Michigan 19, Illinois 17
Raise your hand if you had November 26 on your mind as you turned on the TV today to watch Michigan vs. Illinois. Raise your hand if your thoughts have mostly been concentrated on The Game, on Ohio State's defense and their great receivers, on the stakes of a vaunted 11-0 vs. 11-0 clash. Raise your hand if you have booked hotel rooms in Indianapolis just in case and have been scheming up CFP scenarios. If your hand is raised, you are in the same boat as Michigan Football, who rested key starters on injury precaution, rolled out a vanilla game plan, and were late to adjust when things got tight. Michigan seemingly did not respect the hungry, desperate, violent, and well-coached Illinois Fighting Illini across from them until it was nearly too late, taking shots to the mouth and staring down the specter of an undefeated season slipping away before a clutch fourth quarter- boosted by three massive FGs from Jake Moody- turned the tide and got them a victory. It was ugly, but a win is a win.
The funny thing is that the game did not seem like it would be a nail-biter early... or really for the entirety of the first half. The first drive of the game for Michigan was exactly how they drew it up, with a Blake Corum 37 yard run getting things going. JJ McCarthy got in rhythm, three passes to get Michigan inside the ten and then the Wolverines bully-balled their way into the end zone for Corum's 18th TD of the season. Just like that it was 7-0. After Michigan forced a three-and-out on Illinois' opening possession of the game, this game seemed to be on track for another comfortable win.
Wind played a factor in this game and with the wind at their backs, Illinois was able to pin Michigan inside the five for the second series. That didn't matter much at first, a brilliant RB screen to Corum on 3rd down picked up 41, and could have gone for more if Corum had not gone out of bounds. Michigan drove into Illini territory but then ran out of gas after two Corum runs were stuffed. Rather than lining Jake Moody up for a long FG into the wind, they punted. Brad Robbins delivered a dismal punt (the wind played a role) for just 19 yards.
[Patrick Barron]
Still, Michigan was in command. Their defense muzzled Illinois quickly for another three-and-out and their third drive got out to midfield before stalling. Roman Wilson couldn't come down with a catchable ball, a pass was too high for Max Bredeson and pressure forced McCarthy out of bounds. Michigan punted again but were only able to get Illinois down to the 20 yard line. The Fighting Illini started to get going on this drive, Chase Brown finding more running room on the ground and Tommy DeVito finding his groove drove Illinois into Michigan territory but it was their turn to see a drive unravel. Isaiah Williams caught a pass just short of the sticks and Illinois decided to go for it on 4th & 1. Michigan trotted out a pair of true freshman DTs in Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham and the duo stuffed Brown on the attempt, forcing a huge turnover on downs.
Michigan was unable to capitalize on the solid field position due to an extremely questionable holding call on a great passing play from McCarthy to Roman Wilson and the ball was quickly back in the hands of Illinois, where the offense picked up where it left off. Illinois began to use tempo more heavily and the higher pace allowed them to land a few body blows on the Michigan defense. Chase Brown was running hard, Isaiah Williams flashed as an end-around specialist, and DeVito continued his strong day. Those three powered Illinois into the red zone and the team lined up to go for it on 4th & 1 from the 6. Unfortunately a false start negated the opportunity and they settled for a FG to cut the deficit to 7-3.
The home team got the ball back with 4:03 remaining in the first half and had their best drive since the opener. Corum was churning out yards on the ground and McCarthy threw a strike to Ronnie Bell into a hole in Illinois' zone defense (one of their few zone snaps all day). It was 2nd & 10 on the Illinois 17 when Michigan gave the ball to Corum, who cut outside, around the corner, and then took a direct helmet shot to his left knee. Corum visibly reacted instantly, causing him to drop the ball just before hitting the ground. Replay officials determined that it was a fumble and Illinois had recovered, in part due to the Michigan players stopping to look after their teammate in screaming pain. Not just had Michigan lost its superstar RB for (essentially) the rest of the game, but they had turned it over inside the 15.
