Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia looks back at Michigan football’s 28-18 victory over Arkansas State and looks ahead to the Wolverines’ second big test of the season against new Big Ten foe No. 12 USC on Saturday.
Next up for No. 17 Michigan: No. 12 University of Southern California
Matchup: No. 17 Michigan (2-1) vs. No. 12 USC (2-0).
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Saturday; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: CBS; WXYT-FM (97.1).
Line: Trojans by 6½.
A SMALL DROP: Michigan Wolverines in college football rankings Week 3: Here’s how far they dropped
Know the foe
Michigan is scheduled to meet three of the four conference newcomers this year with perhaps the most prestigious of the group, USC, up first. It’s a program that like the Wolverines, claims 11 national championships, tied for second in the nation behind only Alabama (18) and brings momentum into its new era. Last season didn’t go the way the Trojans wanted it to go, finishing 8-5 despite bringing back the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who was also the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft in Caleb Williams.
Head coach Lincoln Riley re-tooled in the offseason. He got rid of his defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch, who he brought with him to USC from Norman, Oklahoma, and replaced him with D’Anton Lynn, another Ravens’ style mind like U-M has had in recent years with Mike MacDonald, Jesse Minter and now Wink Martindale.
Redshirt junior Miller Moss has taken over the offense at quarterback and he’s been exceptional through two games, completing 48 of 66 passes (72.7%) for 608 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. Perhaps what’s hardest to stop about the USC attack is how Moss is able to spread the ball around. Currently, there are eight players on the team who have some combination of two or more receptions, 49 receiving yards and a touchdown while U-M, only has three such players.
USC is No. 7 in the nation in passing yards (336.5 per game), tied for No. 16 in total offense (495.5 yards per game) and No. 27 in points per game (37.5), even though they had to face a ranked SEC team (and won, 27-20) vs. LSU.
Keep an eye out for tight end Lake McRee, who leads the way with nine grabs and 137 yards, followed by Kyron Hudson with (six grabs for 99 yards) and wide receiver Kyle Ford (four grabs, 80 yards). But if there’s one game-wrecker on offense, it’s do-it-all athlete Zachariah Branch. Not only does U-M have to watch out for him in the return game, but he is a threat to go the distance anytime he touches the ball, even though he has just eight grabs for 75 yards to this point. Last but not least on offense, running back Woody Marks. The senior from Atlanta (Mississippi State transfer) has 29 rushes for 171 yards and three touchdowns in the early going.
USC has also been much improved on defense, currently ranked T-No. 18 in scoring (10 points per game), No. 31 in third-down defense (29.2% conversions) and No. 55 in total defense (305.5 yards per game). If there were one player to circle on each level it’s Bear Alexander (defensive tackle), Eric Gentry (linebacker) and Akili Arnold (defensive back).
Tony Garcia’s 3 things we learned
Quarterback questions: Michigan seemed to find its running game against Arkansas State in Week 3, when it ran 44 times for 301 yards (6.8 yards per attempt) and three rushing touchdowns. Most watching came to the assessment that Kalel Mullings should be considered the team’s focal point back. He had career day, running 15 times for 153 yards and two scores as Pro Football Focus gave him the highest (87.3) grade of any U-M player in the game as well as for his career.
The problem, however, a quarterback controversy appears to have re-emerged at the same time. Starting QB Davis Warren won the job late in fall camp and has looked solid at times but he continued to put the ball in harms way. Warren was 11 for 14 for 122 yards on Saturday, numbers which would be acceptable if all three incompletions had not been interceptions. U-M then brought in Alex Orji to replace him, and though Michigan immediately went on a nine-play, 80-yard drive, almost all of it came on the ground, which did little to prove the offense will look much different should there be a switch.
Add to it that Jack Tuttle, a seventh-year quarterback who many expected to be the in the race for the starting job before injuries in the spring, is beginning to get healthy. It feels truly unsettled which way Michigan will go at quarterback in Week 4. Not ideal considering it’s the start of Big Ten play.
Tight end touches: Head coach Sherrone Moore didn’t want to speculate on injury, but given that tight end Colston Loveland had to leave the game in the third quarter and returned wearing street clothes, it doesn’t seem to bode well for his chances to play next week.
To call it a big blow to the offense is an understatement. Loveland may be the best tight end in the country, and he’s certainly the team’s best pass catching weapon, having hauled in 19 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown in just more than 2½ games this season. Should he not be able to go, Michigan will have to find a way to replace his production, and one of the few silver linings to this season appears to be that U-M has those guys waiting in the wings.
LOVELAND’S REPLACEMENT: Who is Michigan’s backup tight end: Meet Marlin Klein, who replaces Colston Loveland
Tight end Marlin Klein enjoyed a career afternoon, leading all pass catchers with three receptions for 42 yards. True freshman tight end Hogan Hansen saw the field for the first time in his career and all he did was haul in a 9-yard touchdown reception for Michigan’s final score of the day as he saw three snaps on the afternoon.
“We’ve always had a lot of confidence in Marlin and still do,” Moore said. “I think he’s going to be a really good player and he’s going to continue to show that in the run and the pass. Confident in him.”
“All camp he has made plays,” he said of Hansen. “We’re like, ‘Well, when it’s his time, he’ll be ready.’ He stepped in there and he made a good play.”
Defensive discipline: It was a mixed bag for Martindale’s unit on Saturday, which at times looked like a top unit in the country. The good news, Mason Graham (two tackles, two hurries) and Kenneth Grant (two tackles, one hurry, one pass break up) each played 30 snaps or fewer and were two of the top three graded defenders per PFF.
The problem was the general lack of discipline from the unit which cost them to a certain degree on Saturday but could burn them in a worse way in the future. On the first series of the day, U-M had Arkansas State stopped on a third-and-20, when Quinten Johnson hit Jaylen Raynor late out of bounds to extend the drive. There were a handful of minor penalties on the offense − false start, illegal formation and holding which lost a net of 20 yards − but the defense’s mistakes really added up.
After an offsides penalty on Derrick Moore, Johnson was flagged for a facemask on fourth-and-8 which kept the Red Wolves’ drive alive before Dom Nichols was called for roughing the passer after Michigan appeared to have come up with a stop on fourth-and-3. Michigan, the least penalized team in America last year, was flagged seven times for 69 yards.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football: What we learned vs. Arkansas State, what to watch vs. USC
