Doubters, be warned: rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Michigan kicked off their conference schedule with a home matchup against Big Ten newcomers USC. The Wolverines found themselves looking to rebound from a rocky start to their season – including a humbling 31-12 loss to emerging juggernaut Texas. The defending champs entered the game against the Trojans in the unenviable position of being without one of their key playmakers, tight end Colston Loveland, along with needing to adjust the philosophy of their offense to best position quarterback Alex Orji in his first career start. Orji was announced as the Wolverines’ starter on Monday, after head coach Sherrone Moore was forced to bench Davis Warren after throwing his third interception of the day in last week’s matchup against Arkansas State (his sixth INT for the season).
But what fans got in this meeting between two perennial blue bloods was a true return to form of the ‘grinding meat’ Wolverines that infamously beat a ranked Penn State team on the road last year without throwing a single pass in the second half. The stat line will show that while Michigan threw the ball during both halves, the Orji-led offense produced an eye-popping 32 passing yards in their 27-24 victory over the visiting Trojans. It’s the fewest air yards the Wolverines have recorded in ANY game since 1987.
What the stat line will also show is that, absent a game-ending knee in the victory formation, that same Michigan offense ran for 291 yards on 45 attempts. That’s the most rushing yards the Wolverines have produced in a regular season game against a ranked opponent since their win over Penn State two years ago. The Michigan offensive line, along with the tandem of running backs Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, set the tone for the game early and would ultimately decide it at the end. The Wolverines went into halftime leading 14-3 over the Trojans, with both Mullings and Edwards breaking off 40+ yard touchdown runs that materialized from the outstanding blocking of guys like Giovanni El-Hadi, Dominick Giudice, Zach Marshall, and Max Bredeson.
Things weren’t nearly as rosy through 30 minutes for the Trojans. The USC offense, led by quarterback Miller Moss in his first year as the starter, only recorded a single first down in their first four possessions – including three consecutive 3 & outs to start the day. Meanwhile, Michigan would put up 199 of their rushing yards in the first half – the most ground yards surrendered by USC in a half during the Lincoln Riley era.
But those who felt like a rout might have been brewing in Ann Arbor for the visiting Trojans would be sorely mistaken. USC won the opening toss and elected to defer to the second half, giving Riley’s offense the ball down to scores to start the second half. Moss would go 8-2 for 61 yards through the air on his ten drop backs of the drive, ending in 9 yard touchdown pass to Duce Robinson, who found himself plenty open after Ernest Hausmann and Makari Paige appeared lost on who drew the assignment of covering the 6’6 receiver. The ensuing possession for Michigan would result in a 3-and-out, giving USC the ball back at their own 34-yard line with a chance to take the lead with another TD drive.
But this is where the budding QB prospect in Moss would learn a very important lesson. If you keep throwing the ball in Will Johnson’s direction, he will, inevitably, do Will Johnson things. Facing a 3rd & 3 from their own 41, Johnson is lined up opposite receiver Kyron Hudson out wide, while the Trojan’s burner, Zachariah Branch, has the inside route. Moss, keyed in on Branch, never recognizes that Johnson’s eyes are locked in on the quarterback before the ball is even snapped – allowing the Wolverines’ premier corner to undercut the route for a game-changing pick-six. Equally game-changing, Michigan’s sure-footed place kicker, Dominic Zvada, has his extra-point attempt blocked, giving the Wolverines a 10-point lead.
And this is where things got downright wacky. On the ensuing possession for the Trojans, USC came within smelling distance of the endzone when running back Woody Marks broke off a 65 yard run before being tackled by Jyaire Hill at the Michigan 2-yard line. Three plays later, on 3rd & Goal from the Wolverines 6, Miller Moss is hit by Josaiah Stewert, causing him to lose control of the ball before completing a throwing motion. Defensive tackle Kenneth Grant scoops up the ball and begins to return it, but a locked-in Woody Marks takes chase and rips the ball away from Grant, then goes out of bounds at the 27-yard line of Michigan.
Two plays later, Moss finds a wide open Jay Fair for the 16 yard touchdown completion. A sequence that could have ended with the Trojans getting all the way down to the Wolverines’ goal line and leaving without points would ultimately get dropped – giving new life to the visiting Trojans as they pulled within a field goal of Michigan. On the field, Grant owned up to the costly error.
The gaffs wouldn’t end there for the Wolverines. Getting the ball up 20-17 with less than nine minutes remaining, running back Donovan Edwards would have the ball punched out of his grip by linebacker Eric Gentry – who led the game with 12 total tackles, at the Michigan 18-yard line. Moss would only need three plays to capitalize. Facing a 3rd & 16, the keen QB would thread the needle on a shot to Ja’Kobi lane in the endzone, giving the Trojans their first lead of the day with just over seven minutes left in the ballgame.
With four minutes left and starting from their own 11, Michigan’s offense had been stopped in its tracks since halftime. After producing over 200 total yards in the first 30 minutes, the Wolverines had less than 20 yards in the second half as they began their last drive of the day. But, as they say, the rest was history. Kalel Mullings, who has now recorded back-back games with 150+ rushing yards on a total of 32 carries, put the hopes of the home team on his back by delivering 84 yards on the ground – hallmarked by an ‘instant classic’ 63 yard run on 3rd & 1 to set the Wolverines up in the red zone at the two-minute warning. Mullings would punch it in just a few plays later, scoring the game-winning touchdown on 4th & Goal from the 1-yard line.
After the win, Sherrone Moore – who admittedly felt like he was ‘blacked out half the game,’ said that he was more than happy to see his team get the victory in a matchup that depended on his offensive line imposing their will for big chunks of the afternoon.
“I love it. It’s my dream to see it.” Moore responded when asked about beating a team that knew the Wolverines’ success on offense would depend on running the ball. “Yeah, you want to throw the ball. But when you can run the ball effectively, it kinda breaks (USC) down a little bit.”
Moore also spoke to the way Michigan handled practice earlier in the week, and how his players – especially on the O-line, responded.
We adjusted some things in practice to make it a little more competitive and more physical, and the guys responded – they loved it. And the O-line, I’m so proud of them because I’m so hard on them, but I’m so proud of how they played today.”
Speaking about Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale, who came into the day facing a ‘prove it’ spot, Moore said that he gave him the game ball – and that Wink called the Will Johnson pick-six.
“Two drives before that, Wink was like, ‘He’s gonna get one. They’re gonna test him and he’s gonna get one.'”
Final: Michigan 27, USC 24.
