The college football world rolled out the red carpet in Oklahoma this season when the Sooners hosted Michigan for a battle of blue bloods, but their next meeting in 2026 in Ann Arbor likely won't get the same pageantry now.
Michigan announced on Wednesday that it fired head coach Sherrone Moore because, according to a statement from athletic director Warde Manuel, Moore engaged in an appropriate relationship with a staff member. Biff Poggi will be the Wolverines' interim coach when they play Texas in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 after going 9-3 this season, including a Week 2 loss to the Sooners for Moore's return to his alma mater.
Michigan fires head coach Sherrone Moore
Moore, who played on OU's offensive line in 2006-07, went 18-8 in two seasons as Michigan's head coach after replacing Jim Harbaugh, who left for the NFL in the midst of Michigan's signal-stealing scandal that got Moore suspended for three games this season. Even that drama, though, wasn't enough to derail Michigan as a Big Ten contender.
That last nonconference matchup between the Sooners and Wolverines was one circled on the calendar for years. The home-and-home series was announced way back in 2014, and even then, there was already anticipation because fans knew it would be a clash between two great teams considering it was two blue bloods that almost always withstand whatever changes would be ahead in the next decade-plus. However, no one would have predicted this much chaos for the Wolverines.
Even for a program with as strong of foundation as Michigan, this latest situation and the timing of it will be hard to recover from, at least in less than a year before the Sooners go north.
The Wolverines are late entrants in what's already been a hectic coaching carousel. The likes of Penn State, LSU, Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State and even in-state rival Michigan State have already scooped up the best coaching candidates out there this year. That leaves the Wolverines with scraps.
That fallout and uncertainty could also lead to a roster exodus in Michigan, including star quarterback Bryce Underwood's future in Ann Arbor now up in the air.
What was once a nonconference clash between two college football giants that seemed invincible will now next season include a program shrunk down to just trying to pick up the pieces with likely a new head coach that no one really wanted and a roster without a name anyone knows.