Bowl bid at stake for Illini, Mich.
Illinois (5-3, 3-2) at Michigan (5-3, 1-3)
When: 11 a.m. Saturday at Michigan Stadium
TV: ESPN; Web: ESPN3.com; Radio: WIND 560-AM
Series: Michigan leads 66-23-2
Coaches: Ron Zook (26-42, sixth year at Illinois; 49-56 overall); Rich Rodriguez (13-19, third year at Michigan; 118-81-2 overall).
Illini players to watch: Illinois' defense ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense (16.8 ppg) and 15th in total defense (301.4 ypg) on the strengths of all-Big Ten-worthy performances by guys such as junior DT Corey Liuget, junior MLB Martez Wilson, senior OLB Nate Bussey, junior S Tavon Wilson and senior DE Clay Nurse. Could redshirt freshman QB Nathan Scheelhaase be a mini-Denard Robinson? Scheelhaase is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week after he posted 313 total yards and threw for 4 TDs against Purdue.
Michigan players to watch: Sophomore QB Denard Robinson already owns the Big Ten's single-season rushing record for a QB (1,287 yards) and ranks second nationally in rushing and total offense. Between his 164 rushes and 166 pass attempts, Robinson averages 8.5 yards each time the play is in his hands. He's so tough to catch, Michigan ranks second nationally in sacks allowed. WR Roy Roundtree is the Wolverines' next-best threat with 36 catches for 410 yards and 2 TDs. Though Michigan's defense has surrendered 37.0 points per game in Big Ten play, linebacker Jonas Mouton leads the league with 9.4 tackles per outing.
The skinny: Michigan feels like it's riding a victory high with the NCAA's ruling Thursday that the football program committed no significant violations. Now the trick is to get that good feeling to carry over to renovated Michigan Stadium as both teams gun to become bowl-eligible. The Illini are searching for their first three-game winning streak over the Wolverines since 1950-53 and Michigan's defense has been as awful as Illinois' has been awesome. The Wolverines rank among the Big Ten's bottom four in every key defensive stat while the Illini rank among the top four. Scheelhaase made Purdue pay last week for loading up to stop running back Mikel Leshoure, and it should be easier to devour a depleted Michigan secondary loaded with first-year players.
Fun Rich-Rod stat: Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has gone 3-0 in Big Ten openers. He has gone 1-16 in all other Big Ten games.
He said it: Ron Zook on slowing down Denard Robinson: “At least it is assignment football and we are going to get a little bit of that type of offense with the option and so forth. But we have to do what we do and we have to do it extremely well. I think we have to swarm the football, we have to tackle, we can't jump out of gaps. He is like water; he is going to seek the path of least resistance.”