USC suffers gut-wrenching loss to Michigan on late, brutal 89-yard drive in Big Ten debut
The Trojans fall 27-24 after Wolverines RB Kalel Mullings’ 1-yard touchdown run on 4th down with 37 seconds left
MICH RB Kalel Mullings rumbles for a 1-yd TD on fourth down with 37 seconds left despite the efforts of USC LB Mason Cobb earlier today in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — ANN ARBOR — It ended the only way it could’ve, a test of newfound beef against the class of a conference, Trojan luster against Michigan grit in a 4th-and-1 to decide the first chapter of a new USC era.
USC had readied, for an offseason, for Big Ten football, for this new age and monumental shift in collegiate athletics. The gains came in bulk, and widespread, with whisperings of 1,400 pounds gained in the offseason and linemen showing up with tree trunks for limbs and carefully lit social media before-and-afters. It had worked for two games, smash-mouthing from the trenches, a completely new look for a program bullied and bruised in 2023.
But this was Michigan, the reigning national champions entering Saturday’s clash with USC wounded at 2-1 and carrying a point to prove. And after an afternoon of smashmouth football, a first half completely shutting down the Trojans’ offensive attack and a second half turned drunk and giddy in USC’s favor, Kalel Mullings lined up from the goal line down four points and charged right down the gullet.
He waited as the bodies dropped around him, and tree-trunk legs motored, and linebacker Mason Cobb’s shove to the turf was simply too late – the ball crossing the plane with less than 37 seconds left to seal a 27-24 win for Michigan and a gut-wrenching loss for USC.
After an afternoon spent running for his life, an afternoon spent arguably with as much time on his back as upright, USC quarterback Miller Moss stood for a third-and-16 with seven minutes remaining. And with no sign of the blows to his chest on the day, no sign of the third-quarter pick-sixhe’d thrown to Michigan’sWill Johnson, Moss unfurled a 24-yard strike to trusted 6-foot-4 receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, the sophomore rolling into the end zone with a 24-20 lead and arms firmly outstretched in glee.
It was impossible for this crowd in the Big House to not be entertained Saturday, after a first half in which Michigan (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) ran roughshod over USC’s defense and shut down their offense, only for a remarkably improbable third quarter to ensue. Needing a major adjustment after a half with negative rushing yardage and freshman left tackle Elijah Paige bull-rushed too often by Michigan edge Josaiah Stewart, USC (2-1, 0-1 Big Ten) completely reshuffled its offensive line.
Paige was benched. Mason Murphy, the program’s starting right tackle, shifted to Moss’ blind side, while redshirt freshman Tobias Raymond entered for the biggest snaps of his young career. Suddenly, Moss, who hadn’t looked quite as sharp in sailing a couple throws, was afforded entire cushions of Ann Arbor daylight. And he capitalized early, with a gutsy drive to start the third quarter culminating in a touchdown strike to Duce Robinson.
Johnson’s 42-yard interception return brought Michigan’s lead to 20-10 at 5:26 of the third quarter, a lead built by earlier 53-yard and 41-yard rushing touchdowns gashing up the middle of USC’s defense. And after another USC drive keyed by a 65-yard run from tailback Woody Marks, disaster returned as Moss was sacked by Stewart and lost the ball – only for a gutsy Marks to somehow charge and strip the football back away from rumbling Wolverine defensive lineman Kenneth Grant, setting up a touchdown from Moss to Auburn transfer Jay Fair to cut Michigan’s lead to three.
Moss was 28 of 53 for 283 yards, three touchdowns and the one interception. Marks finished with 100 yards after totaling five yards on six first-half carries.
USC tight end Lake McRee, who tore his ACL before last season’s Holiday Bowl and returned to play in just six months, was hit low on a pass in the third quarter and didn’t return.
USC’s defense held firm for much of the second half, Eric Gentry continuing to play like his 6-foot-6 frame was on fire with 12 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble and Jaylin Smith coming up with a massive third-down tackle to set up the Moss-to-Lane fourth-quarter score.
But with the Trojans needing one stop to clinch victory, Mullings went motoring up the gut and spun off a tackle, the Big House erupting as a 63-yard gain set up the backbreaker that ruined USC’s first Big Ten day.
Michigan ran for 290 yards and threw for just 32. Generally speaking, the Wolverines simply dominated USC on both sides of the trenches which will have to improve for the Trojans as they continue Big Ten play.
