It was all Treat for the Illini!

On a Halloween day that stayed about as nice out as a fan could have hoped for, Ron Zook's Fighting Illini got a long overdue victory. Rich Rodriguez's team started the year out hot and were ranked at one point in the season. The last five or so games haven't been so great however. The Wolverines have lost 4 of those games, and the lone win came against lowly Delaware State. Here are my key points on what took place today as the Illini earned their first Big Ten win of the year.

Michigan entered today's game leading the Big Ten in rushing yards per game (219.4), rushing touchdowns (22), and yards per carry (5.1). The Illini defense held them today to 113 yards, 1 rushing touchdown, and only 2.6 yards per carry. That's a big accomplishment as the Illini entered the game last in the conference against the run.

Illinois controlled the clock in the first quarter, and I think it helped a lot. 9:30 of the first 15 minutes of the game, the Illini had the ball. All year we have been on our toes immediately on defense, then we simply wear ourselves out. Today, the second quarter wasn't as good for the offense, and I think it says a lot about the team that they kept fighting. It would have been easy for the guys to give up once Michigan scored three straight times unanswered on a touchdown and two field goals while Illinois goes 3 and out three straight times.

I would have liked to see the play calling stay aggressive after the first Illini touchdown. There was one time where the Illini got a 10 yard holding call on first down, then went running back up middle, quarterback up middle, sacked on third and about 17. Right after that, the Illini got the ball with about 1:35 left in the first half. The fans wanted to try and march down the field, but the coaching staff again kept things very simple and safe.

The play of the game was easily the amazing tackle from Terry Hawthorne as he chased down Michigan's Roy Roundtree. Forcier danced out of the pocket like he loves to do, and the result was a well placed ball on a deep slant route over the middle. Roundtree seemed to have a sure touchdown until Hawthorne turned on the after burners and pulled the receiver down from behind. The defense then gave us a taste of what most were hoping they would do all year as they won the battle at the line of scrimmage four straight times and got a stop.

Mikel Leshoure is separating himself from the other backs in this system. I know that Jason Ford's yards per carry average is better, but when I see Leshoure run he never fails to impress me with his effort. I remember the last guy to wear number 5 as a running back here, and Mike looked a lot like him today. His legs don't stop pushing until he goes down, and he has been much better about holding onto the football. I even noticed a few plays where he picked up a blitz and did a nice job of keeping in front of him.

Michigan Quarterback Tate Forcier reminds me a lot of Juice his freshman year. Forcier is a better passer than Juice was, but the similarities show up when plays break down. Forcier is a pretty good scrambler, but he often tries to make something out of nothing and ends up making a questionable decision. Also, when he does scramble, he holds the ball way too far from his body. At one point in my game blog I commented that he was getting sloppy with ball security, and he proceeded to fumble on the very next play.

Illinois did a great job at not shooting themselves in the foot. Coming into play, Illinois was the worst team in the Big Ten when it came to penalties, and they only got whistled 4 times for 36 yards... A big improvement from their average of 7 penalties for a loss of 63.4 yards.