Talking Michigan vs. Illinois With Illini Insider
Can you confirm that quarterbacks Brandon Peters and Isaiah Williams are both out? If they are out, what do we need to know about third stringer Matt Robinson?
No. Due to the lack of access to practice, I can not confirm the status of either Brandon Peters or Isaiah Williams. I can say that I saw neither of them leave the practice field when we were allowed to interview players after practice on Tuesday morning. However, Illini coach Lovie Smith said Tuesday morning that they were both there and neither has a season-ending injury. My best guess? Matt Robinson starts for Illinois but I don't have any inside information telling me that is the case.
What I can tell you about Robinson is he provides a running, athletic threat at the quarterback position that Peters simply does not. However, the reason Peters beat him out for the starting job is clear. Robinson has an average arm, below average height and little to no experience behind center against major Division I defenses. I'm not certain Illinois can have the balance they need offensively to win games against solid Big Ten defenses but with the possibility of a week-long preparation, maybe they find some easy throws for Robinson to complete in order to gain confidence early in this game. However, it was clear in the third quarter last weekend that Minnesota's defense had no respect for Robinson's ability to take the top off a defense so they put eight players in the box near the line of scrimmage.
Lovie Smith has been able to recruit a bit better over the last year or two so who are some first or second year players we should be aware of?
Four true freshmen have passed the four-game barrier to not qualify for a redshirt: tight end Bryce Barnes, linebacker Tarique Barnes, wide receiver Dalevon Campbell and defensive back Devon Witherspoon. The entire left side of the offensive line are sophomores in left tackle Vederian Lowe and left guard Kendrick Green. Sydney Brown is a sophomore safety who played and started all of last year but missed the first two games of this season due to injury.
What are people around Illinois genuinely thinking about Michigan both on offense and defense heading into the game?
They seem confused about why Michigan has struggled to run the ball effectively but Minnesota entered averaging 2.6 yards per carry and then ran for 332 yards against the Illini. They fear this Illinois' defense and their inability to run fit properly and their inability to properly tackle may be the rallying point for this Michigan ground attack.
Against the pass, they look at Shea Patterson and wonder when he'll wake up and find that five-star potential and again, fear Illinois could be the defense where he finds it. The real fear is the NFL-like wide receivers that Michigan has and their ability to abuse a cover-2 scheme that Lovie Smith won't ever leave.
Lovie used to be viewed as a defensive guru, yet Illinois has struggled mightily on that side of the ball. How do people around the program try to explain that?
The addition of Southern California graduate transfer Oluwole Betiku Jr. has led to an aggressive pash rush but the middle of the field is still wide open due to the cover-2 scheme that assumes offenses will make mistakes in a perfectly executed defensive plan. The Illini's tackling has been really poor and a lot of that suggests Smith is running practices similar to how NFL practices work with very little physicality throughout the week.
Your question is a legit one. Illinois is in year four of the Lovie Smith era and I found one statement of his this week very interesting. "I hope one day we'll be talking about our defense the way people talk about Michigan's."
I assume most people expect Michigan to come in and win the game so what are a few realistic goals for the Illinois players and coaches? What do you think their mindset is ahead of Saturday’s game?
Play better. That's a very simple but very honest assessment of what has to happen on Saturday. This game needs to be competitive into the third and possibly the fourth quarter. The Illini need to prove they can stop the run against Big Ten offenses (which they have yet to do) and that they can get back to their identity offensively, which is to run the ball and control the clock with possession. Anything that would be less than a two-touchdown loss would be seen as progress from one week to the next. The mindset is we need to start playing better or major changes to this program could be coming soon.
