ANN ARBOR, Mich. — USC had the opportunity in its hands. An impressive road win was there for the taking.
The defense had stopped Michigan for the entire second half, and the Wolverines — with no threat of a passing attack — had to go 79 yards with about 2 1/2 minutes on the clock to win the game. Cornerback John Humphreys had Wolverines running back Kalel Mullings stopped and safety Kamari Ramsey, typically a sure tackler, was approaching.
Mullings spun out of Humphreys’ tackle and escaped Ramsey’s attempt and carried the ball 63 yards down the field to put Michigan in position for the game-winning touchdown.
The result was a gut-punch loss, 27-24, in the program’s first Big Ten game. A very winnable game — the Wolverines passed for 32 yards! — turned into a loss.
Those missed tackles and the ensuing 63-yard run weren’t the only reasons USC lost Saturday. They were part of several self-inflicted wounds that defined this significant missed opportunity.
“I thought we put ourselves in position, but you’ve got to finish it,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “You’ve got to make some of those plays in the end. Disappointed we didn’t make it. Disappointed but certainly not defeated.”
This one could come back to haunt USC. The Trojans are good. They displayed some toughness and mettle in the second half after an ugly first half when things looked like they could get away from them. The offense, after a disastrous 20 minutes, made some crucial plays and fought back after getting punched in the face.
USC could be a good team this season and still finish 9-3 — a record that might be just enough to keep the Trojans out of the College Football Playoff. The margins are thin in college football. Games like this and a play or two here and there are the difference between 9-3 and 10-2.
USC still has to play Penn State, Notre Dame and Nebraska at home and Washington on the road. There is bound to be a team that can run the ball enough with a quarterback who can pass for more than 32 yards — though it should be noted that USC won’t face a defense like that in an environment like this the rest of the year.
A win in the Big House would’ve given the Trojans some real runway the rest of the way. The thing that’ll hurt them and their fan base is that they contributed so much to the loss.
Michigan rushed for 290 yards, which is an eye-popping total. But it’s not like the Wolverines were physically mauling the Trojans on a down-by-down basis. USC’s defense was out of position and fit the run poorly, leading to some explosive runs — touchdowns of 53 and 41 yards — that allowed the Wolverines to sprint out to a 14-0 lead in the first half.
Michigan had 19 yards of offense over its five second-half drives before Mullings’ game-changing 63-yard run.
Those mistakes were preventable. Miller Moss threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He played valiantly and with poise considering how much he was getting hit and how badly his offensive line was beaten at times. But the pick six he threw to Will Johnson in the third quarter proved very costly considering Michigan’s offense did nothing for most of the second half.
Dang, that was pretty 😍 pic.twitter.com/F6ILFsYsn7
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) September 21, 2024
And the offense was a complete mess to start the game. USC didn’t pick up a first down until the 12-minute mark of the second quarter. Michigan deserves credit for that. The Wolverines defensive line flat-out whipped the Trojans O-line in the first half, eliminated the run game and didn’t give Moss enough time to hit anything downfield.
USC didn’t help itself, though.
“I just think we didn’t settle in offensively until probably halfway in the second quarter,” Moss said. “Obviously, I feel like I cost our team in a big way turning the ball over. You can’t do that against a really good team. I’ve got to be a lot better. We’ve got to come and handle the environment. We’ll learn from it and we’ll be better for it.”
There was some questionable play calling from Riley, as well. USC took a 24-20 lead when Moss hit Ja’Kobi Lane for a 24-touchdown pass with 7:01 remaining. The Trojans then forced another three-and-out and got the ball back with 5:01 left and a four-point lead.
USC ran on first down for 2 yards and threw short passes on second and third down. Both fell incomplete, and the Trojans ran a total of 59 seconds off the clock. Even if USC didn’t score, the very least it could’ve done was run two minutes off the clock and give a struggling Michigan offense even less time to move down the field.
“I thought I could’ve been better,” Riley said. “I don’t think I called a very good drive there.”
Riley took accountability, which is good. But USC fans will want better execution in those critical situations more than accountability.
This defeat was reminiscent of the Trojans’ loss at Utah during the 2022 regular season. There were questions about how USC could hold up physically against a gritty, grind-it-out opponent in a hostile environment. The Trojans played tough in both games and had opportunities to put their opponents in a significant hole, but they simply didn’t get the job done in either game, and their opponents were a little tougher in the big moments.
There were some questions about Riley’s game management in that one, too. And the Trojans suffered some bad breaks officiating-wise in both. Against Utah, there were controversial roughing-the-passer calls. On Saturday, there was a fourth-and-1 run by Michigan that looked like it was stopped short. The officials awarded Michigan the first down without reviewing the call, and the Wolverines scored a touchdown moments later. Questions about Riley’s teams winning those sorts of games will remain until they do so on a consistent basis.
USC responded well to that Utah loss. It won out during the regular season, made it to the Pac-12 title game and was probably a Caleb Williams injury away from reaching the Playoff.
Last year, the Trojans responded horribly to their first loss, a 48-20 shellacking at Notre Dame, and dropped five of their final six regular-season games to finish 7-5.
How will this year’s team respond to this setback?
“The players and coaches in that locker room and the fight you saw here out of this football team, it gives me complete confidence,” Riley said when asked why he believes the response to this loss will be different.
This year’s USC squad has displayed some mettle through the first few weeks of the season. But it’ll need more than that — particularly clean football — if it’s going to navigate the road ahead and achieve its goals.
(Photo of Miller Moss: Junfu Han / Imagn Images)
