3 things to watch for Michigan football vs. Illinois

Can Wink be vanilla?

Wink Martindale probably came to Michigan football thinking he could do many of the same things he wanted in the NFL.

If he was coaching last year's defense, that would be true. But this isn't last year's defense. That's especially true in the secondary where Michigan football is missing guys like Rod Moore, Mike Sainristil, Keon Sabb, and others from last season's national title team.

Those plays allowed Jesse Minter and Michigan to do a lot of things on the back end. They could communicate and execute. This team can't. Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry and other young guys keep making mistakes and it feels like the entire defense is thinking too much.

That needs to stop. Wink has to stop getting cute and force teams to drive the ball down the field. Rush four, play coverage and force teams to put together long drives.

That's going to be difficult to do without giving up at least one sack. Will Johnson is always capable of making an interception and it would at least eliminate the explosive plays that are coming with ease to the opponent right now.

Luke Altmyer has been stellar this season for Illinois. He's got 14 touchdown passes and just one interception after 10 last season. Illinois has a solid defense and is more than capable of winning this game, especially if the defense allows a few big plays due to busted coverage assignments.

Those can't happen anymore and that means pulling back on the playbook and getting good at the simple stuff.

.