USC's same old problem cost them against Michigan as they fail Big Ten toughness test spectacularly
The USC Trojans played their first-ever Big Ten conference game, but unfortunately for them, they had to play in one of the toughest places to play in the world. They don't call Michigan's stadium "The Big House" for nothing, you know. That's a tough place to play, even in a year where Michigan is obviously […]
The USC Trojans played their first-ever Big Ten conference game, but unfortunately for them, they had to play in one of the toughest places to play in the world. They don't call Michigan's stadium "The Big House" for nothing, you know. That's a tough place to play, even in a year where Michigan is obviously not as good as they were last year when they won the National Championship.
But, they are still a really good team, as is USC who's beaten a good LSU team, despite the conference loss. Michigan just had to be the team to show USC that they are not yet ready for the Big Ten, and that's okay. They still have a Pac-12 roster, which is a good one, it's just not good enough in the right areas — specifically the trenches.
USC still, with a worse roster in the areas you need it, was a play from winning the game on the road, and that has to make Trojan fans optimistic.
"We were proud of the fight of our guys," head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game. "We fought our tails off, didn’t play particularly well in the first half, and struggled to get much going offensively. Defensively, we had a couple of just big plays when we came out of the gap. And that was really kind of the story of the first half, but the guys rallied."
The Trojans got beat down in the trenches, on the offensive and defensive side. One of the biggest reasons the offense couldn't get the running game going, and quarterback Miller Moss couldn't get the passing game going, was because the offensive line was getting dominated by Michigan's great defensive line.
There is a chance that every starter on Michigan's defensive line makes it to the NFL. That's how good they are — easily the best defensive line in the country. As for the Trojans' offensive line — a unit that was seen as an average one, and had some pieces that we weren't really sure on yet.
Michigan edge rusher Josaiah Stweart finished the game with a Pro Football Focus pass-rush grade of 94.9 and finished with a 31.4% pass-rush win rate along with a pair of sacks, three quarterback hits, and three hurries. He was the second-highest-graded edge defender in Week 4 in the entire country and just dominated both tackles on USC.
Miller Moss has been pressured 36 times this year and sacked four times. The offensive line has committed 14 total penalties this year, too, only making it harder on themselves. On Saturday, we saw a bulk of those numbers happen.
That's mainly just the pass-blocking issues the Trojans have had, run blocking is a whole other story of its own. Woody Marks, a dynamic, high-level college running back, was suffocated so many times against Michigan.
"I mean, we had some times when we ran the ball really well. Sometimes we didn’t. They had a couple of big plays, and then we had a lot of times where we were stuffing them in the backfield," Riley continued. "So I think it was just kind of a classic back-and-forth fight and sort of felt like it on the sidelines."
Michigan's defensive line dominated in every facet of the game. They were the best position group or room, you could say, on the entire field at all times. The offensive line was just whooped.
"Again. I don’t want to pass a lot of judgment until I can sit there and study it. I know those guys battled," Riley said. "You know, Murph (Mason Murphy) hasn’t taken a ton at left tackle here this year, and so I thought he came into battle, and I thought Tobias got in there, and did some really good things too.
"So it’s a talented front, again, challenging atmosphere. I mean, it’s about as tough as it’s going to get. And so a battle certainly, can we be better? Yes, a lot of fight that group."
And, the Trojans' defensive line isn't innocent, either. They were dominated as well. In all pass rush situations, only two players posted pass rush win rates over 20%, those being Jamil Muhammad and Anthony Lucas. Not even Bear Alexander got home on 20% of his rushes, which means Michigan's interior was doing some good work. Michigan's offensive line finished Week 4 with their best yards before contact number so far this season, at three yards before contact on run plays, per PFF.
USC also missed ten total tackles on defense, just something that can't happen in a physical league like the Big 10. This isn't the Pac-12 anymore. Yes, USC will get there, because they are a historic program that will always recruit well and compete. However, they aren't there quite yet. And, that's okay.
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