Michigan assistant weighs in on showdown with Illinois: 'Going to be a tall task for us'
The Michigan Wolverines are getting ready for the second road trip of the season with a game at Illinois on Saturday afternoon. A ranked opponent provides an opportunity to build momentum heading into the second half of the season, and Bret Bielema’s team is built to give U-M a battle.
Defensively, Michigan has a lot to clean up down the stretch, and line coach Lou Esposito has seen steps in the right direction coming off the bye week.
“Guys are bouncing around, having a good time yesterday in practice where we are right now,” Esposito said on Wednesday. “I think there’s things to work on. I also think it’s a different team, right? You have different players. There’s a different schedule. There are different people. We just got to keep chasing perfection. And I think the off week has been good in many things. One, you get some guys to heal up. But two, you get to self-reflect a little bit. Like, hey, how can we help what we have right now in certain situations? Whether it’s a D lineman getting a better pass rush. Whether it’s a D-end staying lower. Whether it’s a D-tackle doing a better job and selling a movement.
“When you do that, you just help the overall defense. And we’ve had a chance to do that. So I think you’ll see a better second half from us. The guys are super excited about it. The guys were bouncing around, having a good time at practice, hooting and hollering yesterday. And when we play with energy and emotion, we’re pretty good.”
The glow from last season’s 15-0 season and national championship has officially disappeared, but that does not mean that there is not still an expectation for what this year can be. The goals are still fully in front of Michigan, and they expect to give themselves a chance to win every remaining game on the schedule.
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“We expect to win every game at Michigan,” Esposito said. “That’s the reality of it. We expect to win every single time we’re out there. So, no, it didn’t. That wasn’t the expectation. So our deal is we want to chase perfection, right? So let’s go 1-0 every week. Let’s not talk about this game or that game. Let’s go 1-0 this week. 1-0 today. 1-0 on this rep. 1-0 on the next rep. And let’s just keep those blinders on and have that one rep mentality. And that’s what the guys have been doing. It’s been great this week.”
Illinois comes into the contest at 5-1 with its lone loss coming on the road at Penn State. Esposito and Michigan know the task is tall going on the road against a team that has played them tough in the not-so-distant past.
“You got to stop the run with them,” Esposito said. “They’re big. They’re physical. Their running backs are big. The offensive line is massive. They’re going to try to run the ball. And if you let them run the ball, it opens everything else up. The quarterback is super shifty. He’s going to get himself out of situations. They’ve got a pretty good tight end corps and a really good receiving corps that finds a way to get open. And they make some unbelievable catches on the perimeter.
“It’s going to be a tall task for us. We’ve got to be on our best game. And the guys have practiced like that all week. So we’re excited about the competition and excited about the opportunity.”
Saturday’s game between Michigan and Illinois kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
