Michigan is already feeling the weight of life without Sherrone Moore. A week after their offense sputtered in a 24-13 loss to Oklahoma. Bryce Underwood looked rattled behind a collapsing pocket and went just 9-for-24 for 142 yards. In the absence of their HC, Michigan is searching for both answers and stability after falling flat in their first big test of the season.

That sentiment spilled out of the locker room when tight end Zack Marshall addressed the elephant in the room. As Michigan and 247Sports reporter Brice Marich shared, “#Michigan TE Zack Marshall knows it won’t feel right that HC Sherrone Moore won’t be coaching on Saturday, but will be playing for him and feels this could be a pissed off team.” It was a blunt assessment, one that reflected not just the sting of Moore’s suspension but the mood of a roster that sees itself in the reflection of its head coach. The words carried weight: rivals should expect a team galvanized by anger and unity, a locker room circling the wagons.

That loss, however, bore his fingerprints everywhere. The Sooners knew exactly where to push, disguising pressure on early downs and forcing Underwood into hurried decisions. Twice in the red zone, the offense completely unraveled. Once, Underwood fired a ball in Donaven McCulley’s direction while McCulley was engaged in a block, leaving the rest of the unit staring in disbelief. Another time, Underwood expected McCulley to break off his route, but the wideout kept running straight, and the pass fell harmlessly incomplete. Red-zone trips ended in field goals instead of touchdowns—Moore’s own play calls at the center of the stall-outs. The tension bubbled onto the sideline.

Underwood and running back Justice Haynes got into a heated exchange after the misfires, teammates quickly intervening to cool things down. Haynes later downplayed it, saying, “We’re just competitors. We want to do what’s best for the team. It’s good. That’s my brother. I love him, and we’re going to be just fine.” But those moments underscored the bigger reality: Michigan isn’t just breaking in a new QB, it’s living through the transition of a new era under Moore.

In Moore’s absence, the program will turn to Interim HC Biff Poggi to lead the next few games. Poggi is familiar in Ann Arbor, having served as second-in-command under both Moore and Jim Harbaugh, but his record at the collegiate level doesn’t inspire much confidence. His lone head coaching stop at Charlotte ended with a 6-16 record, and while his presence offers continuity, it doesn’t erase concerns about whether he can steady the team through an uneasy stretch.

Sherrone Moore got the princess treatment that ESPN analysts are now p***** at

Alas, Michigan decided to get ahead of the NCAA hammer by suspending head coach Sherrone Moore on its own terms. U-Mich punished him with a self-imposed two-game ban for Weeks 3 and 4, which conveniently meant he was free to coach in the season opener and the massive Week 2 showdown with Oklahoma. On paper, it checked the NCAA’s box. In reality, it raised a whole lot of eyebrows.

On the College GameDay podcast, ESPN’s Dan Wetzel didn’t hold back, torching the logic of letting Michigan essentially handpick Moore’s absence. “He deserves a three-game suspension, right? Three games. But Michigan wisely already said, ‘No, no, we’re going to suspend him two. We’re going to suspend him two games. But we get to let him choose. We choose which two games,” Wetzel said. That choice just so happened to land on Central Michigan and Nebraska—hardly the toughest opponents on the slate.

Then Wetzel dropped a metaphor that every parent of teenagers could relate to. “Rece, you’re a father of teenagers. When you ground one of your teenagers, you don’t let them pick the weekends that they get grounded. ‘You’re grounded for two weekends.’ ‘OK, I’d like to choose November when we visit grandma on the farm. There’s nothing to do there.” Moore may have coached against Oklahoma, but judging by rankings, OU should be UM’s toughest opponent in the first 4 weeks of its season.