Michigan 42, Illinois 25
That's not going to satisfy anybody.
In many ways, Michigan won comfortably over a bad Illinois team today, outgaining them 489 to 256 with a 17-point final margin. The Wolverines boasted a pair of 100-yard rushers, finally utilized Shea Patterson in the running game, took several shots downfield in the passing game, and tallied 12 TFLs on defense.
And yet.
For most of the first half it looked like a Michigan-Rutgers game. The Wolverines moved the ball at a ten-yard-per-play clip, almost cruelly pounding the Illini defense on the ground, while the defense forced six punts and a turnover on downs on the first seven Illinois possessions as they rotated through ineffective quarterbacks. A Zach Charbonnet fumble to kill a drive and a Matt Robinson touchdown pass to Josh Imatorbhebhe shortly before halftime seemed like minor blips. Michigan led 28-7 at the break. All (okay, most) went according to plan.
Zach Charbonnet had 116 yards but also lost a fumble. [Barron]
Then the Michigan-Army game emerged from the tunnel. The offense punted on their first two drives of the half, then lost the third on a Tru Wilson fumble. That set up the Illini with a short field and they'd capitalize on a Dre Brown scoring plunge; he'd add a two-point conversion to stretch the scoring run to 25 unanswered points.
Patterson and friends averted disaster, as the embattled quarterback used his arm and his legs to account for most of the ensuing ten-play, 79-yard drive himself, capped with a diving touchdown catch by Donovan Peoples-Jones. The Illini fumbled on each of their next two drives, with the second—a comical pop-up caught out of midair by Carlo Kemp at the doorstep of the end zone—leading to a final Patterson touchdown run.
While this game wasn't going to solve the team's many season-long problems, it was reasonable to expect a relatively clean game against a struggling Illinois squad playing without their starting quarterback. Instead, it got passers-by-are-gawking bad for much of the second half as those familiar problems reappeared. Next week, Michigan plays in a much less forgiving environment: a night game at Penn State. Maybe this time they'll figure out how to hold onto the dang ball.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
But first, beard.
[Barron]
What a beard.
October 13th, 2019 at 8:03 AM ^
Hard to...EVEN...
Tale of the game. Dominant first half. Controlled the LOS as expected, but didn't ask much of Patterson. Third Q derailed by some wonkiness, asked Patterson to do things, results as MEH. Short stints on O left the D winded and UI capitalized by keeping the bubbas on the field. Fourth Q, M finally does some things and puts it away. I was satisfied for 3/4 of the game.
Takeaways: Patterson is still a good athlete that struggles to lead when needed. The D is taking shape since Dwumfor returned and McGrone has emerged. Don't forget M played that game without Hill in the secondary...AND THE BEST STAT OF THE NIGHT was watching PSU look normal and beatable against a common opponent. If M can somehow not put the ball on the turf they will be in good shape next week.
October 13th, 2019 at 8:42 AM ^
I bet the Basketball team will be good this year.
October 13th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
Wilson was chicken winging the ball when fumbled. How does that bad habit make its way on the field? Fire the RB coach and hire Mike Hart. Start benching those who fumble.
October 13th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
They pretty much did by not allowing Turner to play, and then he played and promptly fumbled. Ugh. I give Charbs a pass because that was a bizarre fumble and he gets the frosh treatment, but Wilson, well, that was silly. But the "bench those who fumble rule" would leave us with McCaffery at QB (I'm ok with this), and only Haskins at running back (which, he has actually looked ok...), EFFF it, LET'S ROLLLLLLL>>>
October 13th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^
You can’t just simply bench the players who fumble. Some of those are helmets on balls.
Plus who would we have frkn left?
It is maddening.
October 13th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
Go blue
October 13th, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
Nobody is talking about the biggest coaching screw-up of the day. Harbaugh folded up the tents on the offense in the second quarter, and played kill the clock on our last two possessions of the half, even though we had been moving the ball very effectively up until then, and had all three timeouts. Taking his foot off the gas at that point was just plain stupid. The offense lost its rhythm, the defense lost its intensity, everyone started playing sloppy, and we let a bad team back into the game.
October 13th, 2019 at 9:49 AM ^
We were gashing them with the RPO with the WR sweep. I wonder why we got away from that in the second half.
I liked the resolve of the team to stop the IL momentum cold after they scored 25 points in a row.
They could really only move the ball when they moved their #1 receiver out against Vincent Gray. 5th year senior versus RS freshman.
You have to like the development of Haskins into a serviceable number 2 running back. He's a big, physical guy and he and Charbonnet are going to be problems over the next couple years.
McGrone looks better and better after every game. After terrible LB play killed us against Wisconsin, watching him gives me a lot of confidence in that position moving forward.
