Wolverine Digest

Sherrone Moore gives puzzling answer on late-game timeout

Chris Breiler|
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Trailing five points with just 1:35 left in the 4th quarter, Michigan still had all of its timeouts and a slim chance of getting the ball back with an opportunity to tie or win the game. It was a longshot at best, but a longshot is better than no shot.

Indiana snapped the ball and reeled off an 8-yard run on first down, setting up a 2nd and two with about 1:25 left on the clock. It was at this point that you would have expected head coach Sherrone Moore to use one of his timeouts to try and stop the clock and give his team a chance to get the ball back. But instead of calling the timeout immediately, Moore allowed precious seconds to tick off the clock before electing to call a timeout - 28 seconds, to be exact.

On the very next play, Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke ran for a first down, sealing the win for the Hoosiers.

Following the game, Moore was asked about the decision to allow critical seconds to run of the clock before calling a timeout. Here was his answer:

“Yea, just talking about conversations of what the play call was going to be; what we were going to do. That’s where that all came from.”

Look, I'm far from being a football guru and I'll never pretend to know more about football than the actual coaches do, but that seems like a specific instance where Moore was unprepared for the moment. To be fair, it was highly likely that Indiana would have picked up the first down regardless of when the timeout was called, and the game would have been over at that point anyway. But the decision to let 28 seconds run off the clock before calling a timeout was a bad look.

I still believe that Sherrone Moore can get this program back to where it needs to be in 2025, but it will require some difficult decisions in the off-season in order to do so. He'll need to surround himself with an elite staff that can help eliminate many of the self-inflicted mistakes we've seen week after week.

- Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI -

More Michigan News:

Published | Modified
Chris Breiler
CHRIS BREILER

Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.

Home/Football