After the final whistle, ABC cut to a Michigan fan who’d fallen on his ass with a smile on his face.
I cannot relate more or better summarize this game.
The most important things, in approximate order:
- Michigan won and remains undefeated.
- Blake Corum returned from a scary-looking knee injury, albeit only for one second-half carry.
- My heart rate has dropped from 147 to 103 beats per minute.
Both in effort and personnel usage, Michigan seemed to treat today as a tune-up for Ohio State. They nearly paid for it with a loss.
It’d hard to parse how healthy the Wolverines will be for their trip to Columbus. Corum, who rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, is now something short of 100%. RB Donovan Edwards, OG Trevor Keegan, DE Mike Morris and TE Luke Schoonmaker didn’t play, though all but Edwards did go through warmups in uniform.
No matter how healthy they are next week, Michigan will have to play a much cleaner game to hang with OSU. The passing game produced only 208 yards on 34 attempts with J.J. McCarthy missing too many throws and his receivers blowing a number of chances to make big plays. Non-Corum rushers, meanwhile, averaged 2.7 yards per carry.
Illinois RB Chase Brown managed 140 yards and two TDs, taking advantage of a second-half dip in U-M’s linebacker play. While the defense mostly held strong, especially when the team needed it most, they didn’t dominate a one-dimensional, struggling Illini offense. Third-quarter TD drives covering 67 and 63 yards gave Illinois a 17-10 lead that felt deeply foreboding with Corum sidelined.
Michigan did just enough. The defense limited Brown to 19 yards on seven fourth-quarter carries, forcing two punts and a turnover on downs. The offense, with a big assist from a 40-yard Ronnie Bell punt return, got into scoring territory for three Jake Moody field goals. Moody made them all, including the 35-yard game-winner with nine seconds remaining.
Jim Harbaugh and the whole team will approach Ohio State in a very different manner. Any contributor who can play will play, which clearly wasn’t the case this afternoon. They’ll explore the entire playbook and every option in each play. And, yes, they’ll be more motivated.
They’d better be. Today they were lucky to escape unscathed, mostly. May Corum’s knee be nimble and the whole team sharper for what will be one of the most anticipated matchups in the history of The Game.