In the preseason, it wasn’t expected that Michigan football’s midseason trip to Champaign to face Illinois would be a huge matchup. However, the Illini enter the game 5-1, ranked one spot higher than the Wolverines at No. 21 and will be rededicating Memorial Stadium on the 100th anniversary of a historic game by Red Grange.
In discussing this matchup, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema got choked up, remembering how the Illini nearly pulled off the upset against the maize and blue — though the game ended in the Wolverines’ favor controversially (in the eyes of Illinois).
“The last one was pretty big,” Bielema said. “The reason I just got choked up, you guys know what happened the last time we played. The last one was big, I thought we had a good enough football team to go up there and win. Unfortunately, we didn’t. There was a lot of things that went into it, things we could’ve done better. We didn’t get to rematch those guys last year so we get to rematch them this year.”
This isn’t the type of game where Michigan can just simply line up, run its stuff, and win. The Wolverines are going to have to be much better than they’ve been thus far this season in order to get that fifth win of the season. And thankfully, the players inside the locker room aren’t looking at this one like it’s some lowly team they’ll be playing against.
“I don’t know about what it means necessarily to over there and stuff, in all honesty, but for us, it’s a huge game. It’s a really big game,” running back Kalel Mullings said. “I mean, for me personally, for a lot of guys in the locker room, we go right back to 2022, we know how these guys are. There’s some dogs over there, and there’s some really good players, and they’ll punch you in the mouth, we know that firsthand. So I don’t think anybody’s sitting here, taking it lightly or not even going into the season, just because it’s not a high media game, and, like, the TVs all around, like some other games on the schedule. This was still one of the games that’s like, yo, it’s one of those games, and it’s one you got a buckle your chin strap for.
“So it’s nothing but respect for these guys. And, yeah, I don’t know what’s going on over there, but it’s still nothing but respect for these guys, for sure.”
Of course, the last time the two programs matched up, it was before rivalry week — which, sometimes for Michigan, can end up closer than anticipated. Mullings notes, however, that the last game was more evidence of how good Illinois was compared to Michigan overlooking the Illini. And similarly, this team isn’t overlooking this Illini team, well aware that this game could end up as a loss if they don’t play well.
“Yeah, the game before the Ohio State game, obviously, that’s always a tough game,” Mullings said. “But even then, we knew, there were some dogs. You watch that 2022 Illinois team, and you look at what those guys are doing on Sundays now, and it’s like — we knew, and they still were a field goal away. So we know how Illinois can handle business, and how they can come and play you real tough and real hard and punch you in the mouth. So, we’ve been practicing these past two weeks to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”
Michigan and Illinois will kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT (2:30 local time) at Memorial Stadium. The game will be nationally broadcast on CBS.