Michigan Football vs Illinois: Parting Shots

Michigan football routed Illinois 41-8 for another easy victory in Big Ten play. Here are some parting shots as we look ahead to Michigan State this week.

Some of us remember the way Michigan Football white-knuckled its way through games like the one with Illinois yesterday.

Just a few years ago, games that Michigan should have won – and won decisively – were often disturbingly close. In those pre-Jim Harbaugh days, any Michigan victory became a reason to celebrate.

How times have changed. This season Michigan football is expected to dominate every time it takes the field.

At this point, anything less than a College Football Playoff game will seem like a big disappointment. The 78-0 victory two weeks ago at Rutgers has become a new standard, and therefore yesterday’s 48-8 victory over the Fighting Illinois didn’t seem quite as convincing by comparison.

It’s interesting to see how our perspective has changed. With Harbaugh’s arrival less than two years ago, we’ve come to expect more, a great deal more.

Not getting the shut-out yesterday was disappointing, wasn’t it? Be honest.

The only game so far this season that felt competitive was the game back on October 1 with Wisconsin, though that game wasn’t as close as the final score (14-7) might have indicated. Three utterly-makeable field goals would have put Michigan safely ahead.

Frankly, it’s an odd place to be heading into the final stretch of the season. And the temptation, as Ohio State discovered yesterday against Penn State, is to become complacent, to lose a little of the fire within.

We can assume that Ohio State is still a very good team – at least I think we can, in spite of their 24-21 loss – but beating up on lesser opponents is apparently not the way to improve.

The away game at Michigan State next Saturday was looming on Michigan’s schedule all season, until the loss to Maryland yesterday (28-17), which was Michigan State’s fifth loss in a row (and the third in Big Ten Conference play). Even Michigan State’s second game of the season win over Notre Dame (36-28) isn’t looking as big as it did back in early September, with Notre Dame’s less-than-impressive 2-5 record.

After fearing the Michigan State game for months, it’s now clear that Michigan football should dominate the Spartans next Saturday, as Michigan has every other team on the schedule.

Never mind that it’s a rivalry game, and never mind that Michigan will be playing away from home for only the second time this season.

The question to ask ourselves is whether or not this year’s Wolverines want to make a statement against their “little brother,” who has dominated the series too long (Michigan State has won seven of the last eight games).

The question is whether or not they believe this is their year – not only for a conference title, but for a shot at the national championship.

Next: Top 10 Michigan Running Backs of All Time

Based on what I’ve seen so far, Michigan will be ready when the players get off the bus in East Lansing. I’m pretty sure that we haven’t seen their best football yet.

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