USC Preview

Photo by Me!

Time: 7:30

Location: LA Coliseum 

Weather: 78 No Rain

TV: NBC 

Line: Michigan +2.5

About 2 months ago, I was able to visit the real Colosseum in Rome.   It's clearly not what it once was, but it's still incredible to see how the Romans constructed a large stadium in 72 AD. One thing that intrigued me was they designed a type of elevator to get large animals from the below the floor (where they staged them) to the fighting floor for combat.   The visit was very crowded with people as you might imagine or have visited yourself, but it was worth it to attend the greatest tourist attraction in the world.  I did not see Lincoln Riley recruiting. 

Vegas and ESPN analytics really don't know what to do with this game.  USC has a very powerful offense but they have been beating up on lower competition to gain those numbers.  Michigan has a very young QB who is getting better each day but lost when they faced Oklahoma on the road.  ESPN analytics say USC has a 70% chance to win against the Wolverines, as its tough to travel across the US and get used to a new time zone in 1 day.   If this was played at a neutral site, I think the Wolverines would clearly be the favorite.  

Dear Sherrone:

First off, good idea on going to LA early to getting used to the body clock change.   You were right, the UW game last year was a disaster.  A QB could've also helped during that game, but no reason to bring up that spilled milk.  Also it doesn't hurt recruiting when your program is invited to practice at a $70M Chargers facility.  It's rare a team on the road has better practice conditions then the home team. 

Biff was right when he said the coaches took the air out of the ball against Oklahoma.  USC like last year is going to score points, Michigan will have to as well. I love the run game against USC defense and I also like using the TE's to move the chains.  Wink is going to have his hands full with the USC passing offense and Michigan will need to score points pretty much every time you have the ball.  

I think the USC Illinois game is interesting to watch.  Yes, USC had the opposite of the body clock game, but USC did make mistakes on offense a number of times.  Getting a solid pass rush from Barham and Moore will be key in pushing USC into mistakes or quick 3 and outs.  Michigan has to have stops to win this game on defense.  

Sherrone I think the team has confidence with the road win over Nebraska and a couple more home wins.  The defense is playing better but I have concerns with the offense line.   They struggled at times against Wisconsin and we will need to see a better effort against USC.   I love our run game and I expect more big runs from Justice.  My biggest concern is the travel and the body clock.  

Get Wink to dial up some confusing defenses for the USC QB, run the football effectively with say 180 yards on the ground, Bryce adds another 250 in the air, play clean football, protect the ball, Z makes a couple long field goals, Michigan leaves LA on the red eye with a W! 

Michigan 31 USC 20