Uncanny.

In a fusion of the foreign and familiar, No. 12 Michigan bested No. 13 USC 27-24 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

Saturday afternoon’s sun and stripes of yellow summoned some normalcy, but in reality, this was the Trojans’ (2-1, 0-1 Big Ten) first conference opener outside of California in 14 years. Adding to the novelty of this matchup, USC had not competed against the Wolverines (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) in the regular season in almost 66 years. But don’t be fooled; friction between maize and gold is far from fresh, as the two teams have gone head-to-head in eight Rose Bowls since 1948.

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This eerie Midwestern bout marked the Trojans’ first loss of the season and their first loss as members of the coast-to-coast conference. A proper welcome to Big Ten football, it was a defensive stalemate as Michigan and USC split possession, combining for 10 three-and-outs and 15 punts.

“[Michigan] had a couple of big plays and we had a lot of times where we were stuffing them in the backfield,” said Head Coach Lincoln Riley. “It was a classic back-and-forth fight.”

Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s scheme stalled the Wolverines with ease on their first few drives, but that changed when the USC offense’s consistent stagnation left Lynn’s squad on the field for more than two-thirds of the game’s first 20 minutes.

“We didn’t help [the defense] out very much early on,” said redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss.

The defense’s fatigue yielded 199 rushing yards in the first half  — the most ground yardage across the first two frames of a game in the Riley era.

“We knew they were going to run the ball,” said senior linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, reflecting on Michigan dual-threat junior quarterback Alex Orji’s first collegiate start.

Michigan handed the ball off 46 times, giving Orji just 12 passing attempts. Comparatively, Moss threw 51 passes, with the Trojans forced to largely abandon the run game after falling behind early. Michigan generated 6.3 yards per carry, while in the Trojans’ last game against Utah State, USC allowed a manageable 3.8 yards per carry.

Michigan dominated with a balanced rushing attack, but in particular, Wolverine graduate running back Kalel Mullings was a nightmare for Lynn’s defense when he got downhill. Mullings totaled 160 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including a 63-yard rush to break Michigan’s 30-minute first down drought and set up the game-winning touchdown.

On the other side of the ball, the Trojan offense was rattled by the Big House’s 110,702 fans. In his first road start, Moss struggled to release the ball quickly and his pocket-loitering resulted in four sacks.

“When you play in an atmosphere like that, there’s obvious challenges,” Riley said. “We made a couple of [offensive] lineup changes … and we got beat one-on-one a couple of times.”

Moss did find his groove in the second half and ended the game, having completed over 50% of his passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. However, down the stretch, Moss made some costly mistakes for the Trojans.

When USC came within one possession of the Wolverines in the third quarter, Moss chucked a quick throw straight to Michigan’s junior defensive back Will Johnson, arguably the best defensive back in the nation, for Johnson’s third career pick-six.

Although the game was not perfect, USC still came within three points of the defending national champions at one of the toughest road venues in football.

“We gave ourselves an opportunity to win a football game, which doesn’t happen a whole lot [in Ann Arbor],” Riley said.

Riley is not wrong — winning in the Big House is tough. Until their Week 3 loss to No. 1 Texas (4-0), the Wolverines hadn’t lost a game at Michigan Stadium for 1,386 days. Moreover, Michigan has now won 26 consecutive Big Ten games.

The Trojans may not have a perfect record, but they are learning how to play a full 60 minutes of physical Big Ten football. They return to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this Saturday for Trojan Family Weekend to face the Wisconsin Badgers (2-1) at 12:30 p.m.