Illinois got the ball back with 1:38 remaining but a holding penalty prevented any chance of a two minute drill. Set to get the ball out of halftime, Bret Bielema was content to run the clock down and head to the locker room trailing 7-3. Though the game was competitive at halftime, most Michigan fans were more concerned about the health of Corum than about losing the game. As it would turn out, their fear on the former turned out to be somewhat unfounded, while their lack of fear about the latter was glaringly absent.
[AFTER THE JUMP: More recap]
[Patrick Barron]
There was good news out of halftime, as Corum returned to the field and took warmups. Illinois went three-and-out on their opening series of the half and Michigan would give the second play from scrimmage on offense to Corum. He rushed for 5 yards and got a rousing cheer from the crowd. However, that would be the last we'd see of Corum, donning a large winter coat and taking his helmet off for the remainder of the game. The Michigan drive in progress turned out to be a solid one. One play after the Corum rush, McCarthy found Cornelius Johnson open for a first down on a long catch-and-run into Illini territory. Three plays after that, McCarthy had Andrel Anthony running open on a fade, but could not put the ball where it needed to be. Michigan settled for a 46 yard FG, which Moody banged through. 10-3.
The next ten minutes is when this game turned upside down, from one that felt annoyingly close but Michigan was clearly better in, to one that had your author tweeting "Illinois is the better team". So what happened? Illinois embarked on two drives that spanned 67 and 63 yards and both found the end zone. For the first time in the entirety of B1G play, Michigan's defense was worse in the second half. The defensive line was getting shoved around for the first time all season, Tommy DeVito was dealing to somewhat open receivers, and LB play was as bad as it's been in a month (didn't help that both Jimmy Rolder and Kalel Mullings saw time during this stretch). The first drive ended on an 8 yard Chase Brown TD run that seemed to be an indictment of tackling, but it was actually the less embarrassing of the two drives. The second ended with Brown galloping 37 yards for a TD.
In between the two Illinois drives, Michigan had a solid drive of their own, linked together by an Isaiah Gash screen pass that went for 20 on third down. They marched into Illini territory but increasingly found no running room on early downs. Just in the way that their defensive line was getting whipped in the trenches, so was the offensive line. The Wolverines set up to go for it on 4th & 6 from the Illinois 37. McCarthy thought that Illinois jumped across the line prematurely (it sure looked close in real time) and assumed it was a free play. He bombed it down the field, perhaps his best throw of the day, perfectly placed between two Illinois defenders in a place that only Andrel Anthony could catch it. If he hauls it in, it's a TD. Instead, it went right through the hands and fell incomplete. To add insult to injury, the referees never threw an offside flag and it was a turnover on downs.
[Patrick Barron]
Thus, when Brown scored his second TD of the game, the score sat at 17-10 Illinois. Michigan got the ball back, ran it once for one yard, had a pass broken up, and then McCarthy scrambled short of the sticks on third down. Punt. The fourth quarter was about to begin, Illinois would have the football up 17-10, and at that juncture, they seemed to be the better team. They were winning the battle in the trenches, were getting better play from WRs and QBs, and seemed to be better coached too. Just 15 minutes remained in the contest and for the first time all season, Michigan's backs were against the wall.
The fourth quarter would see both teams get three possessions. Illinois turned it over on downs once and punted twice. Michigan got points on all three (all FGs). That was when the game was won and lost. Michigan's defense got it going, with DJ Turner making a great PBU and then a bad snap helping Michigan get off the field on a three-and-out. The offense got favorable field position following a terrific punt return from Ronnie Bell, taking it all the way to the Illini 38. A quick pass to Colston Loveland got the Wolverines into FG range and though that would be the only first down they'd get on the drive, it was enough for Moody to boot a 41 yarder through. 17-13.
