Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from narrow road victory at Illinois

1. Michigan defense stood tall to secure victory

If Michigan is going to make any noise in the Big Ten race this season, or threaten to secure one of the at-large berths in the New Year’s Six, they will need their defense to continue to make top-shelf efforts in every remaining competition over the rest of the regular season.

Illinois pushed them a bit in the second half, threatening to take a lead, but it was still a strong effort by the Wolverines unit. Michigan gave up just 64 rushing yards on 43 Illini carries, holding the hosts to 1.5 yards per carry. Matt Robinson had his moments at quarterback, but he also managed to compile only 192 yards and one touchdown on 16-of-25 passing.

They finally took the air out of Illinois’ comeback bid with forced fumbles on back-to-back fourth quarter drives, allowing the offense to pull away for the 17-point gap by the final whistle. It was an impressive pair of series that will keep the rest of the Big Ten on notice heading into the back half of the season.

Michigan still has plenty to work on, but at least Jim Harbaugh can count on the defense to do its job from week to week. One of the best defensive units in the entire country stood tall yet again on their visit to Champaign, and in the end that made all the difference to push the Wolverines to 5-1 at the midpoint of the season.