5 massive observations from the Illinois football win over Michigan

Don’t look now, but the Illinois football team is seven games into the 2024 season and we are already bowl-eligible.

Who would have thought the Purdue game would have been more of a nail-biter than the game against Michigan? The Illini had control for much of the game against the Wolverines to almost everyone’s surprise.

Illinois was able to move the ball well offensively considering Michigan does have a good defense. Putting up 21 points against the Wolverines is impressive. Defensively, Illinois had our best game of the season.

This was a huge performance by the Illinois defense. It was one that will stick in my memory for years to come. Illinois played a complete game and came away with a huge win over Michigan, 21-7.

Here are five massive observations from the Illinois football win over Michigan

1. Michigan’s run game was held in check

A big glaring issue last week against Purdue was the fact Illinois let the Boilermakers run all over us. Purdue had 32 carries for 239 yards and two touchdowns in the narrow Illini win.

I remember seeing multiple people say Illinois was going to get trucked by Michigan because of the run defense. Well, the Illini came out on Saturday and showed that the Purdue game was just a fluke. We shut down the Michigan run better than anyone expected.

The Wolverines came into the game averaging 191.3 yards per game on the ground, which ranked No. 35 in the country. Illinois was able to flip the script and hold Michigan to just 38 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Illinois’ gang tackling was a huge reason why Michigan couldn’t get the ground game going. Even when one of the Wolverines’ running backs would get through the defensive line, multiple Illinois defenders were waiting to pounce.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Henry clearly focused on stopping the run over the past week. I love how the defensive line played when it came to the run too. We didn’t let Michigan’s running backs get around the edge, so everything was contained to the inside where the Illinois linebackers could gobble them up.

This was a masterful game plan by the Illinois defense. Michigan is a good running program, and Illinois was able to stop them from getting going.