The USC Trojans are 4-1 this season, with the only narrow loss coming against Illinois. The record has a lot to do with the Trojans’ QB1 Jayden Maiava, who has upped the ante this season with 70.5% efficiency from last season’s 59.8%. Even against Illinois, Jayden Maiava was incredible, passing for 364 yards for two touchdowns. The next game for Maiava is against Michigan at home, and Maiava’s threat has led to a special plan from Michigan’s D-line coach.

Just like USC, Michigan, too, is 4-1, losing its sole game against John Mateer’s Oklahoma. The Week 7 game then becomes crucial for Sherrone Moore to come out with a statement. To do that, stopping Maiava would be a priority. That falls on the D-line, a unit that has seen Michigan’s rushing defense rise to 7th nationally so far.

Michigan’s D-line coach, Lou Esposito, laid out his plan to bring more “physicality up front” and touted junior linebacker Cameron Brandt to help with that. “We have to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable, and I think that’s every game, right? You’re physical at the point of attack. You want to shut the run down, and then you want to get after the quarterback, and I think that’s what we have to do to be successful versus this team.” Not just that, Esposito outlined the role of being physical to tackle Jayden Maiava.

“For us to win in the trenches, we’ve got to be physical at the point of attack. You’ve got to make them one-dimensional. The problem with them is when you try to make them one-dimensional when it’s passing, they’re really good at it,” said Esposito.

We have seen Jayden Maiava falter in the pocket when the D-line starts to bring pressure. Against Purdue, USC’s O-line allowed two sacks on Maiava and limited the QB to just 60.7% efficiency. This was in contrast to other games, like Michigan State, where the D-line didn’t cause many problems and Maiava maintained his 76.9% efficiency for 234 yards.

The aim is to limit Jayden Maiava’s passing efficiency and restrict him inside the pocket. This can work since Maiava and Makai Lemon’s chemistry has already delivered 589 yards so far. However, the team will also have to limit the rushing game, since 1,135 yards have come from the ground game. Running back Waymond Jordan alone is responsible for 537 yards, amongst them, whereas Eli Sanders’s prowess has resulted in 264 rushing yards. But, considering the quality that the D-line has, it looks achievable for Michigan.

Sherrone Moore shrugs off the ‘underdog’ tag amid facing USC in Week 7

Apart from Michigan’s rushing defense, ranked 7th nationally, Michigan is also bringing those QB pressures in every game. The team is 18th nationally in sacks and has a whopping 15 sacks so far. Derrick Moore, the edge rusher, leads with 2.5 sacks and has been a headache for teams, while Cole Sullivan has already tackled 22 times so far.

Cameron Brandt, whom Esposito mentioned, is a 6’4″ and 270 lb beast and has 10 tackles so far. But Michigan still goes as underdogs in the game, and Sherrone Moore couldn’t care less about that.

“That’s great [that they have us as underdogs]… I don’t care. That stuff don’t matter to me. It’s great. I don’t even know the people that make the—whatever they call them—odds, whatever it is. We can be underdogs. We can be favorites. It could be whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. I know we’re playing a good team, and we’ve got to be ready to go play. That’s all I know. So, regardless if we’re underdogs and the guys might look at that—that’s great—but it doesn’t matter,” Moore said.