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Play calling has to get better, Had the ball with momentum, the lead and 5 minutes! 50 seconds were used with a 3 and out, 2 incomplete dangerous shovel passes and 1 run! had to keep the clock running or make them use their timeouts, or get the ball back with less than 2 minutes. They had 0 1st downs going into the final minute of the 2nd half, Cant lose when the other team has 32 passing yards, and they did exactly what we knew they could do well, run the ball. USC said we dare you to try… Read more »
Lincoln Riley has undiagnosed dyscalculia. He has a covert inability to determine time, even on an analog scale. Can USC obtain a retroactive medical-legal exam?
Yes the players played hard and stood up to Michigans physical play. But just the same, I can’t get over D’anton Lynn not stuffing the box on that last Michigan drive to win the game and our last drive with LR calling pass after pass and not running the damn clock. If Pete Carroll was watching the game at the end, he’d be shaking his head.
Stewart Mandel on USC battling MICH to the wire Mandel (The Athletic) — Saturday’s USC-Michigan thriller was a three-hour advertisement for New College Football. Two marquee brands that may have previously only met in a Rose Bowl, playing an intra-conference Big Ten game in September with Playoff implications for both teams’ resumes, as well as those of their opponents. And it came down to the end, with the 18th-ranked Wolverines (3-1) prevailing 27-24 after their defense thwarted the 11th-ranked Trojans’ (2-1) last-minute drive. Hearing Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson call a Big Ten game on CBS after all those years at Alabama and LSU still feels unnatural.… Read more »
Wait till next year? Wait till buyout? The sky isn’t falling but it’s propped up with toothpicks? Every year we get a little better but the upshot is still close but no cigar. I wonder if USC even likes cigars anymore. So what is the formula to fix it next year? My guess is close the border of California to personnel poachers. Get those kids from our neighborhood that are beating us from across the field. Then send Riley to clock management school. Sometimes a running play beats an incomplete pass by a mile. USC beat big 10 teams for… Read more »
right, Riley has to have an offensive playbook for running the clock down, even if its bring Malueve in for some option. those 2 shovel passes on that drive were terrible and dangerous, 50 seconds were used, trust the defense but they were on the field a long time due to offensive inefficiencies and sketchy play calling
Column: USC’s loss to Michigan a reminder that Lincoln Riley falters under pressure Dylan Hernandez (LAT) — ANN ARBOR, Mich. — USC played a team that passed for 32 yards. Not on one play. In the entire game. Coach Lincoln Riley described the 27-24 loss to Michigan on Saturday as a game his team could have won, saying, “We came up one play short.” In truth, this was a game the Trojans should have won. This was a game in which the defending national champion Wolverines were booed in their own stadium. This was a game in which USC had the ball and a four-point lead in the… Read more »
I railed about that last night and I am still furious about Riley this morning. Whether you get first downs or not, that 3&out should have been three runs. Except for the two kids missing that tackle on the long run (they will never forget that play for the rest of their lives unfortunately) we proved we could stop them. This loss is on Riley. Mental error with poor clock mgmt as we have seen before.
All true. We had ’em right where we wanted ’em. No coach is perfect of course, and Riley choked big-time with five minutes to go and the game in his hands, just like UCLA grad Hernandez said in the Times. USC’s expert play-caller suffered a brain freeze. It happens. It’s too bad it cost USC its inaugural B1G win, in Ann Arbor no less, but that’s how it went down. Following USC’s misguided “shovel passes to nowhere series”, Mulling’s fantastically dazzling 60+-yd run up the middle will now go down in MICH lore as a highlight clip to be relished… Read more »
I thought the kids played very hard. Tackling was good. A note….Will Johnson sits on the side throws for interceptions….he got one that was almost identical 2 or 3 weeks ago…..maybe a coach could have mentioned it to Moss? Riley…..our 10 million dollar offensive genius…….is more like a chevy with a bad transmission. If it is not one thing it is another. 3 points in the first half. It finally arrived that a freshman had to play right tackle…..in the middle of the Michigan game. In preseason the site mentioned LB and OL and DL as concerns. Well, no surprise.… Read more »
I’m banking on Moss learning from this loss. He’s truly been in the fire now and I doubt he anticipated the type of pressure he faced yesterday. How could he have? MICH was simply abusing our OL much of the game. This is only his fourth game, and frankly, he had no time to do much. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever seen a USC QB on his ass more during a game. He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt, and he’s also damn lucky Marks somehow miraculously got back that fumble he lost… Read more »
AW, letting almost a day pass after the game, reading nearly every single opinion both columnists and Trojan fans, identifying the primary cause of this heart wrenching loss is limitless. Of course the low hanging fruit in most posts, not all, is Riley’s decisions in crunch time ( game mgmt.) with some inferring he was psyched out in The Big House. Yes, seems the focus was on the shuffle / shuttle passes,along with first half conservative play calling. I do recall that our field position in the first half was not good. Riley sticking with the run, which we’ve criticized… Read more »
Michigan dominated in the trenches. I thought going into the season that USC would have to improve in the trenches to compete in the BIG. It will take a couple of years to recruit the OL and DL that we need to win a BIG championship. I still believe USC will have a good season after this tough loss on the road.
