by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis
I said it last week and I’ll say it again this week, a win is a win, is a win, is a win. Much like March Madness, Michigan must continue to survive and advance.
Michigan is 5-1 halfway through the season. You are starting to see that Wisconsin is the real deal. Georgia is 5-1. There is a lot of football left in the season to be played. Because football has now evolved into a match-up game, each team is a totally different animal. The opponents are different and the game is different.
You have to be ready to play each week – for 60 minutes. Much like all of you, I too felt like Bo in this clip while watching that second half – “Sloppy damn football!”
Let’s talk about the Illini game Champions.
OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – It’s an over-used cliche, but it does have tremendous merit – The game is won in the trenches. The Michigan offensive line DOMINATED Illinois in the first half on Saturday. I mean DOMINATED! They looked like world-beaters – or at least, Illini-beaters. And then it looked they were not world-beaters in the 3rd quarter, but then they put the game away in the 4th quarter. I would have loved to have seen a 56-0 sit-the-starters-down-after-scoring-on-their-first-possession-of-the-third-quarter game, but that didn’t happen. Still not a finished product, but the o-Line looked great at times on Saturday generating a season-high 489 yards of offense with two running backs gaining over 100 yards each. They will need 60 minutes of that greatness next Saturday night in Happy Valley.
DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – Getting back to that match-up theme, I thought the Defensive Line was the difference in the game – at least in the first half. They wreaked havoc on the Illinois offense and really stopped them even before they got started. No 3rd down conversions in the first half? Amazing stuff and if Carlo Kemp would have scored a TD on that recovered fumble that would have been the icing on the cake for that unit! Maybe next week.
SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION – For a while there it looked like Jordan Glasgow and his blocked punt were going to be the difference in the game. Thankfully it didn’t come down to that but it was still great to see that unit make a play. Blocked punts are momentum-swinging plays that can demoralize the opponent. That seemed to be the case in the first half. Loved the call and loved the effort! Enthusiasm on special teams affects the rest of the squad. Great to see and hopefully there are a few more of those plays saved for later in the season.