Illinois got the football and moved the ball decently well, a WR screen picking up a first on 3rd & 3, then Gemon Green curiously playing with tons of cushion despite Illinois not being a vertical passing team giving up another first down. Illinois decided to try their one deep shot of the game and it fell incomplete, which was followed by a run stuff. On 3rd & 8 from the Michigan 33, a screen for Brown was blown up by Rod Moore and Bielema was faced with a major decision. Going into the wind, it was too long to kick a FG and rather than play for field position, he played to win. Unfortunately for Bert, his LG Isaiah Adams was not in sync with the snap count and was late getting going, allowing Taylor Upshaw to tear into the backfield. DeVito was forced to scramble and DJ Turner came down to make an undefeated season-saving tackle short of the line to gain.
[Bryan Fuller]
Michigan was now gifted favorable field position again. Colston Loveland was the first target and he ran for 27 yards after the catch, well into Illinois territory. A few plays later on 3rd & 8, McCarthy fumbled the snap, picked it up juuuuuust barely with his knees off the ground, rolled to his right and found Cornelius Johnson for a massive first down. The Wolverines would find themselves in 4th & 5 not long after and Michigan ran a brilliant man-beater play to Roman Wilson for a first down bringing them to the 14 yard line. On 2nd down, McCarthy rolled and had both Isaiah Gash and Loveland open. Loveland would've been a sure TD while Gash likely would have been able to catch and run for at least a first down, if not a TD. McCarthy targeted Gash and the RB dropped it. On the very next play Loveland was open for a TD again but McCarthy could not feather the pass to him. A day of what ifs. Moody made a short FG and the score sat 17-16 with 3:14 left.
Michigan had all three timeouts in their pockets and Illinois was content to slam into the line twice in a row, setting up 3rd & 7 with the game on the line. DeVito again decided to try and scramble for the first, coming up one yard short. The referees threw a flag for holding too, and Michigan interestingly accepted the penalty to back Illinois up. Bielema predictably ran it again and waved the white flag. Michigan used their final TO and the punt into the wind would be downed just past midfield.
The Maize & Blue offense needed only ~25 yards to get Moody into FG range and had 2:15 to do it. After two short yardage gains, Michigan decided to run CJ Stokes on 3rd & short and like nearly every between the tackles run in the second half, it was stuffed. Now the undefeated season was on the line, 4th & 3 from the Illinois 45. Michigan spread out wide, ran a variation of the ole pick play to get Isaiah Gash open, and McCarthy hit him for a first down. McCarthy then looked for Bell down the field and drew a DPI call, 15 yards moving Michigan well into Moody's range.
[Bryan Fuller]
Two plays later McCarthy threw a marginal ball to Cornelius Johnson, who made a diving catch over the middle for five yards. Michigan ran up to spike the ball, which would then set up a FG as it was 3rd down, but before they could, the referees stopped the game to review it. Though some expected an overturn, the replay officials upheld the call and Michigan got one more play. McCarthy dangerously threw a ball that was batted at the line but it fell incomplete. With under 15 seconds left, Moody lined up for a 35 yard field goal. The snap was good, the hold was good, and the kick was good. 19-17 Michigan, 9 seconds remaining.
Illinois let the kickoff go into the end zone and DeVito completed a pass to Brown for 14 yards, being tackled with 1 second on the clock. They used a timeout to set up a Hail Mary but DeVito's arm (and the wind) meant the pass was nowhere near the end zone. It fell incomplete around the Michigan 20 and the game was over. Michigan had survived. Perfect season intact.
This game was messy and wild but it was a win. The offense had a topsy turvy performance, excellent against a great defense before Corum's injury (just done in by a bad luck turnover and poor field position luck), but then sputtered after Corum exited. Their OL mashed early and then had little success late. Illinois stacked the boxes and dialed up blitz after blitz, daring Michigan to go through the air against their solid corners in man coverage. It was a taste of Don Brown's medicine so to speak and the Wolverines had trouble with it. McCarthy made some mistakes, but his day also looks very different if Andrel Anthony and Isaiah Gash catch those footballs. Yet again, he did not get enough help from his receivers.
