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Michigan shows Big Ten bona fides in bullying USC, spoiling B1G debut
By David Wasson
Published:
Through 30 minutes of maize-and-blue dominance Saturday, the USC Trojans looked not so much like an elite college football team and more like a college student hit with a sudden midterm exam having not studied a single solitary bit.
No. 18 Michigan was beating the No. 11 Trojans up and down Ann Arbor’s South Main Street with the same intensity that won the Wolverines a shiny trophy in January, and USC appeared ready to sprint 2,200 miles back to Los Angeles via the nearest trap door.
That script was flipped the full 180 after intermission – as the Trojans found an offense that had been mired in the muck and also found themselves on the brink of taking down the defending national champs on their fabled home turf in their Big Ten debut.
But football games are 60 minutes in length, and USC’s shot at unseating the champs dissolved with less than a minute to play in the absolute epitome of Big Ten football.
Harkening the echoes of a century-plus of run-dominated football inside one of the cathedrals of the sport, Michigan proved that it is very much still Michigan at USC’s expense – dealing the Trojans a 27-24 defeat that had the double bonus of reigniting the Wolverines’ hopes of back-to-back titles.
“We just played Michigan football in every way,” first-year Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said.
What does that mean, exactly? Three simple words.
Running the football.
With first-time starter Alex Orji helming the Michigan offense, the Wolverines piled up 290 rushing yards on 46 bruising carries – led by a career-best performance by Kalel Mullings. The senior barreled for 159 yards on 17 carries and 2 touchdowns, one early and one very late, and proved the difference-maker on a Big House field poised to mint a half-dozen difference-makers at any given time.
“Just grinding for four quarters,” said Mullings when asked how Michigan managed to get it done. “We knew it would be a four-quarter game.”
That Saturday was a tale of two halves is an understatement. Under a sun-splashed, last-day-of-summer sky that made the 110,702 inside Michigan Stadium practically pulsate, Michigan Bully-Balled its way to a 14-3 halftime advantage.
The Wolverines were chasing around USC quarterback Miller Moss like he owed them money.
The Wolverines were smacking around USC up front en route to 199 first-half rushing yards.
And the Wolverines were making everyone completely forget that they started a quarterback in Orji, who had attempted just 7 passes in his 3 years in Ann Arbor.
Orji was thrust into Saturday’s starting spot after senior Davis Warren, a former walk-on, was benched by first-year coach Sherrone Moore following 3 lackluster starts in which Warren averaged 148 yards per game and threw for only 2 touchdowns with 6 interceptions.
Warren caught a rear-end full of pine due to not only his statistical malaise in 2024 (including a QBR is 35.3, which ranked 103rd in the country entering Saturday and an output that ranked a robust 120th nationally in passing yards) but because the Wolverines simply weren’t scoring points. Averaging just 20 points per game simply isn’t the Michigan Way, which is why Moore made the switch even though the Trojans loomed.
Funny thing, though. For all the happiness and joy that Michigan enjoyed early, The Big House became a house of horrors in the second half. USC solved Michigan’s run-only strategy and held the Wolverines to without a first down until 2:05 to play, while Moss (28-of-51, 283 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception) simultaneously started finding open Trojan receivers all over the place.
In fact, the only reason that Michigan was within shouting distance toward the end was courtesy of All-American defensive back Will Johnson’s 42-yard interception return to the painted Big House plastic for a pick-6 and a 20-10 lead midway through the third quarter.
Moss was unfazed by the jumped route, though, and the Trojans made it 20-17 when he hit Jay Fair on a 16-yard TD pass and then found Ja’Kobi Lane on a 24-yard scoring bullet to take a 24-20 lead with 7:01 to play.
After trading punts down the stretch, Michigan got the ball back at its own 15-yard line with 4:02 remaining. Orji, having settled into his role as ball distributor instead of actual forward passer, attempted just two forward passes in the ensuing 10-play drive –the Wolverines instead leaning on the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-FieldTurf strategy that Bo Schembechler would have surely enjoyed.
Mullings, who opened the festivities with a 53-yard first-quarter touchdown gallop, came up big again on said drive when bulled over multiple Trojans on a 63-yard jaunt to move Michigan closer to the game-winning score. The Wolverines patiently meandered toward that result as the seconds ticked down, with Moore eventually calling Mullings’ number again on an all-or-nothing 4th-and-goal from the 1 with 37 seconds to play.
As the kids say … ballgame.
What did USC learn from all this?
First, the ages-old adage of “when you take your shot at the king, you best not miss” certainly applies. The Trojans had plenty of chances to end Michigan’s 2024 CFP title hopes in September, but ended up jetting home with a fistful of airline miles and not much else.
And Michigan? A solid combination of elation and relief washed over the Michigan Stadium congregation after the defending champs earned their 57th consecutive win when holding at least a 10-point halftime lead dating to 2013.
Moore’s squad took USC’s best punch, and when backs were truly against the wall threw return hands in the most Michigan way possible.
Running the football.
That’s the Big Ten way, y’all, plain and simple. And as a result, the defending kings of college football live to play another day.
An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.