The #11 USC Trojans travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan oozing with confidence and swagger, fitting of a team that has outscored its opponents 75-20 over the first two games of the season, including the program’s first AP Top 15 triumph since 2017. Conversely, defending national champion Michigan football looks like a shell of its 2023 self, having already been blasted 31-12 at home in “The Big House,” albeit against the now #1 Longhorns of Texas, sandwiched in between two wildly uninspiring performances versus non-Power Four competition.
Things have been so challenging offensively for the Wolverines over their first three games that initial starting quarterback Davis Warren was benched after a three-interception performance versus Arkansas State and Michigan’s leading wide receiver only has 56 yards on the season. Athletic signal caller Alex Orji will make his first career, as this has all the makings of the famed Maze and Blue running the ball 40+ times, trying to shorten the game in an effort to hang around.
Does Michigan Football Hold The Secret To Beating The USC Trojans?
Given Michigan’s play against a very similarly constructed Texas team, led by former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian, it’s hard to imagine the Trojans not having a similar outcome in the 30-13 type vein. The primary reason for renewed Cardinal and Gold vigor is the deep and immediate returns from D’Anton Lynn’s vaunted defensive scheme. Coupled with offensive mastermind Lincoln Riley, the Trojans are potentially elite on both sides of the ball for the first time since the mid-2000s – the heyday of the Pete Carroll era.
Lynn’s calling card prior to this season was turning UCLA’s 2023 defense to 11th in the country, a Hollywood-esque plastic surgery turnaround from 85th in 2022. However, while the Bruins were stout throughout the season, they only had two subpar defensive performances last year, where they gave up 400+ yards of total offense: Arizona and Oregon State.
The common thread with both those teams was each had a starting running back (Jonah Coleman and Damien Martinez) who was 230+ pounds and was given 15+ carries in the game. When you’re a 200-pound back entering a first-level running lane, pain is inflicted on you. When you’re a 215-pound running back, you dish out some and absorb some. When you’re a 230-pound back, you’re the one hammering a defense’s front. In both those games, the Lynn front seven looked worn down by the second half, thereby opening play-action and West Coast concept passing lanes.
Enter Kalel Mullings, Michigan football’s primary running back at 233 pounds, and coupled with Orji, who’s 236 pounds himself, the Wolverines will attempt to rinse and repeat this methodology. Furthermore, pounding the ball early with the run can allow Orji to settle into the game at his pace, while perhaps enabling home run running back Donovan Edwards to pop off a big play in the second half, much like he did repeatedly in the 2022 Michigan-Ohio State game.
Everything on paper and film suggests the USC Trojans come out victorious in emphatic fashion on Saturday. While I still believe that to be the case, keep an eye on the front seven’s endurance as they absorb repeated blows in the trenches from Mullings, Orji, and company. Game on.
