Illinois @ Michigan, Game Day - Post Game Discussion.

[WM Wolverine]

Chase Winovich spells Taco Charlton mostly but I've seen them on the field at the same time too; possibly when Winovich is subbing for Rashan Gary.

What Don Brown does a fair bit in nickel, dime situations (3rd down) is put Jabrill Pepper at safety and brings up Delano Hill to cover a receiver and keeps two safeties deep. Doesn't make a ton of sense but I'm sure DB has a good reason for it.

[Hannibal]

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaadef

Illinois is ranked #122 when it comes to rushing defense. Our previous opponents:

Hawaii: 94
UCF: 52
Colorado: 24
Penn State: 33
Wisconsin: 7
Rutgers: 50

[hack]

Rutgers is 50th in rushing defense? That's got to be an indictment of the stats more than anything else. Otherwise I'd be very pleased with how that all acquits our rushing attack, which still doesn't quite meet the eye test to me.

[Hannibal]

Rutgers's rushing defense had one terrific game (only 3.0 ypc allowed against Washington) that is probably skewing the stats a lot. That and their terrible game against OSU doesn't hurt them very much because OSU has the #2 ranked rushing offense. Other than that, I don't know what they would be benefitting from. The advanced stats are still a little questionable but I feel comfortable saying that Ilinois probably isn't any better at stopping the run than Hawaii. They got gashed by Purdue and Purdue is turrrrrible.

[Hannibal]

Rumor on mgoblog is that Illinois will be starting their third string QB.

[Cody_Russell]

Jeff George Jr, who went to the same high school as an ex girlfriend of mine.
They are usually a powerhouse high school team in Indiana.

Whoever Illinois is starting at QB, they will be embarrassed.
Sadly, I've watched Illinois three times this year (vs UNC, vs Purdue obviously, and at Rutgers for fun)... nothing on that offense is a threat. Well, maybe just their WR Turner. He might have a few catches vs Michigan.

[jaadam4]

Unless Jeff George Sr comes out and looks like he did when he played there they won't score a point.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Not trying to make this game into a contest that it's not going to be but.......

Brian completed the UFR on offense for the Rutgers game. The issues were Speight developing a pattern of slow starts. We've discussed this. He's not great.....and JBB at LT. Given the pattern thing, M's got three games to get through before osu that Speight has to play fairly well, maybe not perfectly to keep games out of the reach of MSU, Iowa and IU.

As well, JBB's play in relief of Newsome at OT has been shaky. Brian would like to see Cole move to LT, Kugler to C. Pass pro and the run game were better when that happened after JBB got dinged worse when he came back in.

[WingsFan]

Cole move to LT, Kugler to C looked much better

[The Oracle]

Well that's what's good about Illinois. You already have an idea of what that would look like. They ideally want to keep Cole at C, so let's see what JBB can do in another scrimmage. Let him play for his job this week, if he flutters, he's out. He's shown glimpses for sure.

[jaadam4]

I agree.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jimmies and Joes v. Illinois .........

I took a lot of this from mgoblog's Fee Fi Fo Film piece.

Illinois runs a 4-2-5 Nickle defense predominantly but will likely go with a 4-3 front v. M. and will roll a S into the box. On the back side they mimick a Tampa 2 (2 hi Ss) defense and seem to play more zone than man. They have one good CB, Jalyen Dunlap who looked to get the job done in his area of responsibility v. Neb. Ace commented that elsewhere, there were a lot of coverage busts.

Illinois has decent DL with Dawuane Smoot lining up at both SDE and WDE. He consistently worked his way into the backfield v Neb from either spot. This is going to be a problem for JBB and we're going to see whether or not Drevno puts Cole at LT moving Kugler to C based on this match-up. If JBB stays at LT, he's going to get worked. OTH going with JH's approach, players get better by playing, he may just go with it letting the chips fall where they may.

Illinois was not good at defending the edge and screens because the Illini's LB play is a big defensive weakness overall. This is the reason why the Illinois defense will have a hard time getting off the field and will wear down. Don't expect this defense to fold immediately though and given their strengths up front, it's going to look like M's run game isn't working well to start the game and/or Illinois' push up front is getting through to bother Speight. Expect to see a ton of quick screens in response. Whether or not these work to keep the chains moving is going to tell us something about how or if Wilton Speight is progressing or has plateaued. A bad game here is going to be an ominous sign. Screens are an essential part of Harbaughffense.

In my view, M fans have developed this image that the offense is going to blow everyone out because of Rutgers. While that may be the case v Illinois, given M's weaknesses on the OL, Speight's limitations and Illinois' pretty good front 4, Illinois has the capacity to exploit them keeping the game close in the first half by not letting M get scoring separation early. So, the uninformed will be chaffing at the bit a bit.

Michigan 41 - Illinois 10

[The Oracle]

LOL @ uninformed.

[Hannibal]

I'll be very disappointed if we don't knock the shit out of Illinois in the run game.

[The Oracle]

500+ total offense, 200+ rushing and passing.