It was a night that seemed ripe with opportunity, but one that would not reach fruition for Illinois.
A litany of fourth-quarter Illinois mistakes and penalties allowed 24th-ranked Michigan to overcome two key injuries Saturday night and pull off a 27-17 victory, its ninth straight at Memorial Stadium dating back to a 1985 tie.
“We can’t make that many mistakes against a good team,” coach Ron Zook said.
The Wolverines were without the nation’s leading rusher, Mike Hart. But Carlos Brown rushed for 113 yards in his place, and quarterback Chad Henne fought off injury to throw two touchdown passes in the second quarter as Michigan overcame a 14-3 Illinois lead to take a 17-14 advantage to the locker room.
With their sixth straight victory, the Wolverines (6-2, 4-0) stayed on track for their annual showdown with Ohio State for the Big Ten title.
Illinois (5-3, 3-2) lost its second straight and remained one victory away from bowl eligibility.
The teams were tied 17-17 early in the fourth quarter when Illinois’ Kyle Hudson fumbled a punt, and Michigan’s Sean Griffin recovered at the Illinois 13.
More Top Picks Best Neck Shoulder And Back Massagers
“The straw that broke the camel’s back,” Zook said.
Two plays later, Henne handed off to receiver Adrian Arrington, who lobbed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham with 8 minutes 12 seconds left. K.C. Lopata’s second field goal, a 39-yarder with 3:49 left, ended the scoring.
In the series before the winning touchdown, Michigan had picked up field position on two Illinois personal fouls — a face-mask call on sophomore cornerback Vontae Davis and a late hit out of bounds by safety Kevin Mitchell.
“That we lost hurts,” Mitchell said. “But we were saying in the locker room, we have to remember we can be 9-3, considering 2-10, 1-9, 1-11 (in previous years).”
Illinois was penalized 10 times for 107 yards, compared to four for 35 for Michigan.
As he had indicated, Zook used two quarterbacks. Juice Williams started and finished, but Eddie McGee got a chance in the third quarter, left after getting hit in the head, and came back later. In all, Zook changed quarterbacks four times.
“It gave us both a chance to sit back and see what we can do,” said Williams, who threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Willis to start the scoring after a 63-yard opening kickoff return by Davis. “It gave me relief when things were going wrong.”
Zook said Williams will remain the starter for next week’s game against Ball State.
“It felt good to try to give my team a chance to win the game,” McGee said.
McGee entered the game with 7:31 left in the third quarter and Michigan leading 17-14. He drove the Illini 50 yards before the drive stalled, and Jason Reda’s 37-yard field goal pulled the Illini into a 17-17 tie with 3:47 left in the quarter.
The Illini grabbed the momentum early, getting the third sellout crowd of the season to its feet as sophomore on Davis’ big return with the opening kickoff to the Michigan 33.
After Rashard Mendenhall ran for 6 yards, Williams found Willis open on a simple post pattern for a 27. It was a case of redemption for Willis, who lined up incorrectly at Iowa last week, causing a penalty that negated a potential winning touchdown pass.
Henne left the game after being sacked by David Lindquist and Chris Norwell.
“I’m not really going to get into his injuries,” Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. “I think at the half, we were just hoping that he would be able to return at some point.
“I think the only word to describe Chad Henne is courageous. He did something special today in that stadium that anybody who was a member of this team will never forget. It was the ultimate team win.”
———–