Sherrone Moore must’ve heaved a sigh of relief after the close 30-27 win against Nebraska in Week 4. That game also marked his return to coaching duties after his self-imposed ban. Now that he’s back, he has to face some tough questions about a hot topic that stood out from last weekend’s clash. Unfortunately, interim HC Biff Poggi‘s handling of the situation left Moore with no answer.

Nebraska’s offense was stifled by Michigan’s defense on Sunday. But a lapse in judgment caused the Huskers to grow strong briefly, right before the first half ended. Fans will remember the momentous Hail Mary that came from Dylan Raiola, which landed right in the hands of Jacory Barney Jr. for a 52-yard TD pass. All of this happened with just one second left for the timer to run out. The play left Moore with no way to defend the call that caused it. “No comment… I’ll keep that to myself,” he said with a laugh when asked about the Hail Mary. But why did such a tense moment arise in the first place?

It all happened because of a bad call from Poggi. The chosen approach would’ve been to call a timeout, as the timer neared halftime. But he chose to run the clock, and Matt Rhule swooped in instead in that last second. The Huskers coach called a timeout, and Raiola went for it afterwards. It caused the Huskers to tie the score at 17-17 when halftime rolled in, a big reason why Nebraska closed in on Michigan by the end of the game. That play alone gave them hope, considering Nebraska had only 10 points on the board before the memorable play.

Sherrone Moore owned up to this mistake, as did Biff Poggi. “We did not think they were going to call a timeout. However, thinking about it, maybe we could have called a timeout and gotten the back end set up better. We had plenty of players, there were plenty of players, they were in position, the kid made a great play,” he said. Sophomore Dylan Raiola is not to be messed with, though he did get sacked 7 times in the game. But that miraculous play will be a reason why Raiola will be let off the hook a little.

Poggi has ended his brief stint as Michigan HC with a 2-0 record. If it hadn’t been for a strong run game and the Michigan defense showing up, Nebraska might’ve been able to give them a tougher fight. Unfortunately for Poggi, this Hail Mary will be a talking point of the game for some time. Matt Rhule, however, became a hero for this Hail Mary.

Matt Rhule has no “regrets” for the Hail Mary gamble

Rhule knew what was going to happen in those last few seconds. If Poggi had called the timeout, it would have forced Nebraska to punt. “I anticipated them calling a timeout with 12 or 13 seconds and trying to block the punt. When they didn’t do that, I let the clock run down to 1 [second], called a timeout and said, ‘Throw the Hail Mary,’” Rhule said after the game. One bad call from Biff Poggi ended up being a dark mark on his career as Michigan’s head coach. He was lucky Nebraska couldn’t quite get back into that groove in the second half.

That Hail Mary turned out to be of no use, but Rhule is glad he made the brave call. “I didn’t want to … have any regrets that we didn’t try, that we didn’t try to play. I didn’t wanna go out there and play close,” he said. Barney was also prepped for moments like these. “We run it every week in practice,” he said about the pass. “It was called. I was like, ‘I just gotta do my assignment and do what I need to do.'” The Huskers did go down at the end, but that risky throw and brilliant management of the clock will be remembered.

Biff Poggi will go back to assistant head coach duties, having done the job for Sherrone Moore. Now that his job is done – which included a bad time management blunder – he’s already making plans to sit back and relax. Hopefully, Moore takes better calls on time management down the road, as the Wolverines gear up for the rest of the Big 10 play.