4B — October 24, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

The good, the bad and the ugly: Michigan 41, Illinois 8

One week ahead of a perhaps

slightly deflated visit to East
Lansing, the Michigan football
team kept rolling.

The Wolverines raced to a 41-8

win over Illinois at Michigan
Stadium on Saturday, keeping
them undefeated heading into a
rivalry game against Michigan
State.

The Daily broke down the

good, the bad and the ugly from
the game:

The good

Karan Higdon just keeps looking

better.
Michigan’s
sophomore

running back got off to a slow start

this season after missing much
of spring and summer workouts
with mononucleosis and a knee
injury. But after rushing nine
times for 81 yards and two scores
in Michigan’s 49-10 rout of Penn
State last month, Higdon has
continued to impress.

He
did
not
play
against

Wisconsin, but he racked up
108 yards and two touchdowns
against Rutgers last week, and
he gained 106 yards and a score
against Illinois. In each of the last
three games in which he played,
Higdon has a run of at least
40 yards. Against the Fighting
Illini, he ripped off a 45-yard
touchdown run in the fourth
quarter that was the first real big
play Michigan’s offense had made
since the first half.

It should say something about

Higdon that he got top billing
in this section, especially since
redshirt sophomore quarterback
Wilton Speight had one of the
best games of his career. Speight
was 16-of-23 passing, totaling 253
yards and two touchdowns.

Michigan’s
defense
lived

up to its own deservedly lofty
reputation, but we praise them all
the time. This time, we thought
a couple of offensive performers
deserved some shine.

The bad

Outside of three big plays,

Illinois had just 41 total yards of
offense. Two 43-yard receptions
and one 45-yard rush accounted
for more than three quarters of

the Fighting Illini’s offense, which
is usually not a winning recipe.
And while Illinois was the first
team to bust a big play against the
Wolverines since Penn State, its
offense simply could not get into
any kind of prolonged rhythm.

Much of this, of course, can be

credited to the Michigan defense.
But Illinois’ offense was not
without fault.

Michigan held Jeff George Jr.

without a completion in the first
half, and while Jim Harbaugh
said he thought George acquitted
himself well, he certainly had to
face some tough circumstances.
Michigan now has the nation’s
No. 4 rush defense to pair with its
top-ranked pass ‘D,’ a pairing that
allows the Wolverines plenty of
options in coverage. George faced

that pressure early, and it led him
to a quarterback rating of -28.6 at
the half.

There aren’t many tougher

ways to make your college debut.

The ugly

Just as was the case in

Michigan’s previous two home
games, a Wolverine suffered a
potentially serious injury. After
Jeremy Clark (knee) and Grant
Newsome (knee) were lost for
the year against Penn State and
Wisconsin, respectively, Michigan
had another scare on Saturday.

Freshman
running
back

Chris Evans took a jarring
shot to the head on Michigan’s
second drive and did not return.
Harbaugh implied Evans briefly

lost consciousness from the
collision, though he could not
specify after the game the
severity of the injury.

Concussions are always serious,

though, and with the emphasis
being placed on them around
the sports world, it would not be
surprising if Evans had to miss
extended time. The more glaring
concern in this matter is his
personal health, to be sure, but if
Evans is lost for extended time, he
will be the third key contributor
the Wolverines have lost in
their past four games. Redshirt
junior fullback Khalid Hill and
sophomore safety Tyree Kinnel
also left Saturday’s game early.

That’s the opposite of what

Michigan wants going into its
critical final stretch.

MAX BULTMAN

Managing Sports Editor

Speight, Higdon power offense in 31-point first-half performance after Chris Evans goes down with head injury early