Agree 100% TR. Michigan had superior athletes on the D line especially and that meant Moss was scrambling for his life and ended up too many times looking up at the sky. I said this last year and it seems that nothing has really changed between Lincoln Riley’s ears. He believes he is smarter than everyone else but in crunch time situations, he proves all he knows how to do is get in his own way. Screen pass, shovel pass and the like when clock management is of the utmost importance. Make the clock run and make Michigan have to… Read more »
Let’s face it. How many teams will we face this season with their two tackles 300 pound behemoths and first round picks next year. That kid from Servite would never have gotten away from Pete Carroll. We need to build that recruiting wall around California again.
COINCIDENTLY: The back breaker for the Trojans was the 63 yard run by Mullings in the last minutes. Mullings managed to break free from Humphrey’s [19] grasp, and Ramsey [7] flew by Mullings, managing only slight arm touch.
Humphrey’s attempt was sound; Ramsey’s was sloppily over run. Coincidently, both Humphrey and Ramsey are UCLA transfers.
Riley has to be able to run more clock, they got the ball with 5 minutes, 2 incomplete shovel passes later punt!! should have at least made them burn timeouts or run 3 minutes off clock.
There’s still hope and a lot to play for. The B1G conference championship game is determined by the 2 teams having the best records. So, USC needs to run the conference table from here on out, have tOSU beat Mich in their game, and have one other trip up by Mich and USC would face tOSU in the conference championship game.
A few dominoes need to drop, but not too far out there.
I think the 2nd half OL lineup will stick for a while. Every B1G opponent will try what Mich did to us in the first half. There was much bullfighter blocking on MM’s blindside in the first half.
We went from hearing a weeks worth of stories about how we are gritty, tough, and overcame a big defect twice to take a game on the road to basically the same narrative to start the year. No moral victories allowed in big boy college football. Go win games like this, completely winnable. Good teams do that. I anticipate we will.
Wow is Marc Kulkim laying into LR for his horrific playcalling in the first half and that last drive at the end of the game where LR called passing plays. I have to admit, he has a point when everyone under the moon says USC needs to get out front in scoring to force Michigan out of their game plan, which he didn’t and was behind 14 to 3 at the half. Further, why did Lynn only have 6 and a few times 7 at the line of scrimmage to stop the rushing? Not that LR will pay any attention… Read more »
It was easily within our grasp. Yet we got beat by a totally one-dimensional team because of our weakness in the trenches and inability to finish well. Poor Miller Moss was on his butt so much it was hard to believe. Lots of things to fix, both short and long-term.
Not sure I agree with “lots of things need to be fixed.” Coaches made good adjustments in the second half and put the team in a position to win. Gotta give credit to the RB-great run against a tired defense. However, in my opinion, losing to Michigan by 3 on the road will not hurt the team’s resume even though this is a down year for Michigan. USC needs to just take care of business at home and beat Penn State and ND, who both should be ranked when they play. I believe that this year’s team is not a… Read more »
Since USC beat UTAH ST 48-0 two weeks ago, the Aggies have lost at home to unbeaten UTAH 38-21, and were defeated again today by previously winless TEM in Philadelphia 45-29 (which lost to OU 51-3 to kickoff the season).
After an afternoon spent running for his life, an afternoon spent arguably with as much time on his back as upright, USC quarterback 
Play calling has to get better, Had the ball with momentum, the lead and 5 minutes! 50 seconds were used with a 3 and out, 2 incomplete dangerous shovel passes and 1 run! had to keep the clock running or make them use their timeouts, or get the ball back with less than 2 minutes. They had 0 1st downs going into the final minute of the 2nd half, Cant lose when the other team has 32 passing yards, and they did exactly what we knew they could do well, run the ball. USC said we dare you to try… Read more »
Lincoln Riley has undiagnosed dyscalculia. He has a covert inability to determine time, even on an analog scale. Can USC obtain a retroactive medical-legal exam?
