ANN ARBOR — The first solemn sign came, as Makai Lemon lay flat on the turf, when Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore came peering over in concern around a thicket of athletic trainers. Then came Lemon’s fellow USC receivers and quarterback Miller Moss, walking over gravely. Then came the defense – and virtually the entire rest of USC’s roster – as Lemon finally managed up to his feet.
The sophomore receiver from Los Alamitos has been a key cog in USC’s star-studded future at receiver, shining in December’s Holiday Bowl with two catches for 75 yards. But two weeks after the first touchdown as a Trojan against Utah State, Lemon took the field on a first-quarter punt return against Michigan and came away sprawled on the turf.
Trainers quickly surrounded him, Lemon down for minutes as the first quarter came to a prolonged halt at the Big House. After he was eventually helped off the field, he was taken from the stadium in an ambulance, according to the broadcast.
Lemon entered the season as arguably the steadiest member of USC’s stable of sophomore receivers, a polished route runner with solid hands and potential from the slot and outside. His absence meant heavier snaps from the slot for fellow sophomore Zachariah Branch, and more outside looks for Duce Robinson, as USC’s offense flailed mightily in the first half Saturday.
Travel plans
This was the start of a new era, a new set of cross-country challenges bigger than beefed-up offensive linemen suddenly staring USC in the face, and so Lincoln Riley and his staff sent out an advance team long before the Trojans’ first game in the Big Ten.
Early in the spring, Riley said Thursday, members of USC’s operations staff – headlined by director of football operations Clarke Stroud and associate directors Cheryl Taplin and Ben Hynds – embarked on journeys out to each of the Trojans’ 2024 Big Ten opponents for scouting purposes. Not football scouting, specifically.
They evaluated hotels, and ideal routes to stadiums, and oddities within a new landscape that’s seeing a West Coast program hop on four- and five-hour flights across the country.
And so it was, on Saturday, that USC stayed in the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan – not Ann Arbor – about seven miles and a short bus ride east of the Big House.
As college football is rapidly becoming indistinguishable from professional leagues, Riley and USC turned to the only members in town that made sense for advice: the Rams and Chargers, organizations well versed in cross-country travel. Their staff had spent a “decent amount of time” consulting such NFL staffs, Riley said Thursday, on matters across the board. Physical effects. Nutrition. When to travel.
“We’re not flying to, like, Ireland, or doing one of those crazy things like some of the other folks are,” Riley said Thursday, possibly referring to Florida State and Georgia Tech’s season-opening game Aug. 24 in Dublin, Ireland. “But, yeah, we’ve had to make a couple of small adjustments and we need to handle it well just like every other part.”
One adjustment that wasn’t needed: cold-weather gear, as Ann Arbor was a beautifully sunny mid-80s on a Saturday climate indistinguishable from Los Angeles.
Michigan loses major offensive weapon
They wanted to play teams at their best, USC’s Jamil Muhammad emphasized Wednesday. And the Wolverines’ Colston Loveland, simply, was one of the best.
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A 6-foot-5, 245-pound tight end integral to Michigan’s offense as a blocker, Loveland broke out in the Wolverines’ national championship-winning season and has only continued to shine in 2024, with 19 catches in three games. He left Michigan’s Week 3 win over Arkansas State early, however, with injury, and two hours before game time Saturday was officially ruled out against USC.
Losing the tight end was expected to cripple the Wolverines’ passing attack; Loveland had accounted for more than 40% of the team’s receiving yards through three games, a top NFL draft talent serving as a reliable safety net. Michigan, though, hardly looked to the air after an early-week quarterback shift to Alex Orji, with just four completed passes in the first half against USC.