Michigan can become bowl eligible by beating floundering Illinois
Illinois coach Ron Zook encourages his team in game against Indiana earlier this season. (Photo: Associated Press)
Expected to contend for a Jan. 1 bowl game with a four-year starter at quarterback (Juice Williams) and one of college football’s most talented receivers (Arrelious Benn), the Illini are, instead, the worst team in the Big Ten.
They haven’t beat a Football Bowl Subdivision team since last Nov. 1, haven’t lost a game by fewer than 10 points this year, and epitomize dysfunction with personnel issues on both sides of the ball and a coach in Zook who most fans want fired but the university, because of an ongoing admissions scandal, might be forced to keep.
Zook received a vote of confidence from athletic director Ron Guenther at halftime of last week’s loss to Purdue.
He said he was appreciative of the gesture, but focused on bigger things - like snapping Illinois’ five-game losing streak today against Michigan (3:30 p.m., ABC).
“No one saw this coming,” Zook said.
And no one at Michigan believes this is the real Illinois team.
“They returned a lot of guys, especially offensively, and I thought that they would be a more dominant team,” defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen said. “But they still have all the players and the capacity to be that team, so we have to prepare like they’re the best team we’re going to play this year.”
Illinois (1-6, 0-5) handed Michigan one of its most disheartening losses last year, 45-20, at Michigan Stadium.
Williams, the Big Ten leader in total offense as a junior, shredded Michigan’s defense for 431 yards and four touchdowns as the Wolverines once again struggled to stop a dual-threat quarterback.
“They’re a very, very talented football team,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “They went up and down the field on us pretty easy (last year), and it’s a lot of the same players. So I don't think I have to remind our guys, particularly defensively, about Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn and all those guys. That's going to be an easy sell.
“Plus, we’re at the point, our guys, we’ve got to improve ourselves.”
Michigan (5-3, 1-3) has lost its last three games to FBS competition after starting the season 4-0 and got handled last week by Penn State, 35-10.
“It was an eye-opener for us,” cornerback Troy Woolfolk said. “We thought we would have played them better than that and we just now know how much work we need to do.”
Rodriguez said that work starts offensively, where the Wolverines have committed nine turnovers in their last two Big Ten games and are dealing with nagging injuries to quarterback Tate Forcier (shoulder), running back Brandon Minor (ankle) and receiver Martavious Odoms (knee).
Starting center David Molk is out for the season with a torn right ACL.
Off the field, Michigan is dealing with turmoil, too. Cornerback Boubacar Cissoko was removed from the roster Tuesday for repeated violations of team rules, and a day earlier Michigan received an official “Notice of Inquiry” from the NCAA saying it would continue to investigate allegations of improper practice time.
Rodriguez said none of that should affect his team’s performance, and with the Wolverines one win from away from being bowl eligible after going 3-9 last year, there’s plenty riding on today.
“I don’t think the players have let anything distract them from the first week of the season all the way up to now,” Rodriguez said. “There have been times we haven’t played well, but it hasn’t been a lack of focus and preparation. And so a little bit more drama externally doesn’t affect what we do internally.”
Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
Comments
WolverinePride
Sat, Oct 31, 2009 : 5:58 p.m.
...instead we just woke them up and found ourselves more floundering.
aareader
Sat, Oct 31, 2009 : 12:43 p.m.
"It ain't over 'til it is over," "Don't count your chickens until they are hatched," "Any team can beat any other team on a given day," We got ripped pretty good at home against Ill, Indiana is beating #4 Iowa at half time"...... Let us hope Blue will take out Orange and we have a chance to be bowl bound. But I would like to see the final score today with a Mich. win before I celebrate.
Fresh121
Sat, Oct 31, 2009 : 10:50 a.m.
Lol...go blue..rich rod you are the man
rightmind250
Sat, Oct 31, 2009 : 7:50 a.m.
You forgot about the fighting with his coaches on Nat'l tv. That really makes the program look proud.
uminks
Sat, Oct 31, 2009 : 2:38 a.m.
Wow, there's actually even a worse defense than our own! Even with Minor in Ann Arbor we should still have a good running game against IL, which may help keep our defense off the field. Tate may even play better since it should be in the lower 50s with sunshine at kickoff. Hopefully Tate's shoulder has improved enough for him to have a great game. I'm excited to see how this team bounces back after a poor performance at home against PSU. The ILLINI offense and Juice may look better against our defense but I think we can out score them in the defenseless bowl! UM 38 IL 31. One more win next week against Purdue, then we will be there, 7-5!!! Go Blue!!!!!!
sandokan
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 : 10:11 p.m.
Dear King Rich, Thank you for making UM more sub-par than everybody thought was possible. It was so funny to watch UM lose to SPARTY and then get beat by IOVA and PENN STATE. It has been an absolute joy watching UM lose game after game. The real present was the PENN STATE loss, I simply can't thank you enough for leading these lowly Weasels to another unbelievable loss. To see all the UM fans leave the stink-hole stadium in utter despair was a joy that I simply can't describe. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm now looking forward to UM showing up again and see what kind of devastation UM can deliver next
Matt Sussman
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 : 5:41 p.m.
"Michigan can become bowl eligible" is like saying "Billy is guaranteed a C-minus in his class!"
81wolverine
Fri, Oct 30, 2009 : 3:50 p.m.
Zook can certainly recruit. But there must be some internal issues that he's not addressing very well or something. I don't know how else you'd explain such poor play by a team with talent. I just hope their slide continues thru Saturday. Go Blue!