Yes the players played hard and stood up to Michigans physical play. But just the same, I can’t get over D’anton Lynn not stuffing the box on that last Michigan drive to win the game and our last drive with LR calling pass after pass and not running the damn clock. If Pete Carroll was watching the game at the end, he’d be shaking his head.
Stewart Mandel on USC battling MICH to the wire Mandel (The Athletic) — Saturday’s USC-Michigan thriller was a three-hour advertisement for New College Football. Two marquee brands that may have previously only met in a Rose Bowl, playing an intra-conference Big Ten game in September with Playoff implications for both teams’ resumes, as well as those of their opponents. And it came down to the end, with the 18th-ranked Wolverines (3-1) prevailing 27-24 after their defense thwarted the 11th-ranked Trojans’ (2-1) last-minute drive. Hearing Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson call a Big Ten game on CBS after all those years at Alabama and LSU still feels unnatural.… Read more »
Well written.
Wait till next year? Wait till buyout? The sky isn’t falling but it’s propped up with toothpicks? Every year we get a little better but the upshot is still close but no cigar. I wonder if USC even likes cigars anymore. So what is the formula to fix it next year? My guess is close the border of California to personnel poachers. Get those kids from our neighborhood that are beating us from across the field. Then send Riley to clock management school. Sometimes a running play beats an incomplete pass by a mile. USC beat big 10 teams for… Read more »
right, Riley has to have an offensive playbook for running the clock down, even if its bring Malueve in for some option. those 2 shovel passes on that drive were terrible and dangerous, 50 seconds were used, trust the defense but they were on the field a long time due to offensive inefficiencies and sketchy play calling
Contest Standings after Week #4
Go to the Post to get a full accounting for week 4
https://trojandailyblog.com/tdb-football-contest-2024-week-4/
Column: USC’s loss to Michigan a reminder that Lincoln Riley falters under pressure Dylan Hernandez (LAT) — ANN ARBOR, Mich. — USC played a team that passed for 32 yards. Not on one play. In the entire game. Coach Lincoln Riley described the 27-24 loss to Michigan on Saturday as a game his team could have won, saying, “We came up one play short.” In truth, this was a game the Trojans should have won. This was a game in which the defending national champion Wolverines were booed in their own stadium. This was a game in which USC had the ball and a four-point lead in the… Read more »
I railed about that last night and I am still furious about Riley this morning. Whether you get first downs or not, that 3&out should have been three runs. Except for the two kids missing that tackle on the long run (they will never forget that play for the rest of their lives unfortunately) we proved we could stop them. This loss is on Riley. Mental error with poor clock mgmt as we have seen before.
All true. We had ’em right where we wanted ’em. No coach is perfect of course, and Riley choked big-time with five minutes to go and the game in his hands, just like UCLA grad Hernandez said in the Times. USC’s expert play-caller suffered a brain freeze. It happens. It’s too bad it cost USC its inaugural B1G win, in Ann Arbor no less, but that’s how it went down. Following USC’s misguided “shovel passes to nowhere series”, Mulling’s fantastically dazzling 60+-yd run up the middle will now go down in MICH lore as a highlight clip to be relished… Read more »
I thought the kids played very hard. Tackling was good. A note….Will Johnson sits on the side throws for interceptions….he got one that was almost identical 2 or 3 weeks ago…..maybe a coach could have mentioned it to Moss? Riley…..our 10 million dollar offensive genius…….is more like a chevy with a bad transmission. If it is not one thing it is another. 3 points in the first half. It finally arrived that a freshman had to play right tackle…..in the middle of the Michigan game. In preseason the site mentioned LB and OL and DL as concerns. Well, no surprise.… Read more »
I’m banking on Moss learning from this loss. He’s truly been in the fire now and I doubt he anticipated the type of pressure he faced yesterday. How could he have? MICH was simply abusing our OL much of the game. This is only his fourth game, and frankly, he had no time to do much. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever seen a USC QB on his ass more during a game. He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt, and he’s also damn lucky Marks somehow miraculously got back that fumble he lost… Read more »
AW, letting almost a day pass after the game, reading nearly every single opinion both columnists and Trojan fans, identifying the primary cause of this heart wrenching loss is limitless. Of course the low hanging fruit in most posts, not all, is Riley’s decisions in crunch time ( game mgmt.) with some inferring he was psyched out in The Big House. Yes, seems the focus was on the shuffle / shuttle passes,along with first half conservative play calling. I do recall that our field position in the first half was not good. Riley sticking with the run, which we’ve criticized… Read more »
Michigan dominated in the trenches. I thought going into the season that USC would have to improve in the trenches to compete in the BIG. It will take a couple of years to recruit the OL and DL that we need to win a BIG championship. I still believe USC will have a good season after this tough loss on the road.
