The Michigan Wolverines’ defense was embarrassed last Saturday against the USC Trojans in a 31-13 loss.
USC had 489 yards of total offense — 265 through the air and 224 on the ground. USC averaged 7.2 yards per play and was 6-of-12 on third down. The 224 rushing yards allowed are the most Michigan has given up in a game since 2020. Michigan even allowed King Miller to have a 49-yard rush on 3rd-and-25.
Michigan’s defense couldn’t generate a pass rush, totaling zero sacks, and allowed gaping holes in run defense. Michigan was often manhandled in the trenches, and when defenders had opportunities to make tackles, they either took bad angles, were too tentative, were out of position, or missed the tackle altogether.
“We’ve got to get better at tackling,” safety Rod Moore said.
Michigan had 14 missed tackles against USC and now are up to 55 missed tackles through six games. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore isn’t trying to sugarcoat things when it comes to Michigan’s defense — they must get better.
“One of the things we really hit on at the beginning of the week was speed and space, and tackling their speed and space. We didn’t do a good job of that, and that really comes down to angles, the angles that we take, the pursuit angles that we take, and trusting those angles,” Moore said. “There’s so many examples as we go through it, and as we’ve gone through the tape, been through it many times, of how we got to fix it, and players have been in numerous times already to look at it and fix it. Those are the big things we’ll continue to attack as we go through the week.”
Michigan’s defense has been elite for the better part of this decade, but its loss against USC showed they have major flaws that must be corrected in a hurry, or more losses are inevitable in their remaining six games.
“We’ve just got to come up prepared,” Michigan cornerback TJ Metcalf said. “Like you said, tackling, that’s the main thing we’ve got to get better at. I know we’re going to get better at it, so that’s really it.”
