OPINION: 3 questionable coaching decisions that cost Michigan a chance to win at Oklahoma

Michigan football had its first true test this past Saturday against a tough, well-rounded Oklahoma team that beat the Wolverines in just about every phase of the game. The Sooners certainly deserve all the credit for the victory with the way they played on both sides of the ball, but the Wolverines certainly left some "meat on the bone" when it came to either not capitalizing off of opportunities that were there, and in certain situations, let Oklahoma off the hook for its own mistakes and didn't try to make them pay for those.

Here are three situations from the game that Michigan could have handled differently:

Michigan punts from the Oklahoma 38 in the first quarter

After going down 7-0 early, Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines put together a nice 7-play, 50-yard drive on the offense's second possession of the game that featured a good balance of run and pass, including an Underwood to Donaven McCulley connection for a 38-yard explosive play.

The Wolverines got the ball down to Oklahoma's 33-yard line before losing five yards on a short pass play to get to third-and-long. The Wolverines didn't gain another yard and didn't even consider going down the field once they moved it inside the Sooners 35. After an incomplete pass on third down, head coach Sherrone Moore decided to bring out Hudson Hollenbeck to punt from the OU 38 on 4th-and-long.

Hollenbeck ended up punting the ball into the endzone as the Wolverines only netted 18 yards on the punt, and when trying to play the field position game, you are banking on your punter to put the ball inside the 10 yard-line. The senior punter didn't execute, which is going to happen from time to time and isn't the end of the world.

The question is, why punt in that situation? Being that close to the endzone is a tough ball for a punter to land a kick inside the 10 with an awkward amount of distance to kick it. But beyond that, to my knowledge, kicker Dominic Zvada is fully capable of knocking down a 55-yard field goal (he was 7-of-7 from 50+ in 2024). In the worst case scenario, Zvada misses and Michigan turns the ball to Oklahoma at the Sooners 38—which may not be the best field position to allow a team to start a drive, but it surely would have been manageable for the Wolverines' defense to respond to and surely worth taking the chance at getting points on that drive.

Michigan place kicker Dominic Zvada (96) scores a field goal against Ohio State as Tommy Doman (19) holds the ball during the second half at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan opts for FG instead of chance to tie game in second quarter

Still down 7-0 in the second quarter, the Wolverines put together another really good drive that ate up 6:08 as they marched 72 yards on 13 plays to the OU 14-yard line.

The big play on the drive consisted of an Underwood pass to Channing Goodwin on a rollout play that went for 25 yards. On 3rd-and-2 from the Sooners' 14-yard line, Underwood, in what looked to be an RPO play, pulled the ball from Justice Haynes and attempted to complete a pass to McCulley down the left sideline. What was going to be ruled a defensive pass interference was waived off because McCulley was actually blocking on the play instead of trying to run a route. It was a play that looked like there was miscommunication on all levels.

However, that didn't mean the drive had to end there. Analytically, a 4th-and-2 situation at your opponents' 14-yard line would say the chances of picking that up are likely, and that the risk of going for it in that instance would be worth the potential reward as opposed to settling for three.

Moore was likely thinking that they had to pay off that drive with some type of points to get some momentum in the game, which is understandable. At the same time, it's hard to win a road game against a ranked team by kicking field goals when chances for touchdowns are at a premium. It's unfortunate that Zvada missed a short kick that he is usually money on, but that's a situation I think the Wolverines need to be aggressive in to try to put game pressure on OU and put them back on their heels when given the chance.

Michigan opts for FG again in third quarter when they have a chance to cut to one possession game

The second half couldn't have started much better for the Wolverines on the Haynes 75-yard touchdown run and the Michigan defense getting a three-and-out to start the third quarter. However, OU quickly gained momentum back after John Mateer scored on a 10-yard run the next time the Sooners got the ball to go up 21-7.

Things got worse for Michigan on its next offensive series going three-and-out and looking like they were going to give the ball back to an OU offense that was in rhythm and poised to potentially go up three scores. However, when the Wolverines punted the ball back, OU muffed the punt and gave it back to the Wolverines at their own 31-yard line.

Suddenly, Michigan had a chance to get back in the game and cut the deficit to one score again. Instead, the Wolverines ran three offensive plays and did not get a first down and settled for a field goal to go down 21-10 instead of 21-7, which felt like it didn't do much for the Wolverines' momentum at the time.

When Michigan chose to run the ball on 4th-and-6 from the OU 27, I thought that decision was made to set up the Wolverines to go for it on a 4th-and-short. Instead of being set up well and having both the run and pass options open in a short yardage situation with a chance to get the score to 21-14, Moore sent Zvada out who this time managed to knock home the field goal.

But again, the offense wasn't moving the ball consistently enough for that field goal to mean much in terms of getting back in the game, and when OU muffed the punt, I surely thought Michigan would try to get a touchdown in that scenario unless the down and distance on fourth down forced them to kick a field goal.

Out of the three aforementioned decisions, this one was easily the most surprising.

Aug 30, 2025; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Semaj Morgan (0) runs the ball in the first half against the New Mexico Lobos at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Now, Moore will be suspended the next two games as the coaching staff looks for answers on how to improve the team and put the Wolverines in a good position moving forward.

OPINION: 3 questionable coaching decisions that cost Michigan a chance to win at Oklahoma

Michigan punts from the Oklahoma 38 in the first quarter

Michigan opts for FG instead of chance to tie game in second quarter

Michigan opts for FG again in third quarter when they have a chance to cut to one possession game

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