Michigan Football: Grading the Wolverines' Win at Illinois

The ghost of former coach Rich Rodriguez has left the building. 

For better than three seasons, the knock on Michigan has been its inability to compete physically in the Big Ten Conference.

Brady Hoke took over in January with hopes of returning hard-nosed football to Michigan.

It's taken most of the season, but the difference can be seen on the line of scrimmage.

During Michigan’s 31-14 win at Illinois, the Wolverines defensive front was superb, while the offensive line keeps showing improvement.

Fitz Toussaint practically ran the ball at will, as the offensive line punched huge holes in the Illinois defensive front. Sure you can say Illinois isn't Michigan State or Penn State, but the Illini still rank fifth in rushing defense and first in total defense within the Big Ten. 

On defense, Michigan held feature running back Jason Ford to 26 total yards while sacking quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase four times.

No.18 Michigan (8-2, 4-2), was really only beaten up by Michigan State (8-2, 5-1), but the Wolverines were still in the game late in the fourth quarter.

The Wolverines complete the regular season with two physical opponents—Nebraska (8-2, 4-2) and archrival Ohio State (6-4, 3-3).

While the toughness in Michigan's game has room for improvement, look for the Wolverines to hold their own with both the Cornhuskers and Buckeyes.

Earning a berth in the inaugural Big Ten title game may be a stretch (Michigan must win two, Michigan State must lose two), but with even one win, Michigan should land a respectable bowl game. 

Let's look at the letter grades for the win at Illinois, and what the Wolverines may have in store for the Cornhuskers.   

Quarterbacks

As Michigan continues to strive for a more balanced attack, Denard Robinson posted less than ordinary numbers. He completed just 6-of-10 passes for 92 yards with one interception, two lost fumbles and a sack. 

It was the third straight game where Robinson failed to lead the team in rushing. 

Denard carried the ball 12 times for 30 yards before departing the game early in the third quarter because of a sore wrist.

Hoke acknowledged later that Robinson could have returned, but was happy with what he was seeing from substitute Devin Gardner.

The sophomore from Inkster came in for Robinson, and tossed a pretty 27-yard touchdown strike to Martavious Odoms. It was Gardner's first touchdown pass of the season.

Grade: C+

Running Backs

Fitz Toussaint is truly becoming Michigan's feature back. For the second time in three weeks, Toussaint has recorded monster numbers.

Against Purdue, Toussaint rushed for 170 yards on 20 carries, then rushed for 192 yards on 27 carries at Illinois. 

His 65-yard run against Illinois early in the first quarter set the tone for the game, as from there Michigan controlled the ball on the ground. 

Speaking of Nebraska, what was first thought to be a shootout between dual-threat quarterbacks Taylor Martinez and Denard Robinson, may actually become a slugfest between running backs Rex Burkhead and Fitz Toussaint.

For the season, Burkhead has rushed for 1,072 yards on 212 carries, while Toussaint has 753 yards on 125 attempts.

Grade: A  

Receivers

Seniors Kelvin Grady and Martavious Odoms made their first starts of the season.

Grady, if you recall, made a huge 27-yard reception during the fourth quarter comeback over Notre Dame.

Odoms, one of four players on the roster from Pahokee, Fla., caught his first touchdown pass of the season against Illinois.

Junior Hemingway, who continues to lead the team with 28 catches, had three at Illinois. Tight end Kevin Koger, who leads the team with two touchdown receptions, has evolved into an excellent blocker.

More and more, the team is using him as an H-back, and Koger has responded with solid blocking all over the field.

Grade: B 

Offensive Line

A quick look at Fitz Toussaint's 65-yard run shows each Michigan lineman with a hat on an opponent. The coaches' grade on that play should go through the roof, as Toussaint had a huge hole to navigate.

Toussaint had a near perfect day, rushing for 192 yards on 27 carries.

"Up front is where we executed well," Toussaint said. "They did a good job of opening up holes, and we were able to explode through them and do what we had to do."

Equally impressive was the line's battle with Illinois' Whitney Mercilus. The junior defensive end currently leads the nation with 12.5 sacks, but was only able to register one against Michigan. In fact, that was the only sack notched against the Wolverines all day. 

