Welcome to the Big House and welcome to Big Ten football USC! The Michigan Wolverines and over 110,000 fans, mostly in Maize and Blue, rolled out the welcome mat and ran over the USC Trojans yesterday. Traditionally, the Big Ten conference and Michigan football, has always been known for hard grinding, run first football with games won by the team that controls the line of scrimmage. USC’s first game in their new conference (B1G) and first ever appearance in Michigan Stadium saw just that as the Wolverines’ ground attack ran over the Trojans to squeak out a 27-24 win.
Powered by a career best 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Running Back Kalel Mullings, the Wolverines racked up 290 yards on the ground in total compared to USC’s 96 yards. Michigan also saw their starting rusher Donovan Edwards break free for a 41 yard touchdown midway through the second quarter. Edwards ran for 74 yards himself for Michigan in the game.
Where Michigan’s run game was dominant, USC’s game plan was more focused on moving the ball through the air. Quarterback Miller Moss threw for 283 yards, completing 28 of 51 passes and three touchdowns in the game for the Trojans. Moss consistently found open receivers to keep drives alive and Wolverines’ defenders on their toes throughout.
Entering into the game, fans were a bit unsure of what Michigan’s pass game would look like. Earlier in the week, it was announced that Michigan would have a new signal caller for the game against USC. After throwing three interceptions in the previous week’s game, Quarterback Davis Warren would not start and Alex Orji would replace him under center. Orji, who has been described as an athletic phenom by his teammates, isn’t known for his arm as Warren. However it’s safe to say a large number of the Michigan faithful were anxious to see what could be from the junior QB Orji.
Although Orji did not end up passing much in the game, most likely by design, he did complete 7 or 12 passes for the Maize and Blue. As the starting QB, he actually had more rush attempts and yards (13 attempts and 43 yards) than pass attempts and yards (12 attempts and 32 yards) in the game, which may not have surprised many. What was most important for his team was that he took care of the ball and didn’t turn it over.
Despite giving up 379 yards of total offense, the Michigan Defense played well enough to keep the Wolverines in the lead for the majority of the game. It was not until midway through the fourth quarter when USC scored a touchdown to give the Trojans their first lead in the game 24-20. The Wolverines were able to keep pressure on Moss throughout, sacking the USC Quarterback four times and forcing a fumble as well as an interception. Cornerback Will Johnson came up with another pick six in the game, his second of the season. Michigan’s defense overall had eight tackles for loss of 34 yards and outside of giving up one big 65 yard run to USC, kept the Trojans rushers in check. In fact, take away that long run by USC’s Woody Marks late in the third quarter and Michigan holds the Trojans to just 31 yards in the game.
After the win, Head Coach Sherrone Moore spoke about the team saying, “The best part about our team is we got a team, and whether you run it or whether you throw it, we beat a good team (USC) and for us that’s what it was all about”.
Michigan (3-1) will stay home and welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-2) to the Big House next week. USC will return to Southern California and host the Wisconsin Badgers (2-1).
Final Score: Michigan 27 – USC 24
