Even Desmond Howard is starting to give up on Michigan’s season

Defending the national title is always a tough task, but it’s made even tougher when your head coach, most of his staff, and nearly his entire offense all head for the NFL. Sherrone Moore was left to try and navigate the 2024 season without Jim Harbaugh or J.J. McCarthy around, and so far, it hasn’t gone well. 

No. 18 Michigan is 2-1 with a home loss to Texas two weeks ago, but Moore has already been forced to make a quarterback change, starting Alex Orji over Davis Warren in Week 4 with No. 11 USC in Ann Arbor. The Trojans are a favorite in the Big House and even Michigan legend Desmond Howard has stopped believing in his Wolverines. 

For maybe the first time in ESPN’s College Gameday history, Howard picked against his alma mater, going with Lincoln Riley’s Trojans in the head coach’s old stomping ground of Norman Oklahoma. The moment was so shocking that his longtime partner on the program, Kirk Herbstreit left his seat to check if Howard was okay. 

“I think there’s just too much going on in Ann Arbor” is certainly one way to put it. Last week against Arkansas State, Michigan pulled out a 28-18 win, but Warren threw three interceptions. 

Orji is a run-first quarterback who will limit what Moore’s offense can do, but the Michigan offense has already been drastically limited by Warren. It’s the first Big Ten test for the Wolverines and with one of the program’s biggest supporters already fading the team, it could be an ugly one.