Up-downs are a tough punishment to swallow. Add a whole other layer to that when the demand comes from a teammate rather than a coach.
“When you hear it, you kind of want to lash out,” USC defensive end Kameryn Crawford said. “But at the same time, you’ve gotta think about where it’s coming from.
“They’re not saying it just to be down on you and talk bad about you. Nah — they want you to get better. Everybody’s got to take that into consideration, what they say, and apply it.”
The Trojans’ defensive line was reborn on Saturday evening in a pivotal game that controlled USC’s near future. The turnaround performance held Michigan to a season-low 109 rushing yards and 316 yards of total offense, just two weeks after the defense sank to a season-low in Illinois.
USC rose from the “receiving votes” category to No. 20 when the AP Top 25 rankings were released on Sunday afternoon. Michigan, which was previously ranked No. 15, had dropped out altogether.
“We’re a tough-ass physical program,” head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters after the game. “It was a complete performance on the line of scrimmage, and that’s where it always starts in football — doesn’t matter what league you’re in, doesn’t matter what school you’re at, doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It always starts there. And we won the line of scrimmage tonight.”
The Wolverines confidently came to Southern California, with head coach Sherrone Moore telling reporters that the game was only a sellout because Michigan was coming to town.
@haleymsawyer Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore says that this weekend’s game against USC at the Coliseum is sold out because Michigan is coming. video courtesy Michigan Athletics #usc #CollegeFootball #uscfootball #michigan #michiganfootball
Players wore their blue pants, which are one component of the all-blue uniforms that are reserved for the biggest games of the season. Michigan is 5-7 since debuting the uniform combination of white jerseys and blue pants in 2021.
The Trojans may have shattered that superstition, improving to 7-5 all-time against the blue-blood Wolverines. The 31-13 win on Saturday was a resounding lick-back from last season’s 27-24 loss in which Michigan came back from a two-touchdown deficit and scored a late, game-winning touchdown.
“Several years ago, it’s kind of what we all dreamed this would be,” Riley said. “Coliseum lit up, two iconic programs going at it, and a heavy hitter. Trojans coming off the field with the victory and the place totally on fire.”
The defensive line started fast, just as players promised, and staked its claim on the line of scrimmage early. USC forced a three-and-out when Michigan’s freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood completed 1 of 3 passes on the Wolverines’ first drive of the game.
“Manifestation is the best thing,” Defensive lineman Devan Thompkins said. “(We were) talking about it and we came out and said we need to get this three-and-out early, and we did it. I feel like it set the tone for the rest of the game.”
The Wolverines performed poorly on third and fourth downs for the remainder of the evening, converting on two out of nine third downs and on neither of their two fourth downs.
Thompkins had two sacks and safety Bishop Fitzgerald tacked on another for USC’s third game this season of three or more sacks. It was the most sacks the Trojans had recorded since the five they had in Purdue nearly a month ago.
Crawford was beaming when asked about containing Underwood in the postgame press conference.
“I feel like we did pretty good,” he said through a big smile.
If a win is earned in the week of practice leading up to the game, USC may have found its recipe for success — and the main ingredient is accountability.
“We make sure we do up-downs, sprint, anything to hold everybody accountable,” Crawford said. “There’s no time to play. It’s getting real now. People thinking they can just come out here and do anything to us. We’ve gotta prove that we can go through anything.”