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

