TAMPA, Fla. — Replacing a Hall of Fame coach is one of the toughest gigs in sports. Sherrone Moore and Kalen DeBoer, successors to college football royalty, know exactly how hard it is.
Michigan and Alabama ended their seasons in a ReliaQuest Bowl that started out sloppy and ended with picturesque sunshine. The crystal-blue skies matched the mood for Michigan, which punctuated its season with back-to-back upsets: first Ohio State, then Tuesday’s 19-13 triumph against the Crimson Tide.
This was a far cry from last Jan. 1 in Pasadena, where Michigan stuffed Jalen Milroe on fourth-and-goal to win the Rose Bowl and advance to the championship game of the College Football Playoff. A year ago, Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban coached these teams in one of the best games of the Playoff era. Tuesday, Moore and DeBoer squared off in a bowl game sponsored by a cyber security company. While Michigan and Alabama couldn’t replicate last season’s drama, the ReliaQuest Bowl came down to another fourth-down stop as Milroe’s final pass fell incomplete with 49 seconds remaining.
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By their standards, Michigan and Alabama had down years. The Crimson Tide were upset by Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, missed the Playoff and lost to a Michigan team that was missing 10 starters who opted out. The Wolverines started 5-5, and Moore looked like a coach who was searching for answers. He found some at the end, as Michigan upset Ohio State and Alabama to finish 8-5.
Ohio State was favored by 21 points, Alabama by 16 ½. Michigan won both games, despite scoring a total of two touchdowns and gaining fewer than 250 yards against each opponent.
“Our defense played lights out at the end of the year,” Moore said. “Northwestern, hold them to six. Ohio, hold them to 10. These guys, 13. You’re talking about, especially Ohio and these guys, explosive offenses that can put up points on the scoreboard.”
When Harbaugh bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers, the big question was how Moore would put his own stamp on Michigan. For much of the season, the answer was unclear. The first two months of the season were defined by waffling at quarterback, inconsistency on defense and a complete lack of explosiveness on offense. The quarterback situation got a little better once Davis Warren regained the starting job, but the explosiveness never materialized.
Starting in mid-November, Michigan figured out how to win in spite of its glaring limitations. Tuesday, those limitations were on full display. The Wolverines didn’t have Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, the defensive tackles who formed the brick wall that Ohio State repeatedly banged its head against. They didn’t have Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, their two leading rushers. From the third quarter on, they didn’t have Warren, who was thrown to the turf on a sack and left the field on crutches.
Somehow, Michigan still beat an Alabama team that had most of its best players. Funky things happen in bowl games, so it’s wise not to make any sweeping judgments about either program based on what happened Tuesday. Still, Moore showed something by getting an undermanned team ready to play and squeezing one more win out of this season.
“You don’t have Mason Graham, you don’t have Kenneth Grant, so people think there’s this big fall-off,” Moore said. “Those are two incredible players, but our guys really take a lot of pride in being physical. We wanted to do that all of this bowl camp, and we really did.”
Alabama had three turnovers and just 260 yards vs. Michigan. (Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
The identity of Michigan’s program under Moore began to emerge during these final three games, at least in part. The ability to dominate the line of scrimmage on defense isn’t going away without Graham, Grant and Josaiah Stewart. Michigan should be very good on defense again next season, led by Ernest Hausmann, Zeke Berry, Derrick Moore and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who found his groove late in the season.
Moore wants to run the ball, and the Wolverines should be built to do that next season with Alabama transfer Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall, who ran for 100 yards in his first extended action. Though Michigan was able to grind out enough yards on the ground to win this game, it’s obvious where the Wolverines need to improve. Their passing game, which produced 62 yards against Ohio State and 75 against Alabama, was among the worst in the FBS all season. That has to change for Michigan to be a CFP contender next season.
“Yeah, we want to be physical on defense and offense, but we want to be explosive on offense,” Moore said. “Those are things we’ve got to work on in the offense to make sure we’re more explosive on offense, especially in the passing game.”
That’s where Bryce Underwood comes in. The five-star quarterback was in attendance Tuesday along with Michigan’s other early enrollees. So was Chip Lindsey, Michigan’s new offensive coordinator. The two shared a hug during the postgame celebration as Underwood took in the scene.
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Michigan has a lot riding on the partnership between Underwood, the top prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, and Lindsey, hired from North Carolina to replace Kirk Campbell as Michigan’s play caller. The competition between Underwood and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene will be one of college football’s most intriguing spring quarterback battles. Tuesday’s performance did nothing to detract from the notion that adding an elite quarterback should make the Wolverines a formidable team in 2025.
Is Underwood ready to be that player? And if not, is Keene capable of being the stopgap? Those are questions for the spring. The takeaway from Michigan’s bowl victory is that the Wolverines are in a better place right now than they’ve been at any time since Harbaugh’s departure.
“Finishing on a strong note was huge for us and will build great momentum going into the offseason,” Moore said. “We feel like we’ve got a bright future with the way we’re recruiting, the guys we’re bringing in, the guys we’re keeping, to make sure that this Michigan is the best version of Michigan that it can be.”
After the game, both coaches talked about lessons that come from a challenging season. It’s not just the players who learn: It’s the coaches, too. Moore and DeBoer learned what it’s like to follow legends and what happens when the results don’t measure up. Neither program is going to be satisfied with this season, but for Michigan, beating Ohio State and Alabama cast the season in a drastically different light.
At times this season, Moore looked like he was still finding his way. As he left the field at Raymond James Stadium in a pair of Cartier sunglasses, he looked like a coach who knew exactly where he was going.
“He’s a great coach,” defensive back Wesley Walker said. “I think he puts his own swag on things. I feel like Michigan’s in great hands.”
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(Top photo: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
