Michigan football embraced its smashmouth mentality when it got the ball back at its own 11 trailing USC, 24-20, with about four minutes left.
The Wolverines had struggled on offense as a 14-3 halftime lead evaporated. Michigan accumulated only 9 yards, with zero first downs, on its first five drives of the second half, as the Trojans stacked the box to stop the run and force new starting quarterback Alex Orji to throw the ball.
But Michigan refused to oblige on the last possession and ran through the Trojans defense on the back of Kalel Mullings on the winning drive. Michigan drove 89 yards in 10 plays, eight of which were Mullings runs for 84 yards, before he scored the game-winning touchdown on a fourth-down run with 37 seconds left.
“That’s just a representation of who we are, always straight until the very end,” Mullings said. “Throughout that drive, it was just grit and grinding ’em. You know, we like to say ‘grinding meat’ and we were grinding meat that whole time.”
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Michigan kept pounding the ball into the face of USC’s defensive line with Mullings, who broke through once again. After one first down, Mullings broke through the front seven, raced to USC’s last line of defense and bowled through two defenders for a 63-yard gain. His legs churned through the contact as he fought off swarms of Trojans to reach the red zone.
“I’m always, always trying to make plays, but it’s the fourth quarter, not much time left,” Mullings said postgame. “It was now or never.”
The big play took Michigan to USC’s 17-yard line with two minutes left. Michigan kept feeding the hot hand, giving it to Mullings on the next four plays, and he carried Michigan down to the 3 for second-and-goal. They went back to him on third-and-goal to reach the 1 and then again on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with the game on the line.
Michigan called a power run behind the left side of the offensive line. Myles Hinton, Josh Priebe and Andrew Gentry caved the line in and fullback Max Bredeson set the edge with a powerful block to allow Mullings a clear path to the end zone. Moore said the play call came from offensive line coach Grant Newsome, who instantly knew what they wanted to run on fourth down. From there, it was up to Mullings and the blockers.
“Fourth-and-1 to win the game, it was a challenge to the O-line — it’s on you,” head coach Sherrone Moore said proudly of his old position group.
USC got the ball for a final possession but failed to reach field goal range, giving Moore his first Big Ten win as full-time head coach.
Michigan stuck with Mullings over Donovan Edwards in the backfield because he was thriving — and Edwards fumbled earlier in the quarter to set up USC’s final go-ahead touchdown. Moore said it wasn’t shocking that Mullings, who finished with 159 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, emerged in crunch time.
“To see him take the next step and really make those explosive plays … and when the game is on the line, he wants the ball in his hands and he made plays happen,” Moore said. “I mean, he’s a star. He’s a game-breaker.”
Michigan needed those late game heroics to stave off what would have been a devastating collapse. Michigan jumped out to a 14-0 lead early on two long touchdowns from Mullings and Edwards, but the offense ground to a halt until the game-winning drive. Michigan only threw for 32 yards with Orji, the program’s lowest total in a victory since 1987, and USC packed the box after being gashed early.
But Michigan stuck with the recipe and took USC back into the meat grinder when it mattered. It was a similar recipe to Michigan’s victory over Penn State last year, when Moore served as interim coach and called 32 straight runs to close it out.
“That’s my dream,” Moore said sarcastically when asked about the low passing numbers. “Yeah, I want to throw the ball, but when you can run the ball effectively, it kind of breaks you down a little bit.”
“Everyone was out there grinding and we were all able to make some plays so it was beautiful,” Mullings said.
Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city’s professional teams, the state’s two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Kalel Mullings powered Michigan football’s winning drive over USC
