College football preview

Illinois (2-2, 0-1) at Michigan (2-2, 1-0)

When: 2:30 p.m. at Michigan Stadium

TV: Channel 7

Radio: WIND 560-AM

Internet: espn360.com

Series: Michigan leads 66-21-2.

Coaches: Ron Zook (15-25, fourth year at Illinois; 37-38 overall); Rich Rodriguez (2-2, first year at Michigan; 62-28 in eighth FBS season overall).

Players to watch: Sophomore WR Arrelious Benn stepped forward last week with his first 2 touchdown catches of the year. Now it's time for some other targets to become legitimate threats - and for QB Juice Williams to stop forcing passes to Benn that turn into interceptions. MLB Brit Miller ranks among the nation's top 10 in tackles (11.0 per game) and tackles for loss (1.9 per game) has another huge task as he'll have to make a ton of plays against Michigan's spread. He struggled under similar circumstances in the opening loss to Missouri.

Michigan boasts the least-productive offense in the Big Ten, but at least Rich Rodriguez has discovered his QB in Steven Threet (42 of 86 passes for 403 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INT) and his RB in freshman Sam McGuffie (65 carries, 249 yards, 2 TDs). DL Brandon Graham has been the biggest pass-rushing menace in the league. Not only did he pile up 3 sacks last week against Wisconsin, he forced 2 fumbles and added 3 other tackles.

The skinny: Illinois' offense hasn't had much rhythm this year. Either the Illini are striking for big plays-or they're striking out. Big plays won't be easy to come by against a Michigan defense that's particularly strong upfront, so this would be a good week for Illinois to put the penalties and turnovers aside and churn out some long drives. This should be a bigger test for Illinois' offensive line than Penn State was last week - and that's saying something.

Michigan's offense was awful for the first 3.5 games of the year, but something clicked in after halftime last week against Wisconsin. The Wolverines put together three touchdown drives in excess of 75 yards where it appeared the Badgers wore down. Illinois will try to combat that by giving some starters more of a break and giving more time to its second-stringers: Say hello to senior MLB Sam Carson, true freshman CB Tavon Wilson and true freshman OLB Russell Ellington.

Stanford (3-2) at Notre Dame (3-1)

When: 1:43 p.m. at Notre Dame Stadium

TV: Channel 5;

Radio: WLS 890-AM

Series: Notre Dame leads 16-6.

Coaches: Jim Harbaugh (7-10, second year at Stanford; 36-16 in fifth year overall); Charlie Weis (25-16, fourth year at Notre Dame).

Players to watch: Stanford's top rusher Toby Gerhart suffered a mild concussion in last week's win at Washington, but he's in a hurry to get back on the field because senior Anthony Kimble stepped in and rushed for a career-best 157 yards and 2 TDs. Center Alex Fletcher, who's on several national award watch lists, leads a veteran line. Weak-side linebacker Pat Maynor (42 tackles, 4 sacks) is the Cardinal's top defensive playmaker, while redshirt freshman free safety Sean Wiser should know Jimmy Clausen's tendencies after being his teammate at Oaks Christian Academy. After all, he caught 16 TD passes his senior year. Watch for DE Tom McAndrew (Glenbard West) and QB Alex Loukas (Deerfield) off the bench.

Notre Dame's Clausen, meanwhile, is coming off his finest day as a collegian. He hit 20 of 35 passes against Purdue for a career-high 275 yards, 3 TDs and no picks. Golden Tate (20 for 367, 3 TDs) and Michael Floyd (16 of 218, 2 TDs) have become a dynamic pass-catching tandem, but don't forget about true freshman TE Kyle Rudolph (6 for 66, 1 TD).

The skinny: Notre Dame has controlled this rivalry for the last six years, but this certainly isn't a gimme against Harbaugh's squad. Considering Oregon State knocked off top-ranked USC last week, Stanford's season-opening win over the Beavers (36-28) looks pretty good now. If the Cardinal wins today, it will be on just its second three-game winning streak since Tyrone Willingham left Stanford for South Bend after the 2001 season.

Notre Dame's defense needs to kick it up a notch to keep the program rolling. The Irish have just 1 sack and 5 forced turnovers in the first 4 games. Considering Notre Dame is 3-0 at home but 0-1 on the road, a win here would be huge because three of the next four games are on the road.

Northern Illinois (2-2) at Tennessee (1-3)

When: 6 p.m. at Neyland Stadium

Pay-per-TV: ESPN GamePlan

Radio: WSCR 670-AM

Series: First meeting.

Coaches: Jerry Kill (2-2 at NIU; 106-59 in 15th year overall); Phillip Fulmer (148-48, 17th year at Tennessee)

Players to watch: Freshman mighty mite Me'co Brown produced Northern Illinois' first 100-yard game when he blitzed Eastern Michigan for 111 yards and a score last week, but the Mississippi native could be limited due to a foot injury. That's where the Huskies' RB-by-committee could come in handy as Justin Anderson and Montell Clanton have been improving as of late. Senior punter Andy Dittbenner earned MAC special teams player of the week honors last week. He's averaging 42.4 yards per boot this year.

Tennessee's offense has been blah, but its defense has been pretty good this year. Much of the Vols' offense comes from a solid rushing attack led by senior Arian Foster (47 carries, 263 yards) and junior Montario Hardesty (34 carries, 144 yards, 4 TDs). Senior LB Ellix Wilson (35 tackles, 4.5 TFLs) heads a defense that owns lots of big plays. Oddly, the Vols have picked off 8 passes but forced just one fumble this year (that they didn't recover).

The skinny: Tennessee had big expectations at the start of the year, but those have gone up in flames with losses to UCLA, Florida and Auburn. Psychologically, this means either the Vols are too disgusted to be ready for NIU or they're going to make the Huskies pay for their early disappointments.

Conversely, NIU feels great after dominating Indiana State and Eastern Michigan by a combined 85-3 over the last two weeks. While there's nobody on the active roster that participated in the Huskies' 2003 win at Alabama, hyperactive wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck was a key to that game. He'll be sure to conjure up memories of that night, while several of the fifth-year seniors signed on with NIU in part because of that magical showing. If the Huskies' defense can frustrate the Vols early, who knows what might happen before 102,000 orange-clad fans in Knoxville?

- Lindsey Willhite