Agree 100% TR. Michigan had superior athletes on the D line especially and that meant Moss was scrambling for his life and ended up too many times looking up at the sky. I said this last year and it seems that nothing has really changed between Lincoln Riley’s ears. He believes he is smarter than everyone else but in crunch time situations, he proves all he knows how to do is get in his own way. Screen pass, shovel pass and the like when clock management is of the utmost importance. Make the clock run and make Michigan have to… Read more »
Let’s face it. How many teams will we face this season with their two tackles 300 pound behemoths and first round picks next year. That kid from Servite would never have gotten away from Pete Carroll. We need to build that recruiting wall around California again.
COINCIDENTLY: The back breaker for the Trojans was the 63 yard run by Mullings in the last minutes. Mullings managed to break free from Humphrey’s [19] grasp, and Ramsey [7] flew by Mullings, managing only slight arm touch.
Humphrey’s attempt was sound; Ramsey’s was sloppily over run. Coincidently, both Humphrey and Ramsey are UCLA transfers.
I noticed that two about them being sucla transfers, but I think they didn’t blow it on purpose PROBABLY 🤣
Riley has to be able to run more clock, they got the ball with 5 minutes, 2 incomplete shovel passes later punt!! should have at least made them burn timeouts or run 3 minutes off clock.
There’s still hope and a lot to play for. The B1G conference championship game is determined by the 2 teams having the best records. So, USC needs to run the conference table from here on out, have tOSU beat Mich in their game, and have one other trip up by Mich and USC would face tOSU in the conference championship game.
A few dominoes need to drop, but not too far out there.
I think the 2nd half OL lineup will stick for a while. Every B1G opponent will try what Mich did to us in the first half. There was much bullfighter blocking on MM’s blindside in the first half.
We went from hearing a weeks worth of stories about how we are gritty, tough, and overcame a big defect twice to take a game on the road to basically the same narrative to start the year. No moral victories allowed in big boy college football. Go win games like this, completely winnable. Good teams do that. I anticipate we will.
Wow is Marc Kulkim laying into LR for his horrific playcalling in the first half and that last drive at the end of the game where LR called passing plays. I have to admit, he has a point when everyone under the moon says USC needs to get out front in scoring to force Michigan out of their game plan, which he didn’t and was behind 14 to 3 at the half. Further, why did Lynn only have 6 and a few times 7 at the line of scrimmage to stop the rushing? Not that LR will pay any attention… Read more »
It was easily within our grasp. Yet we got beat by a totally one-dimensional team because of our weakness in the trenches and inability to finish well. Poor Miller Moss was on his butt so much it was hard to believe. Lots of things to fix, both short and long-term.
Not sure I agree with “lots of things need to be fixed.” Coaches made good adjustments in the second half and put the team in a position to win. Gotta give credit to the RB-great run against a tired defense. However, in my opinion, losing to Michigan by 3 on the road will not hurt the team’s resume even though this is a down year for Michigan. USC needs to just take care of business at home and beat Penn State and ND, who both should be ranked when they play. I believe that this year’s team is not a… Read more »
Just because a lot still needs to be fixed (IMO) doesn’t mean we aren’t a good team. We are. Last year’s team would have lost this game by 25 points.
I’m very proud of how the Trojans showed up today. We closed very badly, but showed a lot of promise and potential to be a playoff team, as you say.
Got some tough games ahead. Gonna be a fun season to watch.
MICH isn’t that great, that’s for sure. They’re beatable. No passing game whatsoever. OHIO ST will hammer them, just like TEXAS did.
Since USC beat UTAH ST 48-0 two weeks ago, the Aggies have lost at home to unbeaten UTAH 38-21, and were defeated again today by previously winless TEM in Philadelphia 45-29 (which lost to OU 51-3 to kickoff the season).