The defending national champion Michigan Wolverines haven’t had the season they hoped for, but Saturday’s win over bitter archrival Ohio State made things much better.
How much better? Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst, Joel Klatt, says the game set up the Wolverines for a great offseason and future success.
Klatt dedicated part of The Joel Klatt Show podcast Monday to talking about Michigan’s 13-10 win over the Buckeyes, a game he worked with Gus Johnson. He pointed out the Wolverines have been on a roll lately, beginning Thursday when they flipped prized quarterback recruit Bryce Underwood, the consensus No. 1 player in next year’s freshman class, from LSU. (There was plenty of drama involved in that, including recruiting efforts by former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady and Larry Ellison, the world’s second richest person.)
But Klatt said the win over Ohio State, in Columbus no less, is huge for several reasons. He was particularly impressed by head coach Sherrone Moore’s postgame interview with Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft. She talked to All-American defensive tackle Mason Graham and Moore.
“These guys are the heart of our program! This is why you come to Michigan!” Moore said. “Right here! Guys like this! … Let’s go baby, love you.”
“How about that recruiting pitch?” Klatt said. “If you’re sitting in the living room of a defensive lineman, an offensive lineman, a running back, ‘Hey, this is what we do, and it works.”
Klatt said Moore is sending a message to his players and potential recruits: What we do works.
“What does Saturday mean for Michigan?” Klatt asked. “There’s not a seven-win team in the country that had a better last two weeks than Michigan. They get Bryce Underwood to flip, they’ve got a top-10 recruiting class, now they just beat their rival for the fourth straight time. And here’s the more important part: They can go into the offseason and double down on everything that they do. … He can say, ‘It’s not just Jim (Harbaugh, former head coach now in the NFL) that can win this way. This is Michigan’s philosophy, not Jim’s philosophy.”
“These foundational things about toughness and weight room and development works … what we do works. That is a really powerful thing going into an offseason, because you’ve got to be able to lean on guys. … When you can say, ‘What I’m requiring you to do works.'”
“How about THAT recruiting pitch?” 😤
Nobody has had a wilder 2 weeks than @UMichFootball, and @joelklatt says a win over Ohio State only made their future look brighter. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/UN04P9k0Vk
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) December 2, 2024
“Now, the offseason can be incredible and he can point to that postgame interview with Mason Graham at his side,” Klatt continued.
“Really powerful game for Michigan. And I think that’s what it means for them moving forward. It is a springboard game. They can go into the offseason and now it can be an incredibly powerful and positive offseason even if it wasn’t as successful on the field as they had wished during the fall.”
