Michigan Fades Fast Against Illinois

You see what happened was...I don't know what happened. I'm so mad right now there's steam coming out of my ears.

Michigan looked dominant in the first quarter, but sputtered its way through the second and third quarters and ended up with the worst home loss since Florida State in 1991.

Juice Williams absolutely destroyed the Wolverines. He made them look foolish; he even fooled me on a number of occasions. He broke a Michigan Stadium record with 431 yards of total offense.

It was incredible watching him on Saturday dissecting the Michigan defense. The only thing that cools the steam coming out of my head is knowing that Michigan and Rich Rodriguez's offense will one day look like what Illinois displayed in its 45-20 win.

And it will, folks; just be patient.

There has already been a lot of grumbling from friends of mine and other Michigan fans that Rich Rodriguez was not the right hire and he needs to go.

It's been five games! If anyone comes to me with that talk on here I will destroy them and declare them Buckeye fans. That's a warning, so don't post anything here about getting rid of RichRod.

On with the grades:

Offense

After jumping out to a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, the offense looked—and this is as simple as I can describe it—anemic.

The Wolverines had 65 yards of total offense in the second and third quarters combined, in which they punted seven consecutive times.

I can't even count how many times they went three and out (five, after looking it up) and what makes me so mad is that they looked so good in the first quarter.

I was actually at the game and I remember looking up and seeing at one point that Michigan had more than twice the yards Illinois had. Then a few minutes later, Illinois had tripled their yards and Michigan's hadn't changed.

Steven Threet missed on a couple big chances to not go three and out by vastly overthrowing his receivers. Near the end of the first half, he overthrew a wide open surefire touchdown to Martavious Odoms that would have put Michigan up 21-17 at halftime.

His final numbers were not good. Threet was 18-for-35, with 250 yards and two touchdowns, and he fumbled three times (losing one) and was sacked four times.

He was sacked more times on Saturday than he had been all season. Illinois's defensive line, anchored by Martez Wilson, dominated Michigan's front five.

That brings me to the running game. Michigan had just 69 net yards rushing. Sam McGuffie had 70 yards on 19 carries and Brandon Minor only carried three times.

Minor needs more carries and he needs them now. McGuffie cannot carry the load by himself; he's only a freshman. I wouldn't expect to see Michael Shaw very often, especially after Rodriguez reamed him after fumbling the ball.

And where was Kevin Grady inside the 10-yard line? How about giving Mark Moundros the ball?

All I know is that Michigan has always been successful when it had a good running game, and the Wolverines just don't have it right now.

On the plus side, I like Martavious Odoms. He reminds me a little bit of Marquis Walker. Kevin Koger had a touchdown taken away from him but he is emerging as a good tight end.

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