Michigan Football vs. Illinois: Five Questions for the Wolverines

Michigan football is aiming for 11-0 against Illinois and here are five questions for the Fighting Illini and the Wolverines.

The final two weeks of the regular season are officially upon us, as Michigan football looks to improve to 11-0, heading into the all-important annual matchup down in Columbus with Ohio State.

Before Michigan plays OSU though, they have to take care of business at home against a slumping Illinois team, currently on a two-game losing streak, who no longer have control over the West division.

This should be a matchup between two ranked teams, but unfortunately, Illinois has choked when it has really mattered.

With all of that being said, here are five questions that need to be answered on Saturday.

Can Michigan football get its passing game going?

I feel like we’ve questioned this passing game every week since the Indiana game (which we have).

While I don’t think Michigan’s passing game is as bad as the numbers would suggest, at the same time, the passing game has definitely left a bit of meat on the bone, something Harbaugh would say.

JJ had his worst statistical game last week against Nebraska, completing less than 50% of his passes, for less than 200 yards, but over the past few weeks, if we take a closer look at the numbers, JJ would have over 200 passing yards if he hit on 1-2 deep shots per game.

JJ is extremely efficient everywhere else on the field, whether that’s 0-9 yards downfield, or 10-19 yards downfield.

He just struggles to throw 20 yards or more downfield, which is something most quarterbacks struggle with (at least a little) to be quite honest. Especially him being only 19 years old.

Despite Illinois bringing the #2 total defense to the Big House, they struggle in yards per completion, as they are the 123rd-best team in that category, basically giving up a first down every time (9.98 yards per completion).

So, although Illinois doesn’t allow a ton of passing yards per game (#5 defense in that category, giving up 161 passing yards per game) they still give up huge yardage when a team does pass the ball on them.

Illinois probably has the best cover cornerback in the Big Ten right now in Devon Witherspoon, but he’s only one guy, as Illinois has been bit by the injury bug in their DB room, as DBs Taz Nicholson and Terrell Jennings won’t suit up on Saturday, so Michigan has to take advantage.