However, the offensive line's performance was by no means perfect. Illinois, which leads the Big Ten in total defense, came up with nine tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

Grade: B

Defensive Line

The day belonged to Michigan's defensive line. They set the stage in the first quarter by holding Illinois to no first downs and 13 total yards.  Ryan Van Bergen and Mike Martin, who have both struggled at times this season, teamed up to have their best game of the season.

"He (Ryan Van Bergen) and Mike (Martin) were running some games in there, and that was pretty good," said Coach Hoke. 

Van Bergen finished the day with 2.5 sacks included in seven tackles, while Martin tallied a team-high nine tackles.

Grade: A 

Linebackers

Two freshmen and a junior were the busiest at linebacker. Freshmen Desmond Morgan and Jake Ryan started on the outside while steady Kenny Demens patrolled the middle.

The Wolverines are still missing Brandon Herron, who's missed most of the season with a leg injury. Cam Gordon and Brandin Hawthorne are just fit enough to play special teams.

Morgan continues to improve and had his best outing with eight tackles, while his sidekick, Jake Ryan, had four. Demens, who had a big third down sack in the second quarter, finished the game with seven tackles.

Grade: B 

Secondary

Week by week, Michigan seems to face one formidable receiver after another. This time it was A.J. Jenkins, who came into the game with 68 receptions.

The defensive assignment went to J.T. Floyd who, like Blake Countess, is gaining the reputation of an excellent cover corner. 

While Jenkins managed eight catches, he had no touchdowns and his longest reception was only 32 yards. Floyd also grabbed his second interception of the season. 

 "J.T. has played good football for us," Hoke said. "I like how he's competing, I like how he's challenging receivers in a consistent manner, and when you do that you'll have opportunities to make plays." 

Troy Woolfolk and Thomas Gordon alternated  at one safety position and Countess manned the other corner. As usual Kovacs was in on several tackles, finishing with five.

Grade: B+ 

Special Teams

Special teams were not a big factor, as Michigan led from the outset.

The jury is still out on placekicker Brendan Gibbons, who has made eight of 11 attempts this season, but his longest is only 38 yards. 

Will Hagerup, who missed the first four games for breaking team rules, is going through a sophomore slump. His 35.8 average is nearly eight yards less than a year ago.

Freshman Matt Wile is actually getting stronger. Five of his six kickoffs were of the non-returnable variety.

Jeremy Gallon's 32-yard punt return contributed to Denard Robinson's second-quarter touchdown.   

Grade: B-

Coaching

Brady Hoke had one thing in mind when he brought Greg Mattison in to coach defense. He wanted Michigan to play defense in the style of Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr.  

"That's all you heard about when I took the job here," Hoke said. "Defensively, for a lot of years, Michigan was known for Michigan's defense. And they want to represent that. ... When you see those maize helmets hitting the ball carrier multiple times, that’s Michigan defense."

There's no doubt that the defense made it a whole lot easier on the offense.

Illinois was never able get a running game going, finishing with 37 yards on 33 carries. The Illini managed only 214 total yards, far fewer than their 2011 average of 383.

Grade: B+ 

Who's Next?

The next item of business is handicapping Saturday's Nebraska-Michigan game. The Cornhuskers travel to Ann Arbor for the first time since 1962, when they beat the Wolverines 25-13.

The last meeting, of course, was at the 2005 Alamo Bowl, where Nebraska came from behind to win, 32-28.

The Wolverines had an opportunity to win in the final seconds, but their rugby play fizzled as Tyler Ecker was knocked out of bounds.

Fans had flooded the field while the play was still in progress, so it was conceivable that Michigan could get another play. The officials, however, had long since disappeared. 

The series, which Michigan leads 3-2-1, dates back to 1905. 

This year's teams have identical records and have a similar look. Both have talented dual-threat quarterbacks and powerful running backs. 

On defense, Michigan gives up 15.5 points a game while Nebraska allows 22.2.

Las Vegas doesn't read much into that, since the Wolverines are only 2.5-3 point early favorites.