No one expected Michigan football to go into Columbus and beat Ohio State last season, at least not those outside of Schembechler Hall. The Buckeyes were three-score favorites, and the narrative centered on just how angry OSU was that it had lost the last three matchups. The question wasn’t if, it was by how much.
Somebody forgot to tell the two teams that participated in The Game.
Despite being shorthanded — without tight end Colston Loveland and cornerback Will Johnson — and not having much, if any, of a passing attack, the Wolverines went into The Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, 13-10.
Edge rusher Derrick Moore, now entering his senior season with the maize and blue, said at Big Ten media days that not only could he tell that Ohio State was overconfident, he could feel that emanating from its fanbase and even the doubt percolating from the Michigan fanbase.
“Yeah, for sure, even like that morning of the game,” Moore said. “So I woke up that morning — it’s a funny story. I woke up that morning of the game, 6 a.m. And for some reason, I just turned on the news and just turned on the news and just hearing a lot of people are doubting us. Even our own fans were doubting us. So at that point in time, I feel like when it was time to go, pretty much just huddled up, had a talk. And pretty much the same, man. That’s all we got. That’s all we need. Everybody here. What we got on that bus with us, that’s all we need right here to go out and compete.”
Some of the players had said in the spring that that win helped the team also upset Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, knowing that if they could beat Ohio State, they could also best the Crimson Tide. Moore is going a step further, noting that the confidence is spilling over from last year to this upcoming one.
And now, Team 146 is ready to show the world that the end to 2024 was no fluke.
“It meant a lot to us, especially like as a team standpoint,” Moore said. “Really just like the doubt of like everybody who had against us. So like going out there pretty much and dominating them in their own stadium, that pretty much showed how tough we are. And that right there is just going to give us a good lead-in to this year.”
Fall camp for the maize and blue starts on July 30 with eyes on the 2025 season opener against New Mexico on August 30.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Derrick Moore feels Ohio State overlooked Michigan football in 2025
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