[Bryan Fuller]
Corum's injury will be a big story in the week leading up to The Game. That he came back and played another snap is a good sign and the hope has to be that he was rested for precautionary reasons like Donovan Edwards, Luke Schoonmaker, and Mike Morris. On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan generally played well except for those two humiliating drives. Nearly 40% of Illinois' yardage for the game came on those two possessions and otherwise they didn't have too much daylight. To give the Illini credit, DeVito played one of his best games of the season and Brown is a hell of a player. They are a well-coached, tough, physical football team who is not one you can disrespect. Michigan tried to get by going vanilla and resting everyone who wasn't 99.9% healthy. They very nearly paid a massive price.
On special teams, Jake Moody was the MVP. On a cold and windy day that many college kickers would've crumbled in, he made four FGs, three of them moderately to quite difficult kicks and one being for the game. He has ice in his veins and is one of the best kickers to ever wear the winged helmet. Brad Robbins on the flip side had a disappointing outing, whether it was the wind or something else affecting him, he was part of the reason Michigan lost the field position battle in the first half.
The Wolverines are now 11-0 for the first time under Jim Harbaugh and for just the third time in the past 50 years, joining 1997 and 2006. One of those teams beat Ohio State and won a national title and one of those teams did not. Those are the stakes now for the Wolverines. No matter how rickety they were today, it doesn't erase a season's worth of work showing that this is a very good football team. Ohio State happens to be struggling against Maryland at the time of this writing. Neither team was thinking all too much about their opponents today. They were both thinking about The Game. That's next Saturday at noon on FOX. A game to decide the season. Beat Ohio.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:11 PM ^
I noticed that squint . As an optometrist, I thought he needs contacts. I swear that was part of Rashan Gary’s issues. Dudes vision was a mess if you saw those glasses he wore. But then I thought about those westerns with a rattlesnake in the background and a duel outside the saloon as one cowboy squints and draws his pistol…. Yep that was what it was. Cue the Bon Jovi…shot to the heart
November 19th, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^
Fellow OD here. I concur haha
November 19th, 2022 at 7:57 PM ^
As more or less the best kicker UM has ever had, I would say, don't mess with it.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:12 PM ^
Jake Moody is a steely-eyed missile man.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:49 PM ^
Michigan legend. Hard to believe he was once 2nd on the depth chart at K.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
Beat the Buckeyes.
Maize and Blue forever and ever, amen.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
Real sorry I screwed your triple sequence eyeball post. no need to neg.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:22 PM ^
All good. I changed it.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:38 PM ^
>MeanJoe07's face to you
November 19th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
Delete
November 19th, 2022 at 5:36 PM ^
C'mon, fatpete. Be fair.
It is quite possible to win a football game by kicking seven or eight FGs. All you have to do is continually run the ball into 8 man fronts...
EDIT: I'll leave the original post. But you're right, Timaaay. I posted in frustration.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:43 PM ^
username definitely appropriate, now just follow your words.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:14 PM ^
They played. To win. The game. Beauty points don't matter at this point. Showed tremendous mettle in the 4th quarter to come back while down 6 critical offensive players : Corum, Edwards, All, Schoonmaker, Keegan and Jones. That's our top 2 RBs and TEs, and 2 OL starters.
November 19th, 2022 at 7:53 PM ^
I stopped reading at "I'm certainly not a qualified coach", because you, sir, are certainly not. I will trust S & P more than your eyeballs. UM lost their best player on O, was resting their 2nd best, was playing a very good defense (in fact a defense that practices against this same running scheme every day) and a team in Illinois playing for a final gasp at life in the B1G West, in a classic trap game, forfeited points on a fluke fumble, was missing 5 starters on O, put up almost 400 yds, went 3/4 on 4th down, and is 11-0. But this is a "bad" offense, according to not a qualified coach you.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:13 PM ^
Delete
November 19th, 2022 at 9:29 PM ^
wait, whose feelings are hurt? you posted a shit take and got gunned for it.
