3. A healthy Justice Haynes changes the outcome
It's hard to imagine Haynes making much of a difference because Michigan needed to score in bunches and in a hurry. The touchdown pass to Andrew Marsh were the kind of plays that the Wolverines had to have, but USC's defense would not oblige. Michigan's offense had zero plays over 20 yards, besides that. USC had a handful of them.
Not sustaining drives like the first possession of the game and the opening series of the third quarter were killers for the offense, which struggled to make hay. Once Haynes went out, Jordan Marshall was the only option at running back. Not having a third back in the rotation could have lightened the load on Marshall, because Michigan only ran it once with Bryson Kuzdal and eventually turned it over on an errant throw from Underwood during a second-half attempt at points.
Coach Moore expects Haynes to return for the Washington affair this week, but didn't want to risk further injury in the USC loss. Missing his big play ability puts more pressure on a freshman who is still in the infant stages of his getting his feet wet.