Saturday night in Los Angeles was a rude awakening for the Michigan football team.
The USC Trojans were favored to beat the Wolverines. So the loss to USC wasn't shocking. The manner in which it happened was.
USC out-gained Michigan football on the ground 224-109. The Wolverines allowed a 42-yard run to a walk-on running back on a third-and-26, when they only trailed by seven early in the third quarter.
That was the backbreaker. The final straw was when Bryce Underwood was intercepted, after an egregious hold on receiver Donaven McCulley, which caused the interception was ignored. Officials also missed an offensive pass interference on the Trojan's first touchdown, among some other bad calls, but the outcome was so lopsided it didn't matter.
It easily could have been 40-10 if the ball bounced a few different ways. It was an embarrassing effort by the defense, yet it was even more embarrassing for the coaching staff.
There is losing and getting demoralized. Michigan was treated to the latter on Saturday at the hands of USC and here are five things we learned from it.
Sherrone Moore isn't meeting expectations
This isn't about one loss. Michigan has gone on the road twice now against Oklahoma and USC and looked completely unprepared. His overall record is 12-7. That's simply not good enough.
If Oklahoma doesn't make some bone-headed mistakes, that game should have been more lopsided, just like Saturday's result.
The fact that Michigan lost those games by a combined 31 points says a lot. It could have been much worse and should have been.
That's on the head coach. Michigan couldn't tackle. It couldn't block. It couldn't execute. The defense has taken a step back and Bryce Underwood looks too much like a freshman.
Sherrone Moore didn't have any head-coaching experience when he took over for Jim Harbaugh. It shows. There are routine mistakes that shouldn't be happening. Makai Lemon's foot appeared to be out of bounds on a third-down catch, and instead of challenging, Michigan allowed USC to hurry and run a play.
It's little things, but when you're the head coach, it's all the little things that matter. Those were the things that made Michigan great under Harbaugh. The attention to detail.
Right now, it's just not there. Coaching mistakes nearly cost Michigan against Nebraska, but it hasn't improved with Moore back on the sidelines. It might be worse.
Nobody should be calling for Sherrone Moore to get fired. But there are troubling signs and red flags all over the place.