USC prepares unambushed for Michigan’s QB change

LOS ANGELES — It would be a week-long poker match, and yet there was no hint of a bluff, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore stepping up to speak with local reporters on Monday and laying his cards flat on the podium.

Junior Alex Orji – a backup of two-plus years who has thrown seven college passes – will start at quarterback for the 18th-ranked Wolverines on Saturday against No. 11 USC, Moore affirmed. A startling shift, suddenly, from struggling senior Davis Warren, whose six interceptions are tied for the second-most in the FBS through two weeks.

So startling, in fact, that Michigan running back Donovan Edwards hadn’t even been informed before coming up after Moore to speak with reporters, according to multiple local outlets.

“Excited for him,” Moore said of Orji, a former three-star recruit from Texas. “He’s been in here, chomping at the bit.”

Admirable, on one hand: build Orji’s confidence as the guy, perhaps, by issuing such a bold public pronouncement. Curious, on the other: tip your hand directly to USC (2-0), and to defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who has spent every bit of his last month in a Trojans headset proving he’s an advanced and aggressive game-planner.

“I mean, I understand it,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday, asked of Michigan’s decision to name its starting quarterback at the start of the week. “I can understand where they’re coming from on it.”

“But I’m not going to sit here,” Riley said a few words later, “and guess why they did or why they made that choice. That’s their decision. We gotta be ready for everybody they have.”

It almost assuredly wouldn’t have been Riley’s decision if he was put in a similar spot, USC’s coach long reluctant – or plain unwilling – to leak any crumbs of game plan specifics to media. That much was made clear, in a follow-up Tuesday, when Riley declined to answer how long USC had planned for Orji knowing a quarterback change could come.

But with any hint of an ambush lifted, USC at least wasted no time in preparation Tuesday heading into the program’s first Big Ten matchup. In the individuals period of practice, linebackers coach Matt Entz was seen commandeering his group through walkthroughs against run-pass schemes, Orji a known dual-threat scrambler at quarterback.

It’s a fascinating wrinkle to a titanic matchup, the reigning national champion Wolverines (2-1) looming large for months on USC’s 2024 schedule but limping into a showdown with the Trojans at the Big House on Saturday. This was a program ascended to such heights that Riley, during a press conference in February, referenced “a lot of parallels” between the Wolverines’ rise when Jim Harbaugh took the reins and USC’s situation when Riley was hired in 2021.

“Lot of people on the outside thought, ‘Oh, they’re not going to be able to turn it around,’” Riley said last week. “And they stayed the course. The thing I respected the most about ’em is I think they stayed very true and committed to their process, and ignored everybody on the outside that thought they deserved an opinion.”

Plenty of opinions have swirled around Michigan in the early part of 2024, though, as Moore has taken over with Harbaugh’s move out west to the NFL’s Chargers. The Wolverines’ offense, still dynamic on the ground with the combination of Edwards and senior Kalel Mullings, has rarely found rhythm through the air. Their defense, still returning NFL prospects like cornerback Will Johnson and defensive tackle Mason Graham from a top-ranked unit, hasn’t been quite as stingy. Suddenly, with an entire week to prepare for a quarterback change, USC has found itself the odds-on betting favorite in a road matchup.

But Riley, still, emphasized that the Wolverines shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Everyone wants to write the story after a couple games of the season for everyone, and it’s a long season, man,” Riley said Tuesday.

“That’s a good football team that we have a lot of respect for. To have anything less would be a mistake on our part.”