Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Michigan

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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – NOVEMBER 19: Cornelius Johnson #6 of the Michigan Wolverines fights for yards against Sydney Brown #30 and Devon Witherspoon #31 of the Illinois Fighting Illini during the second half at Michigan Stadium on November 19, 2022 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wolverines won 19-17. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) /

Illinois football went up to the Big House and gave the Michigan Wolverines a scare on Saturday.

The Illini had this game. There were multiple times this game should have been put away, but Michigan kept getting an extra life. It is hard to beat the game when your opponent keeps respawning every time you kill them.

At halftime, Illinois was only down 7-3. On the back of Chase Brown, the Illini made a great comeback and had the lead late. A Michigan field goal would seal our fate, though. The Wolverines would end up winning, 19-17.

Here are five observations from the Illinois football loss to Michigan.

1. Illinois’ defense did enough to win

Coming into the Michigan game, many people thought the Wolverines were going to trounce the Illini. This was supposed to be a bloodbath in favor of Michigan.

That didn’t end up being the case. In fact, the Illini were able to keep up with the Wolverines in large part due to the play of our great defense.

Last week against Purdue, our defense came into question. Was this unit really as good as many had hyped them up to be? I think defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and the Illinois defense just had a bad week against the Boilermakers.

I was impressed with how the Illinois defense played against Michigan, though. Former five-star quarterback JJ McCarthy was 18-of-34 for 208 yards. He couldn’t get the ball in the end zone for the entire game.

Besides the one big carry of 37 yards, Blake Corum wasn’t having a huge day by any means. He would finish the game with 18 carries for 108 yards before the injury. His backups couldn’t get anything going either, even with that great offensive line. Michigan only had 40 carries for 168 yards and a touchdown.

Illinois was able to hold Michigan to just 19 points on Saturday. That was the second-fewest points the Wolverines have scored in the past two seasons. The only other score lower was when they scored 11 points against No. 3 Georgia in the College Football Playoff last season.

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