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Michchamp
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This Saturday, November 19, 2022, #3 MICHIGAN (10-0) plays Illinois (7-3) @ NOON on ABC
Line: UM -18.5
o/u: 42.5
Sagarin predictor: 17.5 Michigan win
Special Thanks to tinsel for filling in last week, doing a perfectly average job, for someone who received notice at the last minute.
History
This will be the 97th meeting between Michigan and Illinois; we've dominated this series, winning 71 of those, for an overall record of 71-23-2. Illinois is actually our fourth most played opponent.
Who are the top three most common opponents, you ask?
I should write AFLAC trivia questions...
#1 OSU - 116 games
#2 MSU - 113 games
#3 Minn - 104 games
It drops way off after Illinois; I think our next most played opponent is Northwestern; we've played most other original Big Ten schools roughly 60 times each.
More Recent History
We have a 5 game winning streak against UI, going back to RichRod's "I Don't Believe In Playing Defense" 67-65 win in 2010.
Illinois was having a good season under 2nd year coach Bret Bielema, commonly known as "Bulimia." He looks like this:
I always thought he kinda resembled a fat version of Martin Short's "Ed Grimley" character but no one ever agreed with me on that:
Being a fat drunk, and getting fired by Arkansas after 5 seasons aren't either of the most embarassing things Bulimia has done.
He is also one of five (5) Big Ten coaches to lose a game to Rich Rodriguez... something they'll be sure to give him shit for at the Old Coaches Home someday.
Who are the other four, you ask?
It's not great company:
- Tim Brewster (former Minnesota HC), now a lowly TE coach at lowly Jacksonville St.
- Ron Zook (UI) - DC in the XFL
- Danny Hope (former Purdue HC) - no longer coaching
- Bill Lynch (former Indiana HC) - no longer coaching
Yikes.
At least his loudmouth Instagram addicted wife is hot... Not sure how he avoids crushing her to death (yes, I did find a pic of her)
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics...
Getting back to football, Illinois was having a good season until two weeks ago, before they shit the bed against MSU, and then again while playing Purdue last week.
They're lead by Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito...
...who doesn't know he's about to get WHACKED for killing Billy Batts without permission!
GO GETCHA SHINEBOX, TOMMY!
Less than 3 weeks ago, the Illini were 7-1 with a maybe-excusable loss @Indiana early in the season. Now they appear to be in trouble, being shown to be a fraud & with their Big Ten leading rusher Chase Brown possibly injured.
Statistically, they seem like a tough matchup:
#2 in total defense (we're #1!)
#59 in total offense (we're #24)
We're statistically better in both passing and rushing (and the same thing on defense), but not by a lot.
Illinois really struggles in the Red Zone though (rank 108th... 44 trips, only 19 TDs, and they've come away completely scoreless 25 % of the time).
And they don't seem to have a lot of grit... a problem on teams built on transfers.
The most likely outcome appears to be another win where we slowly grind our opponent into dust as we accumulate points while keeping them out of the end zone. If we can force them into mistakes, it could get ugly.
And of course, we should be concerned about "looking ahead" to our matchup next week, which pretty much determines how our season ends...
SO go ahead and make your predictions, and post some analysis if you so choose, but as always, Leave the Woofing and the Barking for the other threads!
Line: UM -18.5
o/u: 42.5
Sagarin predictor: 17.5 Michigan win
Special Thanks to tinsel for filling in last week, doing a perfectly average job, for someone who received notice at the last minute.
History
This will be the 97th meeting between Michigan and Illinois; we've dominated this series, winning 71 of those, for an overall record of 71-23-2. Illinois is actually our fourth most played opponent.
Who are the top three most common opponents, you ask?
I should write AFLAC trivia questions...
#1 OSU - 116 games
#2 MSU - 113 games
#3 Minn - 104 games
It drops way off after Illinois; I think our next most played opponent is Northwestern; we've played most other original Big Ten schools roughly 60 times each.
More Recent History
We have a 5 game winning streak against UI, going back to RichRod's "I Don't Believe In Playing Defense" 67-65 win in 2010.
Illinois was having a good season under 2nd year coach Bret Bielema, commonly known as "Bulimia." He looks like this:
I always thought he kinda resembled a fat version of Martin Short's "Ed Grimley" character but no one ever agreed with me on that:
Being a fat drunk, and getting fired by Arkansas after 5 seasons aren't either of the most embarassing things Bulimia has done.
He is also one of five (5) Big Ten coaches to lose a game to Rich Rodriguez... something they'll be sure to give him shit for at the Old Coaches Home someday.
Who are the other four, you ask?
It's not great company:
- Tim Brewster (former Minnesota HC), now a lowly TE coach at lowly Jacksonville St.
- Ron Zook (UI) - DC in the XFL
- Danny Hope (former Purdue HC) - no longer coaching
- Bill Lynch (former Indiana HC) - no longer coaching
Yikes.
At least his loudmouth Instagram addicted wife is hot... Not sure how he avoids crushing her to death (yes, I did find a pic of her)
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics...
Getting back to football, Illinois was having a good season until two weeks ago, before they shit the bed against MSU, and then again while playing Purdue last week.
They're lead by Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito...
...who doesn't know he's about to get WHACKED for killing Billy Batts without permission!
GO GETCHA SHINEBOX, TOMMY!
Less than 3 weeks ago, the Illini were 7-1 with a maybe-excusable loss @Indiana early in the season. Now they appear to be in trouble, being shown to be a fraud & with their Big Ten leading rusher Chase Brown possibly injured.
Statistically, they seem like a tough matchup:
#2 in total defense (we're #1!)
#59 in total offense (we're #24)
We're statistically better in both passing and rushing (and the same thing on defense), but not by a lot.
Illinois really struggles in the Red Zone though (rank 108th... 44 trips, only 19 TDs, and they've come away completely scoreless 25 % of the time).
And they don't seem to have a lot of grit... a problem on teams built on transfers.
The most likely outcome appears to be another win where we slowly grind our opponent into dust as we accumulate points while keeping them out of the end zone. If we can force them into mistakes, it could get ugly.
And of course, we should be concerned about "looking ahead" to our matchup next week, which pretty much determines how our season ends...
SO go ahead and make your predictions, and post some analysis if you so choose, but as always, Leave the Woofing and the Barking for the other threads!
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