USC WR Ja’Kobi Lane celebrates after scoring a TD during the first quarter of their 31-13 win over MiICH at the Coliseum on Saturday. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)Bill Plaschke (LA Times) — Don’t look now, but a Lincoln Riley team just beat the snot out of a Big Ten bruiser.
Don’t look now, but a cute USC team just brutally slugged itself onto the path toward the College Football Playoff.
Don’t … oh, go ahead and look. Please, look. These being your traditionally flopping Trojans, you might not recognize them, but look anyway, because this is real, not to mention real fun and real loud.
The roar that swept through downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night did not come from Dodger Stadium, but the Coliseum, a rollicking backdrop for USC’s 31-13 victory over 15th-ranked Michigan on a stage full of gritty surprises.
Who are these brawlers? In earning their first signature Big Ten win in the two seasons since they joined the conference, the Trojans shoved and slugged and stole the Wolverines cheating hearts, outgaining them, 490-316, including rushing for 116 more yards.
“Awesome, awesome win,” said Riley. “Tough, tough response by our football team. … I thought we attacked it … dominated the football game on all sides … gritty, tough performance.”
What was that noise? The Coliseum was as raucous as it’s been in several years, screaming with John Robinson strength and Pete Carroll power, sounding like the glory days again, and it made a difference.
“I would imagine a lot of people would say that’s what it used to feel like around here in the Coliseum,” Riley said. “That was an epic atmosphere, the place was just on fire … you could just feel the impact of our crowd … you could feel the energy.”
And, for goodness sakes, who is this King Miller? He’s a third-string running back who actually pays to attend class with his million-dollar teammates, a walk-on who stepped in after top running backs Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders were injured and rumbled for 158 yards and a touchdown.
“King was huge, stepped up, made big plays,” said Riley, later adding, “And honestly, hell, we didn’t have anybody else, so what was I gonna do?”
In all, a surprisingly stealthy showing for a team that just two weeks ago folded in the final ticks in Illinois. In the embattled Riley’s fourth season, with his reputation’s back against the wall, this was a statement of strength, a message of transformation.
“It says we’re a tough-ass physical program,” Riley said. “That’s what it says.”
It also says they have a legitimate championship chance. The Trojans have a gifted quarterback in Jayden Maiava, a running-back pool so deep that the third guy is a King, arguably the best receiving group in the country, an athletic defense led by unreal linebacker Eric Gentry, a coach who is suddenly calling all the right plays, and now…
Could they really have a spot in the 12-team CFP?
On a wonderfully grimy Saturday night, it sure felt like it.
The Trojans are 5-1 in a new era where even two-loss teams can qualify and, OK, just play along here for a sec.
The Trojans have six remaining games in a schedule that could easily contain at least five wins. Yes, they play next week at Notre Dame, but that’s not the high hurdle it once appeared to be.
After that, all but one of the rest of the games seem reasonably winnable, home against Northwestern and Iowa, at Nebraska and UCLA.
Their biggest remaining thorn is embedded in a late November trip to Eugene, but, hey, Oregon just lost at home to Indiana, so who knows?
The week began with some trash talking about the Trojans’ adored home from Michigan coach Sherrone Moore.
“We’re not celebrating going to the Coliseum, there’s no pictures and selfies because we’re at the nice Coliseum,” said Moore rather desperately. “It’s sold out, but it’s sold out because Michigan’s coming.”
To which Riley curtly responded, “I don’t really care what he says.”
Advantage Trojans.
Then just before kickoff, there was more drama when a limping basketball star led the Trojans out of the tunnel after recently announcing she would not play this season while recovering from last spring’s knee surgery. Welcome back, JuJu Watkins.
Huge advantage, Trojans.
USC then set the tone by executing a near-perfect opening drive. Every play call worked, every Maiava pass was on target, every run went for yards after contact.
The Trojans drove 75 yards in 11 plays in barely six minutes, scoring to take the lead on a two-yard flick to a wide-open Ja’Kobi Lane.
Michigan then slowly took over, eventually occupying more than six minutes midway through the second quarter with a bruising 14-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Underwood to Donaven McCulley.
Tie game. Wolverines jabbing back. The Trojans folding? Every football cliche about West Coast softness coming true? Not this time. Not this team.
USC WR Makai Lemon makes a 12-yd TD catch in front of MICH DB Jayden Sanders in the second quarter Saturday. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)
“People thinking they can just come out here and do anything to us,” said defensive end Kameryn Crawford. “We had to prove that we just can’t go for anything.”
The Trojans regained possession and promptly drove downfield to end the first half with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a spectacular falling-backward-over-his-head touchdown catch by Makai Lemon with Michigan defensive back Jayden Sanders in his face.
They never trailed again, they were never even threatened again, the game ending with a second Bishop Fitzgerald interception, a kneel-down, and a familiar chant.
“We are … SC! We are … SC!”
