Gary Danielson, Brad Nessler question Sherrone Moore’s strategy: ‘What was that?’

As time ticked off the clock at the end of Indiana’s win over Michigan on Saturday, CBS announcers Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson had a hard time figuring out exactly what Michigan coach Sherrone Moore was doing.

While the Wolverines gave them a tough game, the Hoosiers ultimately prevailed, keeping their perfect season going with a 20-15 win. Indiana forced a turnover on downs with 1:35 remaining. But with all three time-outs remaining, Michigan had a chance to get the ball back. Those chances took a big hit when Hoosiers’ running back Ty Son Lawton ran for eight yards on first down. The play ended with about 1:29 remaining in the game. As expected, Moore took his first time-out after the run. What was not expected, though, is that Moore let more than 30 seconds come off of the clock before calling the time-out.

Both announcers were miffed trying to figure out what Moore was doing.

“Michigan not taking a time-out, feeling the second-and-short — feels like they’re almost conceding the first down here,” Danielson said.

“A minute to go, three time-outs when are you gonna use ’em?” Nessler replied.

As Nessler finished that thought, Moore finally took the time-out.

“Boy, what was that? That cost them almost 30 seconds to decide on that play,” Danielson said.

“That’s not good game management,” Nessler bluntly — and accurately — added.

“I think Sherrone Moore was thinking, on second-and-short, he wanted to go up and concede the first down,” Danielson said. “But IU was just gonna bleed the clock as long as they could.”

“That’s like gold,” said Nessler. “That’s just precious gold ticking away. In fact, it’s in gold in your play clock.”

On the next play, Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke ran four yards to pick up a first down for the Hoosiers. That snap came with 57 seconds remaining, meaning Moore’s delay in calling the time-out cost the Wolverines just over 30 seconds on the game clock. It ended up being largely inconsequential, as Rourke’s run would have sealed the game even if Moore took the time-out immediately. Nevertheless, even if Michigan had stopped Indiana, Moore’s delay in calling the time-out made what was already a tough situation for his team even worse.

[Photo Credit: CBS]