The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1536962
134 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2025 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY ANTHONY BROOME M ichigan entered last offseason with a national championship glow about it, but the winds of change that blew through Ann Arbor sometimes felt like a storm. Sher- rone Moore, formerly the offensive co- ordinator and offensive line coach, was promoted to lead the program after Jim Harbaugh left for the Los Angeles Char- gers, taking many of his staff members with him. Navigating a late-January coach- ing change, keeping the roster together and hiring a staff was about as frenetic a start to an era as anyone could have imagined. For much of the season, the stresses of the months that preceded it extended onto the field of play. The Wolverines stumbled out to a 5-5 record to start the year before Moore was able to rally the troops, winning three consecu- tive games to close out the campaign headlined by a 13-10 win at Ohio State, Michigan's fourth straight in the series, as a three-touchdown underdog. An 8-5 year was capped off by a 19-13 win over Alabama in the Dec. 31 Relia- Quest Bowl, with most of the program's NFL Draft hopefuls opting out, giving the team something to build on heading into the offseason. U-M had plenty of issues to sort out, but one of the toughest schedules in program history made the task more difficult. The Wolverines played four of the 12 College Football Playoff teams and went 1-3, with its lone victory com- ing against the Buckeyes, the eventual national champions. Blowout losses at home against No. 4 Texas (final AP ranking) and No. 3 Oregon and a hard- fought road defeat at No. 10 Indiana held them back, in addition to losses at new conference foe Washington and longtime Big Ten adversary Illinois in the middle part of the season. Many of the team's problems could be traced back to the offense, which re- placed all but one starter from the ti- tle-winning squad in 2023 in tight end Colston Loveland. Michigan also started three quarter- backs during the season — Davis War- ren, Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle — but none were able to help the team develop a respectable passing game. As a result, U-M finished near the bottom of the FBS in all passing categories and was the only team in the nation not to complete a passing play of more than 40 yards. The run game was enough at times, though, with graduate running back Kalel Mullings nearly single-handedly powering wins over USC, Minnesota and Ohio State throughout the year en route to a career-high 948 yards. Despite a strong end to the season, of- 2024 2024 A New Era Begins Sherrone Moore Ends His Debut Season With A Bang Behind Kalel Mullings' 116 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 32 carries, Michigan pulled off perhaps its greatest upset ever in the series against Ohio State, winning 13-10 at Ohio Stadium. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL