SportsMonday: Moore’s suspension is motivation, not punishment

If Michigan coach Sherrone Moore’s suspension had any impact Saturday, it was an overwhelmingly positive one for the Wolverines.

It was a rallying cry, to which the now-No. 21 Michigan football team and interim coach Biff Poggi responded with a “love letter” in the form of an inspired drubbing of Central Michigan. The Wolverines were never going to lose that game. But with Moore on the sideline, they probably wouldn’t have been motivated enough to put up 63 points, either.

Combine Michigan’s unquantifiable drive with the fact Moore clung to the team until 12 hours before kickoff, and it’s hard to pinpoint any way that Moore’s suspension has debilitated the Wolverines thus far.

“Today, no matter what, I feel like it was leadership,” freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood said Saturday. “Honestly, just having great leadership as far as the coaching staff and also our players stepped up as well, knowing that we were going to have a head coach that won’t be here for the next week.”

That all changes when Moore’s players return to Schembechler Hall this week without him. Michigan’s most obvious punishment is the absence of Moore’s input in preparation for Nebraska.

But the real way Moore’s suspension becomes detrimental is if the Wolverines lose the chip on their shoulder — if complacency arises from his return. If that doesn’t happen, Moore’s suspension instead becomes the impetus for the rest of the Wolverines’ season, not a punishment.

That’s not to say that leadership has been lacking thus far, or that Michigan wasn’t already motivated to prove last season was a fluke. But picturing the loss to Oklahoma causing the Wolverines to spiral rather than rally together isn’t imaginative. It happened last year.

“We lost Week 2 last year, and it was kind of a dividing factor with our team. And guys kind of did their own thing,” sophomore running back Jordan Marshall said. “… We had a player-led meeting this week and the message was to come together. We have to come together. We have got to be stronger from this moment.”

Surely a loss — even one as big as in Norman — isn’t as emotionally stirring as the absence of a head coach. The suspension necessitated that the players move on and not dwell on defeat. They had bigger tasks to worry about, they needed to move forward.

Saturday, the Wolverines came together in the immediate aftermath of the suspension, less than 24 hours after an emotional see-you-later dinner. They need to remain that way. They need to use Moore’s suspension as the reason last year doesn’t repeat itself.

Michigan made all the right technical adjustments after the loss. Underwood’s three touchdowns and Poggi’s postgame claim that the Wolverines will continue to utilize Underwood’s arm talent are optimistic signs, even if they came against a MAC opponent.

But play calling alone didn’t beat the Chippewas by 60 points. That was because the Wolverines came into the game with something to prove.

There will come a point this season when motivation doesn’t decide whether Michigan covers the point spread or not. Eventually, motivation will decide the outcome of games and the Wolverines’ season as a whole.

Moore’s suspension is not ideal. His leave pauses a developing coach-quarterback relationship this early in the season. He won’t be around to help the offensive line, his specialty and arguably the most disappointing unit this season. It’s hard to spin a head coach’s suspension as a net positive. 

But the suspension is a perfect unifying factor for Michigan. It comes just in time for them to move on from an early loss and not let that divide them like it did last year.

Saturday, Michigan was pissed off and motivated. If that remains the case, Moore’s suspension may not feel like a punishment at all.

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