Four Downs and a Bracket: Bully Ball is back at Michigan and so is College Football Playoff hope

Every Saturday, senior national college football writer Matt Hayes breaks down four trending stories, and a 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.

First Down: Michigan: welcome back, Bully Ball

Those bruising, battering runs from Kalel Mullings. Pounding and thundering and reverberating.

All the way to Columbus, Ohio.

Michigan found itself again Saturday, a punishing 27-24 rock fight of a welcome to the Big Ten defeat of No. 12 Southern California. But look deeper, everyone.

It wasn’t so much an upset win for the suddenly shaky defending national champions as it was recommitting to a powerful run game – and sending a message to the Buckeyes.

Because while Michigan has been grinding through the first month of the season with difficult games against Texas and USC, Ohio State has been frolicking through three guarantee games and barely breaking a sweat.

But just in case Ohio State – and everyone else in the Big Ten – believed Michigan had lost its way after dominating the conference the last three seasons, the game-winning drive against USC ended that narrative.

Eight carries from Mullings on the 10-play winning touchdown drive – 4 yards, 63, 1, 8, 2, 3, 2, 1 – capped an 89-yard drive where Michigan lined up with four minutes remaining and played bully ball. Like it did all game.

Michigan running back Kalel Mullings (20) rushes for a game-winning touchdown in the final minute against Southern California at Michigan Stadium.

The drive ended, on fourth-and-goal from the 1, with Mullings ramming over the left side for the winning points with 29 seconds to play. How dominating was the drive?

Mullings’ 63-yard run, where he dragged USC cornerback John Humphrey for eight of the yards, was the highlight. But the underlying reality for USC (and, hello, Ohio State): Trojans coach Lincoln Riley started using timeouts…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/four-downs-bracket-bully-ball-090737649.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-22 09:07:37

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.