Guys, remember 2024? Michigan hit the biggest speed bumps Big Ten football has seen in a while. Suspensions, NCAA scrutiny, and the infamous sign-stealing saga. If you were a Wolverine fan, you might’ve thought the season would unravel by Week 3. But Michigan didn’t crumble. They reset midstream, rallied, and still ended on a high note (that could’ve been higher). But we have to give it to the team for coming back despite the obstacles they faced.
Now, heading into 2025, the air around Ann Arbor feels electric. You can almost see fans wiping sweat off their brows as practice snaps into gear. Michigan is putting last season behind them, and they’re building a vault around the lessons they learned. And the motto is to turn obstacles into opportunities.
Sherrone Moore, speaking at the Big Ten address, laid out the plan. “You know, we roll by this theory, don’t let a speed bump become a roadblock. Last year, we hit a couple of speed bumps, but we didn’t allow those to become roadblocks.” Do you know the most important part of this sentence? It’s the acknowledgement. And Moore has never shied away from acknowledging the adversities.
He continued, “We overcame a lot of adversity and had a successful end to the year, but we’re not living on that. We know that’s done,” he said. That statement celebrated overcoming the chaos. And some of the credit is also due to the man who was a passing name in Moore’s speech. Tony Petitti recently wrote to the NCAA arguing that Michigan deserved no further punishments in the sign-stealing case, and they have already served what was required. That’s our man, right there.
But Moore didn’t stop at the reflection. He pivoted to purpose and said, “We’re not living on that. We know that’s done. We know that’s passed us, and our jobs now are to write a new story for what the University of Michigan and Team 146 is all about.” That’s a mic drop for Michigan’s culture. We don’t know how Michigan winds up with these cool names like ‘Team 146’ and ‘Team up North.’ But they are working for sure. The coaching staff isn’t giving excuses. All eyes are on the Natty.
Which brings it full circle: Michigan fans, this is your test. Are you sticking with them through glitch seasons? Are you bringing that second-half roar back at The Big House? Team 146 is already packing for the road ahead. With Moore’s mentality baked in, this team knows exactly what it is: a squad that didn’t quit when things got messy and got better because of it.
Why that Oklahoma clash matters more than you think
Sherrone Moore is accepting that Michigan’s Week 2 trip to Norman will be a gut check, plain and simple. Forget the flashy ‘blue blood’ taglines and pageantry. This one’s about redemption. To the older gentlemen reading this, remember Oklahoma’s Orange Bowl win over Michigan in 1976, which got them their 5th Natty? No? We don’t either. But they sure do. And 2025 will be about getting back what their ancestors lost.
It’s Michigan’s first road game of the season, and Moore made it clear at Big Ten Media Days that the Wolverines are stepping into hostile territory not just to survive, but to prove something. “It’s going to be a test to see where we are,” Moore said, looking ahead to the clash with Brent Venables’ Sooners. “When we can overcome some adversity when we’re not in a comfortable environment. So, it’s going to test us, you know, it’s going to test us, you know, the will, the willpower of who we are, what we’re going to be.”
This isn’t just any road game. Two programs with decades of tradition, and yet their paths have barely crossed. And for Moore, it’s fuel. That early-season adversity? It’s an identity check every top-tier team has to pass. Especially for a Wolverines squad that wants to one-up last year’s resilience.
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