Midway through the program's first September loss in five years, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore admitted postgame that he asked his Wolverines at halftime if they thought the game was over.
Michigan was getting smacked all over the field and trailed 24-6 --its largest halftime deficit since TCU led the Wolverines 21-6 at halftime of their 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal.
"I asked the team if they thought it was over," Moore said after Michigan had its 15-game winning streak zapped in an 31-12 loss, "and everybody was a resounding no.
"So no, I never thought that the game was just slipping away. You know, for us, we were going to fight until the end regardless of what the score is, and I felt like our guys fought to the end. And for us, it was just we've got to get better at those little things."
Regardless, the game was over at halftime, and Michigan got exposed for numerous flaws.
The Wolverines are listless on offense; they've yet to gain 300 yards in either of their first two games and were suffocated to just 13 first downs against Texas.
Moore wouldn't rule out changes to his offensive lineup but said he needed to review game film.
However, the first-year and first-time head coach acknowledged the Wolverines already faced a character test moving forward in a schedule that still has USC, Washington, Oregon, in-state rival Michigan State and Ohio State.
"My message to the team was that it's going to take resolve," Moore said. "We haven't lost here in a while. We don't like losing. We didn't lose at all last year. We lost once, twice the year before. So for us, it's like you don't ever want to lose, so you're never thinking about the loss. But for them and for us, I just think about them. I think about how they feel.
"What are we going to do to get better? That's all we're worried about right now. We're going to take everything we can on all three phases to get better, and every little piece. My message to them was we've got to do it together. You can't finger-point, and you find out who you are on the team when adversity strikes."