Position by position report card: Michigan at USC

Quarterbacks: B-

This was not one of the better games of Bryce Underwood's young career thus far. He finished 15/24 for 207 yards, 2 TD's and 1 INT. He also ran the ball 5 for 4 yards as his legs were a relative non-factor in this game. While he did complete 62.5% of his passes, he also missed a couple easy ones pretty badly. He skipped what would've been a first down to Semaj Morgan's feet and looked more rattled than he has in any other game outside of Oklahoma thus far. The interception I don't actually blame him for, as Donaven McCulley appeared to have gotten interfered with on that play and the Wolverines just didn't get the pass interference call. He did make some nice throws as well, in particular the 69-yard touchdown to Andrew Marsh, where he read the coverage quickly and threw a beautiful pass to give Marsh time to catch it before the safety could come over and break it up. I think fans need to remember he is still a true freshman and while he didn't play great in this one, the overall game result was from from Bryce Underwood's fault.

Running Backs: B+

Justice Haynes looked good early but then left due to injury in what was a very unfortunate situation for the Wolverines. Jordan Marshall would step in nicely as he totaled 100 total yards on 15 touches the rest of the way and looked very capable of leading this backfield should Haynes have to miss some time due to injury. None of the other running backs really factored in here as Michigan seemingly doesn't trust anyone else to do a whole lot behind Jordan Marshall. This running back room becomes pretty thin on paper if Haynes does have to miss some time and while Marshall did run well and is a good player, they do lose a bit of explosiveness on the ground without Justice Haynes and his breakaway speed.

Wide receivers and tight ends: C+

Andrew Marsh was really good once again for Michigan. He has 8 catches for 138 yards and 1 TD. He made plays all game, none bigger than when he broke one 69-yards for a Michigan TD in the second half. Donaven McCulley also looked solid once again, albeit he was seemingly a little bit off on timing and spacing a couple times on some of Bryce Underwood's passes. McCulley did have the 3 catches for 39 yards and 1 TD, but it was on 8 targets which isn't a very good catch rate. The rest of the wide receivers and tight ends contributed almost nothing, which is not a good sign for Michigan's passing game. They need the rest of the position group to step up and play better to make life easier on their young quarterback.

Offensive Line: C-

Another lackluster performance from this position group, the offensive line has now struggled for most of this season for Michigan. Michigan's offense mustered only 316 total yards and a lot of that was because Michigan's offensive line couldn't get a sustained push in the run game and also couldn't give Bryce Underwood much time in the pocket when he dropped back to pass. This unit has really underperformed for Michigan for the second consecutive season now it appears and you really have to hope they start to click and figure this out as the season continues.

Defensive Line: C-

The defensive line was a relative non-factor in this game, which is not a good thing for Michigan's defense. The defensive line should be the strength of this defense and for it to play such a non-factor is concerning. They got moved off the ball in the run game and didn't get enough pash rush either as Jayden Maiava was hardly pressured all game. Derrick Moore was about the only player I'd give a better grade to as an individual, he played a good game in this one but unfortunately he was more or less the only one who made several plays. Trey Pierce did have one nice play where he shoved the guard into the backfield and wrapped up the running back for a tackle of no gain on the play but overall Michigan needs to be able to get that more often from this unit.

Linebackers: D+

The linebackers had a very rough game. Ernest Hausman and Jimmy Rolder were often out of position and each missed at least two tackles as well. The USC tight ends also had free access to run right up the middle of the field against the pass and that falls on the linebackers as well. For how experienced this unit should be, they have not played nearly well enough for Michigan this season and this game was probably their worst one so far. With how much the duo of Hausman and Rolder struggled, I'd like to see more of Cole Sullivan out there but he also got hurt in this game so that's not exactly a good sign either. Hausman in particular was a better player last year so I'm not sure what's going on with him but he is really struggling right now and needs to snao out of it or this defense will continue to struggle.

Secondary: C+

I know USC threw it all over the yard in this game but I actually didn't think the secondary was that bad. Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane are both NFL draft picks at wide receiver so I don't blame our young secondary for struggling to keep them both in check. The first TD Lane scored also appeared to be fairly obvious missed offensive pass interference that just didn't get called for some reason so even that one wasn't really their fault. My biggest complaint in terms of pass coverage was the secondary was the extreme cushion they gave to the USC wide receivers all night but that is a coaching decision for sure so I don't the players for that one. The tackling in this unit was pretty poor though and that's why the grade is a C+ and not higher. Brandon Hillman had a poor showing, he missed at least 3 tackles himself and the unit in general needs to be much better at tackling than they showed in this game for things to get better on defense.

Special Teams: D

This unit was fairly bad once again. The punting in particular was just horrible. I gave Hudson Hollenbeck props for how he punted last week but in this game he was just terrible and has been way too inconsistent this season. Michigan's special teams used to be one of the better units in the country when coach Jim Harbaugh was around and they have fallen off a long ways in just a year and a half under Sherrone Moore. The only positive of this unit was Semaj Morgan did a better job of making fair catches instead of letting the punts bounce like he has for much of his career at Michigan.

Coaching: F

There's really no other way this grade can go, the coaching of every single aspect was just awful. the team did not play hard or look fired up to be out there and that falls on the head coach. They didn't look prepared on either side of the ball and that also falls on the head coach. The time management at the end of the first half was bad once again as they continue to shoot themselves in the foot in those situations. Sherrone Moore looks way in over his head as an in-game coach and in year two of his tenure he shouldn't be making this many critical mistakes.

The offense has no coherent plan and I'm not even sure what their identity is supposed to be anymore. They are supposed to be a smash mouth team with wrinkles to attack defenses when they try to load the box but all year Chip Lindsey has wasted drives by running into stacked boxes and passing when the defense has a weak box. It just doesn't make a lot of sense in really any way and they need to fix that aspect of it before anything will improve offensively.

The defense has been a huge disappointment this season in general and in this game they got out-coached and outmaneuvered at every aspect of the defense. There's no better play that encapsulates this point than the third and 20+ that USC called a simple run play that they then broke for 50+ yards because Wink Martindale had 6 players up on the line of scrimmage to show a pressure which then got their whole front seven out of position to make the tackle on the ball carrier. Just a horrendous call in a huge moment and it effectively ended the game. They also gave huge cushions to the wide receivers so USC could do screens and simple quick routes to gain an easy 8-10 yards whenever they wanted to. That's a coaching decision and while the overall goal seemed like it was to play a bend but don't break style and try to tighten up in the red zone, the defense somehow got gashed against both the run and the pass so I have no idea why Wink Martindale didn't at least try to pivot to take away one of the aspects of the USC offense instead of letting them get whatever they wanted to. The defense has so much more individual talent than it's being allowed to showcase due to the scheme and play-calling and that falls on the coaching for not getting enough plays out of a unit that's more talented than they're playing as a unit.

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