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Last weekend Wisconsin played some great pound-ahead, Michigan-style football while the guys actually wearing the Michigan uniforms continued to be afflicted with the dropsies (FIVE turnovers!). Then came the second half. Some of us once suspected that the Wolverines still had a few athletes left on their defense, and they all showed up to shut the Badgers down and lead a stunning reversal of fortune. The 27-25 win could be enough to lift U of M from a losing season to the kind of almost-above-average one that fans of Indiana, Minnesota, and Northwestern regularly covet (and NU, at least, may actually realize this year)…. Wisconsin, meanwhile, had a few days to lick its wounds before facing the Ohio State.
I’ll go out on a limb and say … both. The Michigan D will ride the momentum and keep getting better, but coach Rich Rodriguez simply doesn’t have the players to run his offense, and it’s going to be unreliable until he finds them—which didn’t happen in the last week. The Wolverines host Illinois, whose Juice Williams-led offense played pretty well again in a loss at Penn State last week. The Illini will be eager for a win to redeem their conference title hopes, and they usually get up to play the Wolverines. They should win by a touchdown.
· Penn State pounds Purdue.
