Illinois’ football defense wakes up in the first half against Michigan’s potent offense

Illinois Football took part in one of the biggest games of the season and lived up to the hype surrounding this Top 25 matchup.

This was a great first half of football for the Illini. The ball seems to be passing on both sides, and the result is that Illinois is up 13-7 at halftime.

I was impressed with what I saw from Illinois in the first half. There were also very few failures. It was a complete first half of football.

Last week against Purdue was disappointing for the Illinois football program. We were unable to stop the Boilermakers in the second half as they torched us both on the ground and through the air. Illinois’ defense has looked much better against Michigan so far.

Michigan can’t get anything going offensively. Jack Tuttle was ineffective on all but his final drive of the first half, and Illinois was able to handle the Wolverines’ running attack. The Illini are taking a more aggressive approach, which has led to several Michigan turnovers. It’s a complete 180 for Illinois’ defense.

Illinois has had a lot of special wide receivers come through those doors, and Zakhari Franklin can hang with any of them. He has been incredibly impressive since coming to Champaign and Michigan has no answer for him.

Well, I lied. The Wolverines had an answer for Franklin. Make sure he doesn’t get behind the defense by taking a pass interference penalty. Franklin would have scored several touchdowns in the first half, but Michigan attacked him quite a bit and didn’t let him get the ball. He is unstoppable at the moment.

There were a few plays in the first half where Illinois’ offense failed. With an inexperienced quarterback, this can derail an offense. Luckily we have Luke Altmyer.

Altmyer showed his leadership skills in the first half against Michigan. He had a play where the running back went the wrong way and both players collided in the backfield. Altmyer remained called, rolled out and went for a first down. The offensive line also broke down at times, and Altmyer calmly stepped up and rolled out to get more time and move the ball. He was great in the first half.

I didn’t have too many problems with the Illinois football team in the first half. The biggest thing that stood out to me was when Illinois had the ball deep in Michigan territory and we were on 4th-and-1 trying to go for it.

I was a fan of it, but the play call was to occupy the offensive line and get the ball up the middle. A strong Michigan defensive line was prepared. Better play calling there would have helped.