Michigan Football vs Illinois: Game Balls from the Wolverines 41-8 Win

Michigan football isn’t just beating people, it’s humiliating them and the Wolverines did so once again to Illinois, beating the Illini 41-8.

The University of Michigan football team is undefeated for the first time since 2006 after steamrolling Illinois on homecoming Saturday.

Related Story: 5 Takeaways from the Wolverines Win over Illinois

There weren’t many nits to be picked then and there aren’t now; the 2016 Wolverines are every bit as good as every Michigan football team since 1997 and it showed again on Saturday.

Illinois is not good, but it wasn’t so long ago that bad teams could travel to Ann Arbor and hang tough with–if not defeat–the home team.

Not so this year.

Once Ty Wheatley Jr. snagged a twenty-one yard touchdown pass to put Michigan up 14-0 with more than half of the first quarter remaining, it seemed like both teams knew the game was over.

Wilton Speight and company kept their boots on Illinois’ neck until the second string gradually took over in the second half and cemented a 41-8 victory that didn’t even seem that close.

Here are the game balls.

Wilton Speight

I haven’t been high on Speight this season despite his good superficial numbers and the team’s success, but damned if he didn’t look like a borderline All Big Ten player against the Fighting Illini.

It’s almost as if bye weeks with this coaching staff can be hugely beneficial for developing quarterbacks; who would have thought? Speight threw for 253 yards with two touchdowns, no turnovers, and a 98.1 QBR.

Illinois’ defense is shaky at best but they do have a good defensive line. Dawuane Smoot and Carroll Phillips are both future draft picks and–in a surprise move–were going against a new Michigan offensive line rotation (Ben Braden at LT and Ben Bredeson at LG), but Speight looked poised and was able to get the ball away before pressure got to him on all but two plays, only one of which was his fault.

Even in his best games Speight has had a tendency to just miss open or open-enough receivers downfield, usually because of mechanical breakdowns, but he didn’t leave yards on the field on Saturday. He looked more comfortable under duress in the pocket and stepped into all of his throws while avoiding short arming the ball on slow developing routes; all very encouraging improvements. Illinois is Illinois, sure, but cutting out unforced errors and issues with fundamentals would be a boon for him and the offense.

Dymonte Thomas

This could have easily gone to Thomas’ defensive backfield mate Channing Stribling, but Thomas got his first career interception in the second quarter so Thomas gets the ball. It seems like we’ve been saying that Thomas is this close to being being a game changing player since he was a sophomore but he just never fully grasped the schemes in which he was playing well enough to get consistent playing time until this year.

The safeties were supposed to be a nominal weakness this year but–just like with every unit on this defense, somehow–they’ve been better than expected. That starts with Thomas. He’s always been fast enough to excel in coverage and big enough to play in the box, so it’s nice to see him putting it all together this season.

He had a pass breakup and three tackles to go along with his interception. As usual, he was solid in picking up receivers in coverage and didn’t miss any tackles. The linebackers’ and safeties’ successes this year are pretty much all gravy, which is why we’re talking about this side being historically great.

Amarah Darboh

Darboh is pretty clearly Wilton Speight’s favorite target at this point, and that’s fine by me. He does pretty much everything well to quite-well: he’s a problem for defenses on screens, he can find gaps in zone coverage and isn’t afraid to go up in traffic, and between his deceptively good speed and his route running technique, opposing defensive backs don’t have much margin for error.

He proved that once again on Saturday, going for 99 yards on five catches on everything from screens to deep posts. When Speight gets in trouble he usually looks to check down to Butt, but when he has even a little bit of time he looks to the second level for Darboh. Of course, Darboh’s usually found just enough space for himself around the hashes to go up and grab a semi-contested ball, something that he’s gotten much better at this season and showed off against a shaky Illinois defense.

The rapport between he and Speight will determine how potent this passing attack can be from here on out.

Next: Top 10 Michigan Running Backs of All Time

Game Ball Count

• Chris Evans
• Mike McCray
• Ben Bredeson
• Michael Onwenu
• Jabrill Peppers (3)
• Wilton Speight (2)
• Tyree Kinell
• Chris Wormley
• Rashan Gary
• Shane Morris, Fullback
• De’Veon Smith
• Jourdan Lewis (2)
• Karan Higdon
• Channing Stribling
• Ryan Glasgow
• Taco Charlton
• Khalid Hill
• Dymonte Thomas
• Amarah Darboh