November 19th, 2022 at 10:09 PM ^
You're right, it was a bad take. Sorry y'all
November 20th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
I agree. with the exception that this passing offense is not anywhere near good, so you can choose an adjective. I'd choose suspect, because that describes a team that is under or around 50% completions 4 games in a row.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^
Whew.
Best wishes for everyone to get healthy.
Go Blue. Get healthy, focus, and beat the hellspawn.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:41 PM ^
Easy to overreact here: Michigan looked bad. Multiple times where the performance on the field was alarming on both sides of the ball.
When Chase Brown scored that go-ahead TD my mind travelled almost instantly to that 1999 Illinois game, one of the dumbest games I’ve ever attended. It was chilly and miserable, and Michigan charged out to a big lead and looked good. But then Anthony Thomas got slightly dinged and Lloyd shut him down as a precaution thinking the game was over… and Illinois roared back. Rocky Harvey’s long TD was a stunning blow to the face, and Tom Brady could not bring the team all the way back.
Michigan didn’t lose again that year.
I thought of the Minnesota game in 1986. Ricky Foggy’s long run to set up a field goal, marring what was to that point a perfect season, the week before Ohio State.
Michigan QB Jim Harbaugh made his famous guarantee after that game. Michigan won at Ohio State.
This game stunk. But its central event was our best player hurting his knee and fumbling as a result, taking our best player off the field and important points off the board. Yes, the passing game problems were significant and aren’t simply going to fix themselves. Yes, Michigan couldn’t simply run at will with its 3rd-and-4th string RBs.
But they won.
No need to overreact. It was a trap game and Michigan escaped. Next week is what mattered before and it’s what matters now. Even arguments about what this game means for next week are specious, because whatever happens next week is what will need to be evaluated, not this week.
It took guts and hard work to win. Maybe Michigan needed a game like this. A game to challenge them physically and mentally. A game to force JJ to practice tough throws and decisions when the game rides on it.
In the end, what they had was enough. Just enough offense. Just enough defense. A best-in-program-history kicker.
Jake Moody isn’t my Lord and Savior; that position is already well taken.
But he’s a fantastic kicker and we needed him today.
Beat Ohio.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:24 PM ^
Forgot about the Ricky Foggy game. Bourbon has erased certain memories. But this felt a lot like I remember from that game. Just a WTF is going on here game. Bo was good for 1 of those every year. At least it turned out ok today. But those are two great examples of history repeating itself today. Moving on
November 19th, 2022 at 10:05 PM ^
Not just Bo. College football generally is full of weird shit where a good team barely beats/loses to a lesser opponent. It’s why it’s fun. People who beat their face into bricks when it happens need to step back and breathe.
November 19th, 2022 at 7:10 PM ^
Overreaction is what I do best. It’s what Michigan fans do. I hate it, but it’s a fact of life.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:23 PM ^
OH MY GOD CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!!
. . . what?
November 19th, 2022 at 7:34 PM ^
I don’t understand why arguments about what this means for next week would be specious. The performance from next week isn’t “what needs to be analyzed” in such arguments, it’s what needs to be predicted. I’m pretty that’s how induction (outside of mathematics) works. I don’t think this one game’s outweigh the results from the rest of the season, but it’s foolish to pretend that how teams play in their most recent game is irrelevant to how they’ll play in the next one.
The biggest reason to treat this game as bad data for predictions is the injury to Corum (and Edwards to a lesser extent). If Corum is back full throttle, the offense is very different. If he’s as limited as he was in the second half, it’s reasonable to expect the offense to struggle mightily.
November 19th, 2022 at 8:05 PM ^
Good counterpoint. Specifically, sky-is-falling rage is pointless, because whatever people are upset about hasn’t cost Michigan a loss this season. So it’s all really about “what could happen next week.” But what happens next week will be far more significant than what happened this week.
So, the people who are melting down are melting down for no reason. Bad throws by JJ? If Michigan loses because JJ misses reads, nobody will care that he missed reads today. They’ll care that he missed reads against Ohio State. If Michigan loses next week because receivers drop passes, nobody will yell about Andrel’s dropped TD today. They’ll discuss dropped passes against Ohio State. And so on.
