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Friday, November 5, 2010

Preview: Michigan vs. Illinois

Illinois running back Mikel Leshoure had 150 yards rushing and averaged over 7 yards a carry in 2009.

It just so happens that my personal schedule hasn't left me much time over the past couple days.  I don't have time for a full preview, and even a full preview would say the same thing it always does: Michigan's offense has the advantage, and no matter how bad the offense, the Wolverines' defense will be worse. 

The problems on defense have only been exacerbated by this week's loss of cornerback J.T. Floyd to an ankle injury and the ongoing ankle problems for nose tackle Mike Martin.  Mediocre Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase will likely look like the Second Coming of . . . well . . . Matt McGloin and shred Michigan's defense.

Meanwhile, Illinois is #15 in total defense and #12 in scoring defense.

I do not expect good things to happen.

Final Predictions
  • Running back Mikel Leshoure will run for a billion yards
  • Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase will pass for a billion yards
  • Vincent Smith will get a handful of carries and do virtually nothing
  • Denard Robinson will run for a bunch of yards, get hurt, and throw the ball erratically (not necessarily in that order)
  • Illinois 38, Michigan 27 

6 comments:

  1. Your hyperbole sabotages your credibility. A billion passing yards for Scheelhaase? C'mon. Realistically, 10-11 million...

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  2. For you fair weather fans who find watching "M" football so painful, BRAVO is having a "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" marathon.

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  3. Those look like damn accurate predictions.

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  4. Any way you slice it, that was an exciting game. Little low on the score prediction eh? Barring Tate's two mistakes that nearly gave me a stroke, I'd have to say he made up for it. Good job to Rountree, Smith didn't do half bad, and Shaw really liked the end zone today apparently. I was glad to see Tate enjoy some success today. Hell, for being put in late I'll take his 4 or 5 touchdown passes and key runs. Today's a happy day, minus the fact that our defense, yet again, gave up 572 yards. Can you imagine if we had a defense that stopped a team even every other or every third posession? lol...

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  5. @ Anonymous 4:10

    We forced 6 punts, recovered a fumble and forced a missed fg on what, 16 drives (not including ot and the final :10 of regulation)? The D stopped them 8 of 16 tries or 50% of the time. Throw in the fact that our O/ST had 5 turnovers, Illinois's average starting position was somewhere between their 40 and the 50, and the D forced the Zookers to 3/4 on fg's. How many of the Illini TD scoring drives were over 50 yards? 1-2 maybe? Imagine if Illinois average starting position was at their 30.

    Throw out the OT #'s and Illinois had 486 yards and 40 pts. I wouldn't go as far as to say the D played an excellent game, given what they had to work with field position wise, I would say they played a very solid game all things considered.

    Sorry if some of numbers are off, I did a quick glance at the box score and tried to pull the rest of the info from memory.

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  6. If Illinois average starting field position was pushed back 30 yards, and they had like 7 scoring drives, do the math. Here's the answer for you... an additional 210 yards of total offense. That defense is stomach turning. Wheel! they're running a wheel!!!!!!......(no one heard me)

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