Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00One of the three ranked versus ranked matchups that we have on
00:06this fourth full Saturday of the season. The reigning national
00:09champs and number 18 Michigan play host to 11th ranked USC in
00:14the Trojans. First ever Big Ten Conference football game. Lacey
00:20Guy, you and I were talking about this last weekend on
00:22Sunday when the line opened because it caught both of our
00:26attention. Michigan opened this summer as a nine and a half
00:29point favorite for the early look at this Big Ten opener for
00:33both teams. They're now not even the favorite. They're the
00:36underdog catching four and a half points inside the big
00:40house. To you, is that a statement on where both of
00:43these programs are heading into week four in this 2024 season?
00:47Absolutely. Because of the, you know, progression of Miller
00:49Moss and the week one victory over LSU in regards to picking
00:53that ball game up outright as a four and a half five point
00:57underdog. That was incredible in terms of USC. Big picture,
01:00right? They were seven and a half win total, had a 20 to one
01:03shot, 23 to one shot to win the Big Ten. And even though we knew
01:07that Sherome Moore and Michigan lost a lot of talent, we still
01:10thought they could potentially be a nine win football team. But
01:13when their 23 game home winning streak got snapped by Quinn
01:17yours and how they lost that game. No offensive identity,
01:21Kevin, in regards to this offense, Davis Warren struggling
01:24now, Alex Orji. I think that's why you're seeing the
01:27fluctuation in the total and more importantly, the line.
01:31Well, look, we saw Michigan catch seven and a half points
01:34against Texas. I know for me, I was all about Michigan in that
01:36day. I thought we saw a wild overreaction, but it ended up
01:41being the right move as Texas rolled in that football game.
01:44But for me, what did I keep saying? Well, I was not, you
01:47know, surprised. I was disappointed that that team
01:51stuck with Davis Warren and they go into the Arkansas state
01:53game who cannot stop the run. And Davis Warren cannot stop
01:57throwing picks. And finally, somebody said, Sherome Moore,
02:01the danger man's on the sideline, waiting to spin it in
02:04a rippity grippy. I mean, he's thrown six passes this year,
02:07two touchdowns. Davis Warren's thrown 72 passes this year,
02:11which has resulted in two touchdowns. It's also resulted
02:14in six interceptions. Look, I'm not saying erase the first
02:18three games for Michigan, but I'm saying erase the first
02:20three games for Michigan. They finally put in the appropriate
02:22quarterback. Look, I don't know what they were seeing in
02:24practice. I'm not going to pretend that there must have
02:27been something that earned Davis Warren that starting job,
02:30but there was nothing that earned Davis Warren the length
02:34of time he was allowed to quarterback the Michigan
02:36Wolverines. Alex Orji steps in. We know he's dynamic as a
02:39runner. In the game against Fresno, he had five carries and
02:42went for 32 yards. Again, he has six pass attempts with
02:45multiple touchdown passes. I'm on Alex Orji to throw a
02:48touchdown pass here today at minus 110. I just think for
02:51Michigan in this spot, I'm not on the side actually. The Orji
02:55bet is the only one that I made for this game because USC's
02:59fascinating with how good they've looked and I was burned
03:01maybe in the Texas game, but for Michigan today, they have an
03:05opportunity to look completely different and that's a good
03:08thing. And that is the big story of this day. Alex Orji
03:11makes his first career start for the Maize and Blue. He has
03:14played in all three games this year. He played in six games a
03:18season ago, did not attempt to pass. He was kind of the
03:21athletic complement to J.J. McCarthy, 15 carries for 86
03:25yards. We would expect to see Michigan rely on the downhill
03:29rushing attack today. Their first time last week against
03:32Arkansas State, finding Pater as a team this year on the
03:36ground. More than 300 yards, 55 attempts last week against the
03:40Red Wolves for three rushing scores. So Kev, let's go to how
03:43the offensive schematics are going to look today with Alex
03:46Orji now under center for the Maize and Blue. You were on USC
03:51entering this year. Joe also had the Trojans in his college
03:54football playoff. My hesitation was the defensive side of the
03:58ball. So far through two games with new D.C. Danton Lynn, they
04:01have looked great. USC to buy in week number three, but week
04:04two, a shutout against Utah State. The first shutout the
04:08Trojans have pitched since 2011. How big of a test though
04:12is this for the SC defense today? I mean, look, it's a
04:15different type of test, and that's why, again, they needed
04:17to make that quarterback change because if they were going to
04:19step out onto that field with Davis Warren and trying to
04:21throw the football, they're not going to be as effective as
04:23LSU. And while Nuss and Gary, you know, and those LSU Tigers
04:27were able to move the ball, you're not going to do it as
04:29effectively for Michigan. But let's just stop there with USC.
04:32And again, I think part of the reason I'm not on the side
04:34today is a lot of respect for the Trojans. I think they've
04:37been, if I were ranking them today, the second best team in
04:40the Big Ten, with Ohio State getting the nod as a top spot,
04:43and that shutout over Utah State. There's two big
04:46takeaways there. First of all, USC shut someone out, which, I
04:50mean, huh? How? Whoa, whoa, hey now, all right? We've been
04:52waiting to see something like that for a while, and not with
04:55USC, but Lincoln-Riley specifically. But I know we
04:59could, ah, it's Utah State. The same exact football team the
05:03following week puts up 21 on Utah. It does not mean USC is a
05:06better defense in Utah, but it means you cannot hand wave that
05:10shutout performance, Joe. USC is giving off major national
05:16title contender vibes, although it's only two weeks.
05:19Yes, they are, and they're only allowing 100 rushing yards per
05:21game. If they can contain Orji and Dunnevin-Edwards and
05:24Mullings, force Michigan into long third-down situations, I
05:27think they win this matchup. The biggest thing, too, is that
05:30they have the better quarterback at least heading
05:32into this matchup in terms of the passing attack. Miller-Moss,
05:35that offense are averaging 336 through the air. Moss has looked
05:39fantastic through the first couple of weeks of the regular
05:41season, completing 72% of his passes. Here's the concern,
05:45right? They had six months to prepare for LSU, and LSU's
05:49rushing attack really didn't get going until last week against
05:52South Carolina with Caden-Dorham, right? So they had
05:55six months to basically prepare. Now this is a short
05:58week, and I think Michigan goes back to basics and says, you
06:01know what? We're going to run it until you stop us. You think
06:04you're good? You have a good front seven. Let's see. This is
06:06Big Ten football.