I’m all for rational discussions of what next week will look like, and indeed have participated in such discussions for weeks. This is a pushback against the needless yelling in absolutes.
As to your final paragraph, I completely agree.
November 20th, 2022 at 8:46 AM ^
But, the fact that he missed reads today makes it more likely he will miss reads next week. Hence, the sky is falling meltdown.
November 19th, 2022 at 8:56 PM ^
I was at that Illinois game in 1999. Brady was amazing during the comeback. If not for a ball snapped 10 feet over his head (did the center think we were punting?) I think we win that game.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
I was too. We didn't come back though, but blew a huge lead (20 points). After Illinois came back, we had multiple drives to win in the 4th quarter but didn't convert any of them (one featuring the wild snap).
It was probably Brady's worst game of the season. He threw a killer pick in the final minute. Other than that, he was awesome that year.
November 20th, 2022 at 5:52 AM ^
Whatever happened to him?
November 20th, 2022 at 8:02 AM ^
Isn't he the guy with the supermodel wife, sitting on a fortune in crypto?
November 20th, 2022 at 9:10 AM ^
About that…
November 20th, 2022 at 8:33 AM ^
I was also at that Illinois game with my best friend. Not too long after that my friend became an MSU fan. It’s probably been the biggest rift in our otherwise good friendship ever since.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
Well said.
There are definitely valid concerns. JJ just seems different than he was earlier in the year. He throws the ball late and thinks he can make up for it by throwing it hard. He made Witherspoon look better than he is by waiting too late to throw to Bell on those two crossing routes. It’s just really puzzling and frustrating that he isn’t improving, especially because he’s so talented.
Like you said, all that matters is the outcome of next week. After that game we’ll either have justified concerns or not. Hopefully he’s throwing dimes, our WRs are making catches, and our OL is paving the way.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
No All, Schoonmaker, Edwards, or Corum.
And yet they found a way. Credit to the players and staff.
There are worse things in life than being undefeated on Thanksgiving.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:50 PM ^
Roger that.
Thanksgiving dinner is going to be extra tasty this year.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:47 PM ^
Yep. And I'd add Jones, Keegan, and Henning to that list. Along with Morris at DE.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:17 PM ^
Yep and if those 3 are ready to go next week (All excluded) then..... Man ... it's all we can ask for and we have a great shot at beating them at home.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:44 PM ^
Oof! Way to up the BPONE for The Game (notwithstanding current goings on in College Park.)
Bad game plan, play calling, clock management (I'd have let the clock run before the Illiinois punt and saves the final TO for the last drive.) Not much motion, no screens or sweeps, and was there one PA pass attempt? Hell, I'll even pile on the training staff. What the hell was Corum doing standing on the sidelines in freezing weather when he could be getting treatment? I know we match up better against the hairless nuts, but all the signs of the side of Harbaugh that gives us ulcers were on full display.
November 19th, 2022 at 5:52 PM ^
You always call that TO. It saves you 40 seconds which is way more valuable.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:21 PM ^
And there are ways to stop the clock on offense. On defense, not so much. Calling the timeout there is the play.
November 19th, 2022 at 6:22 PM ^
Agreed. When you have the ball you have other ways of controlling the clock. TOs are most valuable when control of the clock is out of your hands.
Now, any and all complaints about the clock management when we did get the ball are probably spot on. I hated the clock work on that drive. It was absolutely hideous.
November 19th, 2022 at 9:35 PM ^
dear god, corum came out to test it after halftime, maybe he should’ve walked across the field to the locker room after that “to get treatment? during the game?”. what the hell are you talking about?
hauling out the BPONE crapola after a win to set up a titanic game against ohio state is truly some whining manbaby horseshit.
November 20th, 2022 at 5:21 AM ^
No screens? Weren't two of our best plays of the game screens to the RBs?
November 20th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
Yes, there were 3 screens, 2 worked, one was sniffed our, and I believe they were the first 3 screens of the season.
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