Sherrone Moore Previews Michigan-Ohio State In WCSX Interview

Michigan's entire season has come to this, the biggest game of the year against top rival Ohio State. And it comes as the Wolverines ride a five-game win streak.

So, as any Michigan fan would hope, head coach Sherrone Moore and his players are dialing in hard for this one. Jim O'Brien even noticed as he interviewed Moore for 94.7 WCSX that the head coach seems like he's carrying himself with a little extra fire crackling inside, as he preps for the undefeated No. 1 Buckeyes. And Moore acknowledged it, while describing how that fire seems to have spread down to his players.

"There's an edge. There's an edge there for this one," Moore said. "And there always is an edge, but it's just different. It is different, and you've got to embrace it. And yeah, the players feel different. [On Monday], even the young guys, there was smiling, but there wasn't a lot of laughing, it was pretty serious.

"And it wasn't like they were just like, on edge or tight, they were loose. They're ready to go, but they were focused and excited for the prep for this week."

As for the football game itself, it may be a tall task for Michigan to actually upend 11-0 Ohio State, as the latter march toward a sure playoff berth and expectations of a national championship. But the Wolverines are no slouches, either, at 9-2 and 18th in the nation, and they will be on their home field in Ann Arbor.

If they're going to have success against the Buckeyes, let alone pull off a monumental upset, Moore believes it starts with fundamentals. And ironically, to just worry about themselves and not about the opponent.

"Embrace the moment, and that isn't just, you know, see and look what's going on going around, but understand that you put yourself in position to be successful," Moore said. "So, we've got to prepare our tails off this week. We've got to have our best week of preparation to go win that game. We've got to win the line of scrimmage on both sides. You've got to control it. We've got to win the turnover battle on both sides, and we've got to be able to overcome any adversity as a team and trust each other, because they're going to make plays. They're a good football team, they're the No. 1 team in the country.

"So, there's things that are going to happen. They're going to make plays because they're good players. So we have to control what we can control throughout the game for us to be successful."

Michigan and Ohio State finally do battle on Saturday at noon EST at Michigan Stadium. You can get the call of the game on 94.7 WSCX and stream it online, and be sure to check out "Coffee With The Coach" every Thursday with Moore at 8:05 a.m.