How Michigan Wolverines, Jack Tuttle can overcome a resurgent Illinois offense in Week 8
Many fans might be overlooking the Wolverines' Week 8 game against the Illinois Fighting Illini, but do so at your own peril. Illinois is ranked for a reason, and most of that is a resurgent passing game led by quarterback Luke Altmeyer. Illinois's offense has joined the 21st century in the passing game, and it's […]
Many fans might be overlooking the Wolverines' Week 8 game against the Illinois Fighting Illini, but do so at your own peril. Illinois is ranked for a reason, and most of that is a resurgent passing game led by quarterback Luke Altmeyer.
Illinois's offense has joined the 21st century in the passing game, and it's carried them to a 5-1 start in 2024.
The Illini have passed for 200-plus yards in four of their five games this season, and came close to doing so again against Penn State (185). Despite Penn State's also new and improved offense, the Illini out-produced the Nittany Lions through the air with more yards and touchdowns.
Illinois boasts two terrific receivers in Zakhari Franklin and team captain Pat Bryant, who are both top-13 in the Big Ten in receiving yards so far this season. Bryant's seven touchdowns are tied with Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith for second in the conference as well.
Franklin is a big play threat, who entered the season as the NCAA’s active leader in career receptions, receiving yards, and touchdown catches. 13 of his 28 catches have been plays over 10 yards so far this season.
This will be a tough challenge to overcome on both sides of the ball. Michigan's defense has struggled throughout the season containing team's passing attacks (110th in passing yards allowed), which will put pressure on the offense to keep up.
To further complicate this matchup, Illinois has limited opponents from creating big plays, giving up roughly 12 plays per game of 10-plus yards. Illinois has allowed 74 overall plays of 10-plus yards, while Michigan has yielded 71 passing plays of 10-plus yards.
How can the offense try and win this game?
This gets pretty tricky, but Michigan's offense has to empty the clip in this game if they want to win.
When Jack Tuttle entered the game against Washington, they took the Huskies by surprise and quickly rattled off 17 points to take the lead. After that point, however, the Wolverines' offense fell apart, and struggled moving the ball.
Jack Tuttle’s performance against Washington prompts questions about Michigan Wolverines coaching staff
The Michigan Wolverines have found their answer at quarterback for the rest of the season. Jack Tuttle came in midway through their loss to the Washington Huskies, providing an immediate spark for the offense. After falling behind 14-0, Michigan pulled Alex Orji out and put in Tuttle. His 98 yards passing (yes, really, 98 yards […]
Now, it's come out since that Tuttle had not practiced at all until basically the week of the Washington game. The fact that he played as well as he did is a testament to his resiliency. He's since had two weeks of practice as the starting quarterback.
Going through the film of Michigan's offense with Tuttle in, his processing opens up so much for the offense compared to what they had in their other two quarterbacks this season.
This will be helpful against a surprisingly stingy Illinois defense. However, the Illini have allowed scores on 19 of their 20 red zone opportunities this season.
Illinois's starting group has some talented defenders in guys like Xavier Scott, Seth Coleman, and Dylan Rosiek, but the depth of Illinois's defense, much like Michigan's, has been exposed and picked on. Penn State's ability to run the ball wore out their defense and exposed their depth. The Nittany Lions held onto the ball for almost eight more minutes of game time.
The goal seems pretty clear for the Wolverines' offense: Keep the chains moving. Mix up the passing attack on early downs to keep the defense guessing and take some of the pressure off of their dynamic running back duo.
Michigan cannot simply run-run-pass their way to a win in this one. Illinois is too talented to have that work on you, and that strategy more often than not keeps the defense on the field too long.
The goal for Michigan has to be ball control and complementary football. Wear out Illinois's defense and start picking off on their depth. Keep in front of the chains with quick, easy passes early and rely on your bellcow backs to clean up and wear down Illinois's defense.
If they can do that, they can keep their defense off the field and limit how many opportunities Illinois has on offense to make big plays. With a reliable kicker in Dominic Zvada and a terrific goal-line back in Kalel Mullings, the Wolverines have to capitalize on drives with scores to win.
Michigan is favored to win this week, emerging as a 3.5-point favorite. However, the offense has to show up if they want to walk out of Champaign victorious.
