23 long years. Yes, that’s exactly how long the Washington Huskies had to wait. Over two decades have passed since the Huskies defeated the Michigan Wolverines. While they just found some rays of hope now that Michigan’s hero Jim Harbaugh is away with debut coach Sherrone Moore at the helm, the CFB insider Josh Pate dropped in to rain on their parade. For he believes it would be an easy way out for Moore’s crew to crush Jedd Fisch’s squad. But ex-QB turned analyst Joel Klatt is definitely not going to buy into Pate’s analysis. In the J vs. J analysis battle, Klatt gets the gold star—he and the NFL legend are clearly sharing brainwaves.  

No. 10 Michigan may be facing an unranked opponent this weekend but that doesn’t give Moore a green pass to take things easily. After five consecutive home games, the Wolverines now face the challenge of being played on the West Coast. Why it’s something that they should be worried about? After all, they got defeated in four of its last five games stationed on the West Coast. Plus, what might be more alarming for Moore’s program is Washington who outplayed its opponents in yardage this season even though they lost both the games. Here Pate drops in with a twist, “The problem is they[Michigan] are 21st in yards per game now that doesn’t sound like a problem.”

Pretty confusing, right? But the insider tries to make it simpler. Moore and Co. are 21st in the yards-per-game rankings topped with 89th in scoring. On the contrary, the Huskies as the insider confirms are “82nd in the country on third down conversion they’re 116th in fourth down conversion.”

That being said, no matter how hard they charge at Michigan, they’re more likely to bounce off. “So they can get to the door they just can’t kick it in,” assured Pate. So it’s better for Moore to focus on his game plan as Pate sketched out the easy path, “You turn them over a couple of times on downs. They’re not good kicking either and that’s your route to win here.” But before Pate, it was the ex-Detroit Lions QB who is yet to figure out the direction of Moore’s program. 

Three wins later, Joel Klatt remains unsold on HC Sherrone Moore’s Michigan 

The FOX Sports analyst Klatt is definitely a tough nut to crack. Michigan rattled off three consecutive victories since their week 2 big loss against Texas. But wooing Klatt is a tough task. He is still not sold on the debut of HC Moore and his program. And before Pate could chalk them out an easy escape route, it was Klatt who dropped in with a bold claim, “Michigan looks lost right now. This is not anywhere close to the teams that we have seen over the last three years.”

But what makes him feel so? The Wolverines faltered badly when it came to their passing game that was topped up with too many turnovers. They now follow a strict pattern where they give in their everything in the first half only to be left with nothing in the second half, not even the power to move the ball offensively.

While we are not sure whether Josh Pate got the ex-San Francisco 49ers star into confidence or not, Randy Cross confirmed his preference in the Michigan vs. Washington game on the CBS Sports interview. “I am taking the Huskies,” confirmed the NFL legend. Let’s see if Sherrone Moore pulls out a banger on the first Sunday of October, leaving Pate and Cross scouting for places to hide.