Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines needed a big, deep breath, before launching into the tough second half of its season. Illinois should have qualified as the perfect oxygen mask.
It did for a while, until someone cut the hose. U-M built a 28-0 lead before the Illini rallied to score 25 unanswered points. The Wolverines needed to reel off a final two touchdowns to come away with a slightly unnerving 42-28 win.
The Wolverines let Illinois up for air on a windy day in Champaign, but still moved to 5-1 on the year, 3-1 in the Big Ten. The Illini plummeted to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the conference, and are sinking fast.
Michigan seemed to pound the drama out of this one early, rushing for 205 yards in the first half alone, on its way to 295 for the day. The Wolverines crushed the Illini in total yardage, 489-256, paced by senior quarterback Shea Patterson’s 11-of-22 passing day, with 194 yards and three touchdowns. Patterson also rushed five times for 17 yards and one touchdown.
Redshirt freshman back Hassan Haskins rushed 12 times for 125 yards, while freshman tailback Zach Charbonnet carried 18 times for 116 yards. Each also had a touchdown.
Redshirt freshman Matt Robinson — making his first start for Illinois — finished 16-of-25 passing for 192 yards and one TD.
“You just keep fighting,” Harbaugh said afterward. “There was a big momentum swing there. In the third quarter, they made some plays, and we did turn it over. Our guys rose to the challenge.
“They were tested mightily, and they did a great job. They didn’t flinch, kept playing, kept fighting.”
It took all of five plays on Michigan’s opening possession for the Wolverines to match their touchdown total of a week earlier against Iowa . Charbonnet covered 36 yards on four straight tries. Then on third-and-one at the Illinois 29, Haskins spun out of a tackle near the line of scrimmage, sprinting away on a 29-yard touchdown burst.
“Hassan Haskins ran the ball extremely well,” Harbaugh said. “So did Zach Charbonnet. [Fifth-year senior] Tru Wilson had some fine runs. I felt our offensive line jelling up front.”
Only 3:40 in, the Wolverines posted a 7-0 lead and had the Illini playing uphill into the wind.
U-M then saw a chance to make the Illini gone with the wind on a very breezy afternoon in Champaign. They blew that golden opportunity, after driving from their own 20 to the Illinois 10 when, after an incompletion, junior fullback Ben Mason drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for throwing a forearm into a defender after the play.
Set back to their own 25, the Wolverines couldn’t get to the end zone, and redshirt junior kicker Quinn Nordin came on. He saw a strong cross breeze blow his 34-yard field goal attempt just outside the right upright.
It wasn’t long, though, before the Wolverines had another shot — and took full advantage.
With the Illini deployed in the sieve, U-M just kept coming. Haskins ripped off a 28-yard run on a sweep right, redshirt freshman right tackle Jalen Mayfield pancaking his man to open the door. Patterson then clicked off a slick RPO effort, rolling right and finding redshirt freshman tight end Luke Schoonmaker wide open for a 25-yard touchdown.
The three-play, 70-yard drive made it 14-0 with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Illini were ripe for the burying, and fifth-year senior linebacker Jordan Glasgow bore the shovel. Glasgow fully extended to block an Illini punt, setting Michigan up on the Illinois 7.
“Jordan Glasgow makes the big play for us, stretching out on the blocked punt,” Harbaugh noted. “That was huge, and he was around the ball all day.”
Charbonnet required one run to slice through Illinois’ goal-line welcoming committee, putting U-M in complete control, 21-0, with 12:19 left in the half.
Only the Wolverines could stop themselves, and they mixed in a few of those. A Charbonnet lost fumble killed another drive, but Michigan’s defense maintained a first-half anaconda grip on any Illini hopes.
Patterson found sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell (three catches, 98 yards) on a crossing pattern, and Bell turned it into a 71-yard gain, down to the Illinois 9. He had some help, redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks shielding off two defenders along the way.
Three plays later, Patterson found Eubanks on a four-yard TD toss, off a play-action bootleg. At 28-0 with 4:33 left in the half, the Illini faithful might have considered some halftime escape strategies.
The Illini had to stick around and rallied long enough for a late TD before intermission. Helped by a facemask penalty away from the play by senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp, Illinois went 67 yards in five plays for a touchdown.
Robinson scrambled away from pressure to toss the 23-yard touchdown pass to Josh Imatorbhebhe (five receptions, 102 yards), with 55 seconds left in the half.
Illinois placekicker James McCourt nailed a 50-yard field goal with the strong wind, 4:36 into the second half. At 28-10 and nearly 25 minutes remaining, the Illini might have harbored fleeting comeback hopes.
Those built when they manufactured an 80-yard, 14-play touchdown drive, highlighted by Imatorbhebhe’s 35-yard jump-ball reception and featuring Robinson’s one-yard touchdown sneak. With 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Illinois pulled within 11, 28-17.
Two plays later, fifth-year senior tailback Tru Wilson fumbled it back to the Illini, Stanley Green recovering on the Michigan 36. Five plays later, Dre Brown punched it in from a yard out, then scored a two-point conversion to shockingly pull the Illini within three, 28-25.
The clock read 12:50, and U-M needed to answer.
They did just that, going 79 yards in 10 plays to recreate some breathing room at 35-25. Patterson saw a 10-yard run become 25 when the officials caught the Illini grabbing his facemask. He also hit junior wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones on an 18-yard toss, and picked up a crucial fourth-and-three with a four-yard run from the Illinois 13.
Patterson then gunned a five-yard TD toss to a diving Peoples-Jones, making it a 10-point cushion with 8:57 left.
“Shea Patterson had a great game,” Harbaugh said. “It was tough throwing the ball today, but he came up with big throws.”
Robinson immediately fumbled it away, Glasgow diving on the ball at the Illinois 20. But Haskins got stuffed on a fourth-and-two run from the Illinois 12.
It didn’t matter, when the Wolverines pressured Robinson into tossing a tumbler into Kemp’s hands. It gave U-M the football at the Illinois 1, and Patterson sneaked it in for the 42-25 lead with 6:21 left.
For momentarily terrified Michigan fans, it ended that way. Now it’s on to a much tougher task in Happy Valley a week hence, with plenty more work to do.
“The thing I’m proud of was, as a team, there wasn’t this, ‘Here we go again,’” Harbaugh said of the struggles. “They rose up, and we got a few fumbles of our own. We created some of our own.
“I trust and believe in our team. We saw the evidence today. I’m very proud of that fact. There’s a callus that has been built there, and a toughness.”
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