Michigan 41, Illinois 8

Karan Higdon (image via Atlantic Broadband)

Michigan shakes up the offensive line. After the injury to left tackle Grant Newsome a few weeks ago, Michigan has been searching for some consistency on the left side. Redshirt sophomore Juwann Bushell-Beatty was the first player to draw into the lineup in Newsome’s spot. I know some people said he was doing fine, but I saw a guy who was struggling with his assignments. This week the Wolverines started fifth year senior Ben Braden at left tackle and true freshman Ben Bredeson at left guard, which I think is a superior lineup. I said since he committed (LINK) that I think Bushell-Beatty can play left tackle down the road if he manages his body properly, but I also thought he would be a guy to potentially start late in his career, not necessarily as a redshirt sophomore. There are still some things to work on for the future. Meanwhile, I thought the line had a decent day outside of right guard Kyle Kalis, who I think probably played his worst game of the season.

Hit the jump for more in the win vs. Illinois.

Jabrill Peppers usage. I actually thought Michigan mailed it in a little bit with its usage of Peppers on offense this week. It was more of what we’ve seen in the past, except they used him on a power read. Illinois was ready for it, and they’re solid in the front seven. Maybe Michigan was just trying to get him some Heisman votes by padding his stats a bit, but I didn’t really see where his presence aided the offense. In fact, it kind of bogged down with him playing in the backfield (5 carries for 9 yards). I expect some more creativity in the future, but I probably would have given up on him in this game after about 3 snaps.

Wilton Speight loves him some Amara Darboh. Maybe plays are being called with the principle of getting the ball to Darboh this season, but it seems like Speight looks for him whenever there’s even a slight chance that he’ll be open. Speight finished the game 16/23 for 253 yards and 2 touchdowns (Darboh had 5 catches for 99 yards). He played a solid game for the most part, though I thought he held onto the ball a bit too long a couple times and also got lambasted out of bounds one time when he slowed up (yet again) instead of hustling to get to the sideline. He greatly overestimates the kindness of defensive players.

There’s a first time for everything. Freshman wide receiver Nate Johnson made his first career reception. So did redshirt freshman tight end Tyrone Wheatley, Jr., which was a 21-yard touchdown reception. True freshman walk-on Tru Wilson got his first career carry, a 1-yarder in the fourth quarter. If I remember correctly, he’s at least the third true freshman walk-on to play this season, joining Nate Schoenle and Carl Myers.

Karan Higdon is coming along. The really nice thing about Higdon (8 carries, 106 yards, 1 touchdown) is that he has a burst to get to the second and third levels. Michigan hasn’t had a ton of that in recent years. Even sprinter Drake Johnson didn’t/doesn’t seem to have that same kind of acceleration. The combination of Higdon and Chris Evans has been a revelation for a team that has mostly had plodders like De’Veon Smith and Derrick Green in recent years. Fitzgerald Toussaint was a similar back, but he ran behind some bad offensive lines. Higdon has the advantage of playing late in some games when defenses are already worn down, but even so, other backs do less. It’s nice to have several backs who can rotate in and be fresh to keep the pressure on defenses late into games.

Speaking of Chris Evans, that again wasn’t targeting. At the tail end of a 16-yard run, freshman running back Chris Evans took a hard hit from a couple Illinois players and got his bell rung. His helmet came off and he laid on the turf, face-up, seemingly woozy and dazed. (News came out after the game that he passed the concussion protocol, which I find hard to believe, but that’s what they said.) Immediately, Twitter lit up about it being targeting. I feel like this is almost a weekly complaint/discussion and very few people understand targeting. There are two ways for targeting to be called:

1. Forcible contact to the head/neck area of a defenseless player: This does not apply, because Evans wasn’t defenseless. He had already run 16 yards down the field and had not had his forward progress stopped. Though there was forcible contact to the head/neck area, it’s moot because he wasn’t defenseless.
2. Contact with the crown of the helmet: The Illinois defensive back didn’t use the crown (top) of his helmet.

Illinois isn’t a bad unit. I thought the hiring of Lovie Smith was a pretty good idea, and it seems to be working out okay. Of course the Illini got crushed, but defensively, I thought they were pretty strong at the point of attack and physical. They seemed to be well coached on that side of the ball and didn’t allow a ton of big busts. Ultimately, they just got run over because they don’t have a great deal of talent. If Smith can parlay his NFL success into a decent recruiting class or two, I think they’ll be headed in the right direction. Offensively, it’s hard to tell much when they were down to their third-string quarterback. They don’t have much speed at wide receiver, but the offensive line is decent and they have a couple decent running backs. I know the numbers didn’t show it, but I actually thought Jeff George, Jr. performed pretty well for his first action. He avoided huge mistakes and took care of the ball, except for an ill-advised screen pass picked off by Dymonte Thomas.

Review of game predictions.

• Illinois’ starting QB won’t finish the game: Technically wrong. I thought Lunt or Crouch – both previously injured – would start the game and give way, but the healthy Jeff George, Jr. got the start.
• Grant Perry scores a touchdown: Scoring touchdowns is tough when you’re suspended. Perry and the Wangler brothers were all suspended for this game.
• Michigan holds Illinois to 70 rushing yards and 170 total yards: The final totals were 77 rushing yards and 172 total yards.
• Michigan 38, Illinois 3: My predicted 35-point spread turned into a 33-point spread with Michigan scoring 3 more points and Illinois scoring 5 more points than I thought

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