too much, don't want him to press, you don't want
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  them to make mistakes. But also you don't want to limit him. You
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  don't want to put him on two shorter releash because he's a great athlete and
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  has been really a key feat piece for this Michigan offense all a year.
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  So how do you balance not doing too much and not doing not enough.
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  Just let him be here, Let him be him. You've got a really
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  good player. Can't put the handcuffs so on. You got to let him,
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  let him play, let him look, you know, he made the
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  mistake and he learned from it and he won't make it again. So that'll
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  be huge for us as we go down this stretch. It has been widely
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  widely reported that the first nine or so games of the season for Michigan were
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  not against the Big Ten or the the NCAA's very best competition. They did
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  not face a lot of particularly elite defenses during the course of the year.
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  They did not face a particularly bunch of particularly elite offenses for much of the
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  year. But things have improved on the schedule front the last couple of weeks.
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  The Purdue defense of three weeks ago was pretty good. The Penn State
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  offense was not great, but the defense was pretty good last week two weeks
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  ago, and then Maryland. Maryland's pretty solid on both sides of the ball.
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  So how have those last few defenses they've played prepared Michigan for Ohio State?
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  And is Ohio State the best defense they've seen on film? This year.
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  Yeah, I mean, besides our defense, I think the best one
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  obviously. I think Penn State was up there. I think Producer was up
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  there. But the stats speak for themselves, and you see it on film.
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  They're good at every position, They're deep at every position. So it's
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  gonna be something we got to prepare for mentally and physically, so we're excited
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  for it. Well, that will do it for Charon Moore. You will
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  see him again on Saturday. You will not see Jim Harbaugh, but you
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  will see Sharon Moore. You'll see Blake Rhum, You'll see JJ McCarthy,
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  you'll see Mike say Ristill. You'll see all those guys on our YouTube channel
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  and on the Buckeyed Tomorrow Morning podcast feed this week as well, as we
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  give you a bunch of these bonus episodes. You'll see them on Saturday as
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  well. You will see us on Saturday too, Donny Gerdaman and Kevin Noon
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  and I will be up there in ann Arbor. The plan is for a
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  live pregame show. We'll see how the internet situation holds out for that one,
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  but we are going to do our very best to do that for you
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  on Saturday morning and then of course our live postgame show coming up at the
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  end of that game. Boy One fan base is going to be real happy
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  and One fan base is going to be very upset, and it's gonna be
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  so interesting to find out which is which win or lose for either team.
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  We will be there live postgame coverage from an arbor from Michigan Stadium, interviews
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  with the Ohio State players and coaches, interviews with Michigan players and coaches,
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  live reaction from the stadium, live reaction from our ex's and o's analysts,
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  and much much more. That is all going to be at YouTube dot com,
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  slash Bucket, Hudle, So make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube
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  channel. Make sure you hit that bell on our YouTube channel. There's going
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  to be a lot to talk about after that game. A huge game,
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  not just in terms of this the rivalry and the standings this year and the
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  Big Ten race, the National Championship race, but narratively, wholly smokes,
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  if there are a lot on the line this Saturday, I can't wait to
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  talk about it. It is going to be such a fascinating, fascinating football
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  game, and such a fascinating, fascinating a bunch of fallout from that football
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  game. So YouTube dot com, slash Bucket Huddle, make sure you're there,
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  because we will be there. That will do it for today. I
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  thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk
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  to you next time.