For one magically throwback night, indeed they were.
latimes.com
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Eric Gentry — Truth Teller & USC Leader USCTrojans.com — Ask any player in the USC locker room about who the leaders of this team are. The first name many of them will say is Eric Gentry’s. “The leader that I look up to is Eric Gentry,” said freshman defensive tackle Jahkeem Stewart. “You need to have that one player who just stands out. And he stands out to me because he always comes from the heart.” Of the many qualities of a leader, the one that Gentry, a Philadelphia native, prides himself in the most is his policy of… Read more »
I have read reports that USC was fined $5000 for using Bryan Jackson.
Jackson was officially listed by LR as a Trojan who would definitely not play in the game.
When LR decided to play him because of injuries, the B1G slapped him on the wrist for that no no.
USC takes commitment from #1 2026 juco CB Jakwon Morris who was officially visiting the Trojans for the MICH game
Erik McKinney (WeAreSC) — Morris (6-0/1, 175, Northwest MIssissippi CC) is commitment No. 33 for USC’s huge 2026 class that ranks as the nation’s No. 1 group. He’s the sixth DB to commit. USC loses starting CB DeCarlos Nicholson to graduation after this season.
CBS coach Trovon Reed extended the offer. “Coach T-Reed, he’s my guy,” Morris said. “Nothing felt weird or unorganized. They made me feel wanted and let me know I was a priority.”
on3.com
USC RB King Miller named B1G Freshman of the Week Erik McKinney (WeAreSC) — The redshirt freshman walk-on stepped into the spotlight when USC’s top two backs — Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders — were lost to injury during the first half. Miller responded by rushing for 158 yds and a TD on 18 carries. It marked a career-high in rushing yds and according to USC, the 158 rushing yds are believed to be the most by a USC walk-on since at least the 1970s. Michigan had given up just one 20-yd carry this season and Miller ripped off two carries of 40+… Read more »
The blind squirrel LR finds an acorn!
Next week two scorpions are locked in a bottle.
Has LR stopped suckling the teat of hope?
Ranking 136 college football teams at midseason: The case for Indiana, not Ohio State, at No. 1 Chris Vannini (The Athletic) — A week ago, I said Miami, Ohio State and Oregon looked like the clear best teams in the country. Then Indiana, more than a touchdown underdog at Oregon, went to Autzen Stadium and won by 10 points. As a result, Indiana is No. 1 in The Athletic 136 this week. The Hoosiers are undefeated with the best or second-best win of anyone in the country, and they beat Illinois by 53 points, a better performance than Ohio State had… Read more »
Actually, SC’s record is not bad. They are 2 points and a few seconds away from being 6-0. Their only set back was in the infamous ‘Food Poison Bowl’.
According to Scott Schaffer the food poisoning was bigger than what USC let on.
I believe it. How they could play so well in every other game and then play like the Keystone cops in the Illinois game is a mystery to me. It was like 2 completely different teams.
Actually, USC’s defense was often viewed as weak before the ILL game this season, and faced significant criticism by both the media and USC fans. Even Clay Helton’s GA SO team caused problems for USC’s D that weren’t expected from a program of that lower caliber. And the horrible PUR Boilers passed for 305 yds vs a leaky USC D. USC’s overall lack of physicality and poor execution, as well as the haphazard discipline and high number of penalties, followed a long established pattern of defensive issues and late game struggles always prevalent under LR at USC. These are the… Read more »
Agreed….this defense wasn’t great in the first 3 games but they fell apart against Illinois. The D-Line was leading the nation in sacks and 2nd in the nation in TFL after 3 games. Against Illinois they were blown right off the LOS.
ILL was by far a better opponent than the cupcakes USC played in its first four games. By far. PUR and MICH ST are both total crap.
We all waited for many months for the ILL game exactly because of this.
That’s also a big reason why USC got beat in the trenches in Champaign. And as a long distance travel team, USC has sucked as well.
I don’t know who is favored in this game….Probably ND and rightly so. They’re playing in South Bend and ND seems to always beat SC wherever they play. ND has won 6 out of the last 7 games. That’s why, if SC doesn’t start winning more often, I am in favor of ending the series(contrary to a lot of pundants like Mark Kulkin). We really don’t need another big time program on our schedule as part of our non-conference schedule. It makes no sense to me to keep losing to ND every year. We can always re-start the series once… Read more »
You knew this was coming from Plascke as it’s his style of sarcastism. But can you blame him for being incredulous? So far we have seen an up & down team play and two weeks ago being one more loss away from a follow up to Penn St HC Franklin throw the bum out mentality. Riley, in managing away game fiasco’s, you don’t know what you’re getting. All we can do is hold our breath next Saturday and hope another Illinois game performance doesn’t erase this Michigan game momentum and embarass USC followers on National TV. I’m worried about some… Read more »
You have a major point in away games being harder to manage for Riley. The players are doing their best at taking responsibility for their mistakes with players led punishment. The coach needs to focus on controlling the time element. I doubt the players will be awed by the stadium Saturday so, what will be their downfall? The uncontrollable momentum stealing referees. Notre Dame is a team looking for a spot in the playoffs picture and they own the referees. One timely interference call- the one that doesn’t usually get called- can soften the pass defense. One freebie touchdown can… Read more »
We will have to win big at ND. The home field and the refs are worth at least a TD for the Irish every time we play in South Bend.
…or an anomaly.😂 Sorry, Jam!
Nice column.