Instant Analysis: Illinois-Michigan

The Illinois Fighting Illini might not win the Big Ten, but on a gleaming Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Mich., Ron Zook bagged a breakthrough every bit as significant as last year’s triumph at Ohio State.

A few fortunate football teams might strike gold in one magic carpet ride of a season, only to immediately fall from grace the following year. Longtime Illinois fans would know: After a Sugar Bowl season under then-head coach Ron Turner in 2001, the Illini became ill, slipping to 5-7 in 2002 before crumbling to 1-11 in a disastrous 2003. For all Illinois became in that one golden year at the beginning of this decade, nobody around the program could sustain that level of excellence for very long.

The most admired and respected performers in any sport are the ones who avoid being one-hit wonders. Whenever a team pulls off a big individual upset, the next challenge is to back up that breakthrough with a solid remainder of the season. And when an upstart outfit turns in a quality Autumn run of football, the rest of the college football world will demand a second superb sojourn through a stack of Saturdays before it can really say that it has attained newfound prominence in a ruthlessly competitive environment.

Few things are more disheartening than for a team to max out one year, and then plummet the next, when opponents display a heightened level of focus. If Illinois football was to solidify its status as a Big Ten big dog, and avoid the sick feeling that comes from feeling that its talent was being wasted, the zealots of the Zooker had to win at Michigan for the first time in nine years. A defeat of one of the Big Ten’s signature programs—and a newly-revived one at that—had to be achieved if a program was going to cement its elevated place on the college football scene.

Mission accomplished, then, for the sons of Champaign. With home-run playmaking and a ballhawking defense, the Illini—down 14-3 in the game’s early stages—roared back to wipe out the Wolverines and bring Rich Rodriguez’s team down to earth.

In the first quarter of play, it became apparent that Michigan had retained the momentum gained from a rousing upset of Wisconsin the week before. Overflowing with confidence, the Maize and Blue—behind their transformed signal caller, Steven Threet—rolled downfield on consecutive possessions to amass their early 11-point bulge. Having lost a week earlier at Penn State, while also bearing a season-opening loss to Missouri, the Illini came to a crossroads just a month into their season. A loss to the Wolverines would have not only announced Michigan’s rise to the top tier of the Big Ten standings, but it would have dealt a death blow to Illinois’ hopes of proving that last year’s run to the Rose Bowl was no fluke. Someone in that visiting huddle had to rise above the din at the Big House, and meet the urgency of a season’s most critical moment.

Isiah “Juice” Williams became that man for his teammates.

The quick quality quarterback led an Illinois resurgence precisely when Ron Zook needed it. When faced with that 14-3 deficit, Williams elevated his game the way all elite athletes manage to do in pressure situations. Taking command of the entire game—not just his own huddle—Williams would eventually produce three game-breaking plays, two with his arm and one with his legs. He displayed perfect touch on a swing pass that Daniel Dufrene turned into a spectacular 57-yard touchdown to give Illinois a 17-14 lead. Just after halftime, the Juice let loose on a beautiful 77-yard touchdown throw to Jeff Cumberland to build the Illinois lead to 24-14. And in the fourth quarter, right after Michigan scored to chip a 17-point lead down to eleven (31-20), Williams—using the kind of play that flummoxed Ohio State last November in Columbus—rolled for 50 yards along the hashmark to set up the touchdown that put the Wolverines to bed. Displaying the diversity, firepower and outright excellence of a big-league leader, Williams ensured that Illinois would eclipse Michigan and affirm its credentials as an upper-echelon team in both the Big Ten and college football at large.

Yes, Illinois might not return to the Rose Bowl or find itself in a BCS battle this January. But Saturday’s triumph over Michigan was the kind of conquest that will have more than a little shelf life for a program that just earned a great deal of respect in Big Ten country.