Illini defense falls apart

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Of Michigan’s 9 touchdowns Saturday afternoon, the fourth one summed up Illinois’ defensive performance best.

After running a deep route, receiver Junior Hemingway curled back to Illinois’ 25-yard line to catch a Denard Robinson pass near the Illini sideline.

Hemmed in by cornerback Terry Hawthorne, safety Tavon Wilson, quickly closing linebacker Nate Bussey and the boundary, Hemingway did some fancy footwork to buy a moment.

Then he broke Hawthorne’s weak tackle attempt, somehow found a lane down the sideline and zipped for the 45-yard score.

It was one of many plays that had Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning doing his best to bite his tongue after Michigan’s 67-65 three-overtime victory.

Remember, Illinois entered the game with the nation’s No. 12 scoring defense (16.8 ppg), No. 15 total defense (301.4 ypg) and No. 25 pass-efficiency defense (113.05 rating).

Michigan owned 31 points and 394 total yards at the break and finished with 67 points and 676 yards.

The Wolverines averaged 37.4 yards per catch in the first half and 19.0 for the day.

“We just kind of fell apart,” Koenning said. “We reverted to bad fundamentals and bad football. We’ve got to find a way to not do that.”

Illinois’ defense picked off Denard Robinson twice and forced 2 fumbles, but managed just 1 sack and no other TFLs the entire game.

Both Koenning and head coach Ron Zook sensed their guys not having their usual zip and aggressiveness.

If Illinois entered with those attributes, it certainly didn’t help when safety Trulon Henry got caught looking at Robinson’s play-action fake on the game’s first play and allowed Roy Roundtree to run uncovered down the seam for a 75-yard touchdown pass.

“The missed tackles and so forth, I think a lot of that is energy,” Zook said. “It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been around it. ... We weren’t flying around with the same intensity that you have to fly around.

“I’m sure that will get their attention for next week.”

Denard talk: While most of Michigan’s players whooped and high-fived their way up the fabled tunnel after the game, quarterback Denard Robinson had a Michigan official’s arm locked around his waist to keep him steady.

Robinson apparently suffered from concussion-like symptoms after taking a lick from Illinois linebacker Martez Wilson on Michigan’s next-to-last play of the third quarter.

Despite missing the fourth quarter and overtime, Robinson finished 10 of 20 for 305 yards and 3 TDs. Illinois did hold the nation’s No. 2 rusher to 62 yards on 19 carries 99 yards below his average.

“He’s a quick little guy,” said senior linebacker Nate Bussey. “He did exactly what we expected. We just needed to stop him.”

“I’m impressed,” said middle linebacker Martez Wilson. “He’s a great athlete. He’s fast. He can throw. People always expect him to run, but you can’t forget that he could throw the ball as well.”

Double-triple Nate: For the second week in a row, Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase hit triple digits for rushing (101) and passing (211) yards.

Scheelhaase completed 14 of 25 passes for 3 scores and no interceptions.

Over the last three weeks, Scheelhaase completed 65 percent of his throws for 529 yards, 9 TDs and no interceptions.

“Obviously it stinks when you end up on the wrong side of the stick in a crazy game like this,” Scheelhaase said. “I hope our team’s head isn’t down.”