Five takeaways from Michigan football upset win over USC

Photo: Isaiah Hole

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In the preseason, Michigan football beating USC looked like more of an expectation but by the time that the Week 4 game came along, it was a foregone conclusion that the Trojans would beat the Wolverines.

But that’s why they play the games.

The maize and blue had a solid gameplan in the first half, running an offense that almost solely was based on the run game and the quarterback keeper (which was basically the game plan for the entire game, honestly) and wearing USC down up front. But in the second half, it was ugly, as before the final drive, Michigan had run nine plays for seven yards. But then Kalel Mullings broke out for a huge run to get Michigan back into the red zone and he scored a few plays later on fourth-and-1 and the defense disallowed the Trojans from converting on a fourth down play as time wound down.

Here are our five takeaways from Michigan’s big 27-24 win.

1. This offensive plan could work down the stretch

Photo: Isaiah Hole

Now, yes, there likely will need to be more of an effort passing the ball as new starting quarterback Alex Orji attempted 12 passes with seven completions for 32 yards. But the Wolverines used the pass to catch the Trojans off-guard, more so in the first half, and allowed the run game to shine — with Kalel Mullings, Alex Orji, and Donovan Edwards. Michigan had more than 200 yards in the first half.

Now, the second half was a bit of a slog and you’d like to see more creativity on that front, but when it came crunch time, Mullings raced for 63 yards and set the Wolverines up in the red zone with the ability to drain the clock and make things tough on USC.

Going into the game, we said that Michigan needed to run the ball about 75% of the time, and in 58 plays, the Wolverines ran 46 times and passed just 12. And they came away with a win. Not…
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Author : Wolverines Wire

Publish date : 2024-09-22 00:00:07

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