Michigan-USC preview: Keys for the Wolverines in pivotal road matchup
The Michigan Insider
247Sports, Michigan Football, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan, Michigan athletics, College Football
4.6 • 855 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Zach Shaw and Steve Lorenz preview the No. 15 Michigan football team's road trip to Los Angeles, where it will take on USC in a pivotal Big Ten matchup.
They open with a look at what the Wolverines' offense but do against the Trojans. They discuss a potential vulnerability in USC's run defense, where Michigan's pass game must grow, and what it can take from last weeks breakthrough over Wisconsin. They also look at players who must step up, Bryce Underwood's next step, the offensive line's progress and do offensive prop bets for the game.
In the second half of the episode, they look at the keys for Michigan's defense against a top-ranked USC offense. They discuss the Trojans' underrated run game, the receivers' ability to make plays after the catch, Jayden Maiava's ability to push the ball downfield and the ever-importance of Michigan's front four generating a pass-rush. They close the episode with a look at defensive prop bets, and make final score predictions for the game.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Wolverine 24-7 podcast, your audio source for all things, Michigan football, basketball, and recruiting. |
| 0:07.6 | I'm your host, Zach Shaw. Steve Lorenz is here with me. This is our Michigan USC preview, taking a look at the Wolverine's sixth game of the season and their third road game of the season. |
| 0:19.0 | It should be another sold out good atmosphere big trip for |
| 0:23.5 | Michigan so in this episode we'll talk about the offensive keys the defensive keys |
| 0:28.3 | other storylines we're watching in this matchup and of course we'll make our weekly |
| 0:32.5 | prop bet picks and our score predictions for the game and Steve looking at Michigan's offense and what they need to do, |
| 0:41.1 | I mean, a lot of it is kind of Michigan still trying to be the best version of itself offensively. |
| 0:46.6 | But this USC defense, the short version of my thoughts on USC's defenses, |
| 0:52.1 | I think they're better than maybe the worst of Lincoln Riley's |
| 0:56.7 | defenses, but it's still an untested group. |
| 1:00.1 | And I'm really curious. |
| 1:01.5 | I don't even know if this counts as a key, but I'm just curious to see what Michigan's run game looks like against this run defense. |
| 1:09.0 | Because they have not faced, USC has not faced a top 95 rushing offense this season. |
| 1:15.2 | They haven't given up a lot of rushing yards either, |
| 1:17.2 | but at the same time, |
| 1:18.1 | you do kind of wonder what does a true ground and pound team that can, |
| 1:23.1 | you know, block physically, get downhill, |
| 1:25.7 | block to the second level, |
| 1:27.3 | a running back who can break off big plays, maybe two running backs who can break off big plays, get downhill, block to the second level, a running back who can break |
| 1:28.4 | off big plays, maybe two running backs who can break off big plays, not to slight Jordan Marshall, |
| 1:32.8 | just Justice Haynes is a little more proven. |
| 1:35.6 | So I guess the key is if Michigan's run game truly is a step above everyone else USC has |
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