Trojans run by Wolverines

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – The Big Ten Conference football matchup between the USC Trojans and the Michigan Wolverines was highly anticipated and a contest that was supposed to be worthy of a nationwide audience. 

The game turned out to be a one-sided affair with USC pummeling Michigan with its run game. Led by King Miller’s 158 yards, USC ran the football efficiently, gaining a total of 224 yards against the Wolverines. 

That’s the most yards Michigan has allowed on the ground since 2022 when Ohio State bum-rushed the Wolverines for 252 yards. 

Miller’s performance is especially noteworthy considering he is a walk-on. According to the university’s athletic department, Miller’s totals, including a 49-yard run, is the most rushing yardage from a walk-on player since the 1970s. 

“Yeah, King was huge,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said during his postgame press conference. “He played, stepped up, made big plays and was obviously really important for us with the way that it went down.”

The way things unfolded for Miller’s big game came about due to injuries suffered by running backs Eli Sanders and Waymond Jordan early in the game.  

“We’ll get confirmation [on injuries],” Riley added. “Eli’s doesn’t look super positive in terms of the rest of the season, so we’ll get confirmation, but it doesn’t look positive. Waymond wasn’t able to come back in tonight, so we will continue to evaluate him and see where he’s at.”

In 36 attempts, the Trojans averaged 6.2 yards a carry on the ground. The success of USC’s running attack allowed the Trojans to hold an advantage in first downs (24-17) and dominate the clock (33:22 to 26:38). 

The dominance of the Trojans very easily could have maturated to an even bigger thumping of the Wolverines had it not been for a couple of turnovers near the endzone. Despite the miscues, USC pulled off a 31-13 shocking win against the No. 15 Wolverines. 

“I think they just played well,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said. “They executed at a high level. We didn’t execute all the times we needed to. We didn’t tackle very well. We’ve tackled a lot better and that was not one of our best tackling performances.

“Those guys executed well, they had a really good plan. Just too many opportunities, big plays, third down conversions, scoring in the beginning of the game and at half. We just have to do a better job rallying those things, but credit to them, credit to their game plan. No excuses. We have to continue to attack and get better,” Moore went on to say.

Riley didn’t expect anything less than a dominant win following USC’s bye week after losing a road game to Illinois the week before. 

“Awesome win,” Riley said. “Tough response by our football team. I’m proud of them and the way the guys handled the bye week. We were really looking forward to this game. I thought we attacked it and dominated the football game on all sides. It was just a really awesome, gritty, tough performance. I just felt like there was a mindset that they were not going to come out here with anything less than a win.”

Featured Image: Los Angeles, CA – USC running back King Miller (30) tries to outrun Michigan defenders during a Big Ten Conference college football game played at the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium on Oct. 11, 2025. Miller rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown to lead the Trojans to a 31-13 win against Michigan. Photo credit: Sammy Saludo / News4usOnline