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    • How Kalel Mullings fueled Michigan football’s winning drive over USC
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    How Kalel Mullings fueled Michigan football’s winning drive over USC

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    The Michigan football team embraced the smashmouth mentality when it got the ball back on its own 11-yard line while trailing USC 24-20 with about four minutes left in the game.

    The Wolverines struggled on offense as a 14-3 halftime lead evaporated. Michigan mustered just 9 yards, with zero first downs, on its first five drives of the second half, while the Trojans stacked the box to stop the run and force new starting quarterback Alex Orji to throw the ball.

    But Michigan refused to comply on its final possession, tearing through the Trojans’ defense on the back of Kalel Mullings on the winning drive. Michigan drove 89 yards on 10 plays, eight of which were Mullings runs for 84 yards, before scoring the game-winning touchdown on a fourth-down run with 37 seconds left.

    “That’s just a representation of who we are, always going straight to the end,” Mullings said. “That ride was just pushing through and grinding. You know, we like to say ‘grinding meat,’ and we were grinding meat the whole time.”

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    Michigan continued to pound the ball into the face of USC’s defensive line with Mullings breaking through again. After a first down, Mullings broke through the front seven, raced to USC’s last line of defense and threw through two defenders for a gain of 63 yards. His legs spun from the contact as he fended off swarms of Trojans to reach the red zone.

    “I always, always try to make plays, but it’s the fourth quarter, there’s not much time left,” Mullings said after the game. “It was now or never.”

    The big play brought Michigan to USC’s 17-yard line with two minutes left. Michigan continued to feed the hot hand, handing it to Mullings on the next four plays, and he carried Michigan 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 passed the line, and fullback Max Bredeson set the edge with a powerful block to give Mullings a clear path to the end zone. Moore said the play call came from offensive line coach Grant Newsome, who knew right away 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 for the O-line — it’s on you guys,” head coach Sherrone Moore said proudly of his old position group.

    USC got the ball one last time but failed to convert the field goal, giving Moore his first Big Ten victory as a full-time head coach.

    Michigan kept 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, stepped up at the crucial moment.

    “To see him take that 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 makes plays happen,” Moore said. “I mean, he’s a star. He’s a game-breaker.”

    Michigan needed those heroics in the final game to stave off a devastating collapse. Michigan jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on two long touchdowns by Mullings and Edwards, but the offense was stalled until the winning drive. Michigan threw for just 32 yards with Orji, the program’s lowest total in a win since 1987, and USC packed the box after being battered early.

    But Michigan stuck with the recipe, taking USC back through the meat grinder when push came to shove. It was a similar recipe to Michigan’s win over Penn State last year, when Moore acted 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 if you can run the ball effectively, it breaks you down a little bit.”

    “Everyone was busy and we all got to do some nice things, 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 major universities, and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22and email him at [email protected].

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