No Lavert Hill and no Kwity Paye was evident, but the young guys stepped up in the 4th. After a terrible 3rd (and with momentum meaning everything in college football) that was good to see.
October 13th, 2019 at 10:08 AM ^
Shea’s clinching TD pass to DPJ was a really good throw. He threw it before the break and He led DPJ out and away. The DB had zero chance to stop that play.
Shea also stuck his head in there when he knew we needed to move the chains.
He had a nice game.
October 13th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
The problem is that Shea is really good given 1-2 progressions. He can make all the throws. However, he hesitates to throw the ball into windows and struggles beyond his second progression. He has the arm and athleticism, but he seems to have hit his cerebral ceiling.
October 13th, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^
Which probably makes him an above average college QB.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
And yet he is not. I would argue that he is an average runner and average passer which makes him a BELOW average college QB. My gosh did you watch LSU Florida? How about ND and USC? I can go on and on. There is a marked difference in arm talent. He rarely runs. Did you see OU and TX?Have you seen Fields? Those are runners. Shea is not in their league. He is serviceable. You have to be good at one or the other or you just aren’t a good college QB. See almost the entire big Ten. A QB graveyard. It is the sole reason Ohio State dominates. They always have a QB or three.
October 13th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
He may not be great, but he's the best QB we've had in years. Comparing his numbers last year and this year to past QBs we've had, he's better than anyone going as far back as Brady.
Michigan just isn't a Heisman-caliber QB destination.
October 14th, 2019 at 1:13 AM ^
You can quibble a bit with that. Henson in 2000 had a better qbr. Plus, I’m sure Patterson’s stats from this year won’t be nearly as impressive.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
Very good observation about Shea. Keep it simple for him and he's a much better QB. Shea's abilities as a passer goes way down when he feels the pressure. Just tell him the play he has to call and if it's not there throw it away. Don't make him decide because he can't handle it.
October 13th, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
Read DG’s analysis of Shea’s troubles over at SI. He doesn’t read well, tries to force balls, and has footwork and internal clock problems. All of this is obvious though it is a good analysis.
October 13th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
these comments are fucking hilarious......
we won, we're 5-1. PSU won a nailbiter against the team we beat last week.
I don't recall who predicted grumbling no matter the outcome of this game, but they were spot on.
we had two 100 yard rushers yesterday, one of them is the 3rd or 4th RB deep. Shea ran the ball, no ints, 4 passing TD's..... bitch, bitch, bitch....
A whole lot of you turds need some midol, chocolate and a pacifier.
Onward, GO BLUE!
October 14th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
We've seen this movie before. Michigan is playing poorly. They are beating teams that are nowhere as talented as they are. Wisconson is a very good team this year. Ohio State is a very good team. These teams are the type of teams that can play and win the playoffs. We need to play as well to compete with them as they are good measure of where we need to be. We played Wisconson and they crushed us. Since then our defense got a little better but our offense still stinks. We can still turn this around but we have to be honest with ourselves about how much better we need to be playing. Yes we beat Illinois which is better than losing to them but we have to play Penn State, Nortre Dame, and Ohio State. From what we've seen so far it looks bad for us. Harbaugh is telling us that we're playing great and nothing to worry about. I used to think he was more upset with poor play than I was? Now he's like the feel good dad who tells you played your best and he's proud of you. As fans we want more out of the team. Get better or leave the program. It's not a right to play for Michigan.
October 14th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
We've seen this movie before. Michigan is playing poorly. They are beating teams that are nowhere as talented as they are. Wisconson is a very good team this year. Ohio State is a very good team. These teams are the type of teams that can play and win the playoffs. We need to play as well to compete with them as they are good measure of where we need to be. We played Wisconson and they crushed us. Since then our defense got a little better but our offense still stinks. We can still turn this around but we have to be honest with ourselves about how much better we need to be playing. Yes we beat Illinois which is better than losing to them but we have to play Penn State, Nortre Dame, and Ohio State. From what we've seen so far it looks bad for us. Harbaugh is telling us that we're playing great and nothing to worry about. I used to think he was more upset with poor play than I was? Now he's like the feel good dad who tells you played your best and he's proud of you. As fans we want more out of the team. Get better or leave the program. It's not a right to play for Michigan.
October 15th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^
Th most charitable thing I can say about this version of Michigan is "I don't really know...what we are..." And, quite frankly, there's worse places to be like knowing what a Hoke-led team looked liked in the dying days of that decrepit regime. I feel like we're on a hamster wheel of figuring out what we are week-to-week, though my slightly-informed eye-test says, meh.
The BPONE will continue no matter what because until we best tOSU and look like we belong with the likes of ND, the arc of the program will extinguish all positivity that can be culled from whatever we do on the field against whomever. Beat Penn State and that twat Franklin, first order of business...Go Blue!
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