What they're saying after Michigan's 31-13 loss at USC

The Michigan Wolverines fell 31-13 at USC on Saturday night in Los Angeles, falling to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in Big Ten play. The dud performance drew plenty of reactions from across the media spectrum after a lopsided decision.

Here is a roundup of what some key voices were saying after the game and what it means.

Ryan Van Bergen, The Wolverine postgame show

Postgame reactions: Michigan ‘exposed and outcoached’ at USC

 ”Exposed and outcoached,” Van Bergen said on the show. “But Lincoln Riley, off a bye week on national television, went Tom and Jerry mode on Wink Martindale and the Michigan Defense and made the defense look ineffective. They did it with balance. They did it with some run game. They did it with screens at the perfect time. They executed almost at will, which I didn’t think was something that was going to happen tonight. The offense that just chokes on the little bit of gas that you see it get now and again. We lost Justice Haynes in the first half, which was the only real positive that we may have had going. There were some flashes at the receiving position today… So it’s a humbling game that I think lets you know where you stand. You are not a top-tier Big Ten team at the beginning of October, we’ve seen glimpses of a team that I think can compete with the top tier. Tonight was not that, not that team.

“And that’s not the standard on offense, defense, from the coaching. So where do we go from here? There’s a lot of football left to be played. We’re six weeks in. There shouldn’t be anything left in the playbook. We should be wheeling and dealing full strength. Sherrone Moore, Wink Martindale, Chip Lindsay… what can they do to make this better from here on out?”

Chris Balas, The Wolverine

USC  31, Michigan 13: Notes, quotes and observations on another West Coast stinker

Michigan fell at USC, 31-13, in the latest disappointing loss on the West Coast … and yes, we remember the Rose Bowl (and miss those days). We’re talking about true road games, in which the program has struggled mightily over the years in failing to put a good game together. 

It’s hard to explain given that each team is different, what happened back then isn’t relevant to now, etc. But veterans of the fan base have seen this game before. The names on the jerseys are different, but the result was the same — a home team that controlled the game on both sides of the ball, and too many Michigan mistakes and poor overall play to win. 

A few of those losses have included poor fundamentals and tackling, a disjointed team — and that’s what it looked like, unfortunately, for most of Saturday night in Los Angeles. It was another of those, “it’s not that they lost, but how they lost” road games that left you questioning a lot. 

Like last year, when the Wolverines were 4-1 heading to Washington and we said, “this is a litmus test game in which we’ll find out more about this team” … well, we found out again on the West Coast. And it wasn’t pretty. 

Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine

Best and worst from Michigan’s loss to USC

Maiava got the ball out in 2.27 seconds on average, throwing a lot of quick passes, but Michigan still failed to get pressure on the longer-developing passing plays. The Wolverines pressured Maiava on only 5 of his 33 dropbacks and didn’t have a single sack. That 15.2-percent pressure rate is the second-lowest USC has allowed this season. Illinois (37.8), Purdue (26.7), Georgia Southern (24) and Missouri State (22.2) all got more frequent pressure on Maiava.

‘Tackling’ was a big talking point following the game, with Michigan’s defenders disappointed in their effort. There were a lot of issues, but there’s no question that was one of them. According to PFF, the Wolverines missed 14 tackles on the evening.

Austin Meek, The Athletic

USC-Michigan takeaways: Trojans roll up 489 yards of offense in statement win

A win against the Trojans would have left Michigan as one of three 3-0 teams in the Big Ten, with one of the conference’s easiest second-half schedules leading up to the final game against Ohio State. The path for the Wolverines to make the College Football Playoff would have been wide open.

Based on the eye test, the Wolverines haven’t looked like a CFP contender in their biggest games. This performance conjured memories of Michigan’s loss at Oklahoma, another game in which the offense struggled to find any rhythm. The Wolverines expected to be taking off at this point in the season, but instead the offense looks largely the same and the defense is showing some uncharacteristic cracks.

…

The Trojans averaged 6.2 yards per rush, the most Michigan has allowed since the 2022 Fiesta Bowl versus TCU. This Michigan defense doesn’t look like the one that beat up the Trojans last year. And if the defense isn’t dominant, it’s not clear that Michigan’s offense has the juice to beat top-tier teams in the Big Ten, especially if Haynes misses time.

David Hale, ESPN.com

College football Week 7 highlights: Top games, plays, stats

On Saturday, it became entirely reasonable to ask if Indiana could win a national championship.

That is a patently absurd statement, like asking if a fish could be elected prime minister of Canada. Of course, Canada tried that with a particularly cogent salmon in the 1920s, and it worked out horribly. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, seem entirely at home atop the college football universe.

Then look around the rest of the Big Ten. Penn State is in shambles after a third straight loss. Michigan was upended by USC 31-13 in a game that was more about what the Wolverines are lacking than what USC might be capable of accomplishing. Of course, this could also all be part of Michigan’s plan to lure Ohio State into a false sense of confidence only to beat Ryan Day again at the end of November, because it’s way funnier when it happens that way.

Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press

By the numbers or by the eyes, Michigan football not close to CFP competition

It could have been worse. Probably should’ve been worse. But just when the game was on the verge of turning truly ugly, Michigan football’s defense made a play.

And then another.

Not enough of them to save the game − or save the season, though technically U-M could run the table and get into the College Football Playoff. That’s a technicality, however, because these Wolverines aren’t close to that level.

USC exposed that here at the LA Memorial Coliseum, running over, through and around the Wolverines before eventually running them off the field, 31-13. As mentioned, it could’ve been worse.  

U-M couldn’t pressure Jayden Maiva, or cover the Trojans’ receivers, or stop their third-string running back, King Miller, who iced the game early in the third quarter – yes, the third quarter – when he took a handoff on 3rd-and-26, burst through a yawning hole, juked Brandyn Hillman, and tore up the field for 49 yards.