Michigan
3-1 , 1-0
Illinois
3-1 , 0-1
Trick Plays Jump-Start Michigan in Win Over Illinois
9/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan football team won its Big Ten Conference opener for the 20th straight season, defeating the University of Illinois 45-20 Saturday (Sept. 29) at Michigan Stadium. Michigan's offense emerged from an early slumber to complement an, at times, dominating defensive front. Cato June (Washington, D.C./Anacostia HS) made two key sacks down the stretch, one to set up a score, and the defensive line kept its opponents from a first down on an important fourth-down conversion attempt midway through the second quarter.
After both offenses had failed to assert themselves early in the young game, Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner jump-started the Fighting Illini with a 53-yard connection to wideout Walter Young. The Illini then sputtered, however, and failed to ride the pass' momentum into a seven-point score, instead settling for a 27-yard field goal.
After four straight drives without a first down, Michigan opened up its playbook and used a pair of trick plays to get on the board. Redshirt freshman Jermaine Gonzales (Pontiac, Mich./Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS) was subbed in at quarterback and sent a cross-field lateral to Marquise Walker (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger HS), who returned the ball back across to Gonzales for a 51-yard play that caught the Illini off-guard. The success of this attempt led to further creative play calling as a halfback toss by Walter Cross (Fort Washington, Md./Oxon Hill HS) was completed to Walker for the 21-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead.
Brandon Lloyd made sure his Fighting Illini did not trail for long. He caught a 42-yard pass to move his team into Michigan territory. Antoineo Harris pushed through the Wolverine defensive line for a gain of 15 to set up Kurt Kittner for a quarterback draw that resulted in a four-yard touchdown rush.
On Michigan's next possession, John Navarre's (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) screen pass of 35 yards to Walker ushered the Maize and Blue into Illini territory, Shawn Thompson's (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel HS) first catch of the season, for five yards, kept the drive alive, and Walker spun around several defensive players to place the ball inside the 15-yard line. B.J. Askew (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain HS) carried the ball the final 13 yards to put the Wolverines ahead for good, 14-10 with 10:35 left in the second quarter.
The Wolverines turned back an Illinois surge as Michigan's line held firm to deny Kittner's fourth-down sneak and regain possession of the ball on the Illini 34. The Maize and Blue defense left the field for only one play, however, as Navarre was able to find Ronald Bellamy (New Orleans, La./Archbishop Shaw HS) in the back right corner of the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown strike. In returning to the field, the eager defense was punishing, forcing a punt.
On a quick counter attack, Michigan wasted no time by advancing the chains 74 yards in three plays. A Navarre completion to Bill Seymour (Granger, Ind./Penn HS), coupled with a roughing the passer penalty against Illinois, propelled Michigan into Illinois territory and set up Calvin Bell (Simi Valley, Calif./Simi Valley HS) for the touchdown rush on a reverse of 28 yards. With the successful extra point, Michigan built a 28-10 halftime lead.
Illinois began to falter at the midpoint of the third quarter. Todd Howard's (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) 34-yard kickoff return following an Illinois field goal was extended an extra 15 yards on a facemask penalty. Illinois further aided Michigan with a late hit on Seymour that moved Michigan another 15 yards forward. Walker earned his team another set of downs as a key stiff arm allowed him to push past an Illini defender and the first-down marker. Navarre was sacked twice inside the red zone to deny another touchdown; however Hayden Epstein (Cardiff, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) nullified his opponent's previous field goal with a 31-yard boot of his own to make the score 31-13 with 5:01 left in the third quarter.
Par for the afternoon, the Michigan defense squashed another fledgling drive. June's first sack came as he beat his blockers to the quarterback and forced the ball loose. Illinois native Dan Rumishek (Addison, Ill./Addison Trail HS) recovered the fumble. On the subsequent Michigan drive Askew took control and was able to assert the run for the first time of the afternoon. His three-yard touchdown carry put Michigan ahead by 25, 38-13.
Senior tailback Walter Cross capped off a strong outing with a five-yard touchdown run, on a drive that was sustained by several key first downs.
Michigan makes its first road trip of the conference season to State College, Pa., for a matchup with Penn State. The Saturday afternoon (Oct. 6) game will be shown on ABC Sports beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
Team Stats
ILL 3, MICH 0
ILL - Christofilakos 27 yd field goal 5 plays, 45 yards, TOP 1:33
ILL 3, MICH 7
MICH - Walker, M. 21 yd pass from Cross, Walter (Epstein, Hayden kick) 3 plays, 72 yards, TOP 0:55
ILL 10, MICH 7
ILL - Kittner, Kurt 4 yd run (Christofilakos kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:06
ILL 10, MICH 14
MICH - Askew, B.J. 13 yd run (Epstein, Hayden kick), 10 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:39
ILL 10, MICH 21
MICH - Bellamy, Ronald 33 yd pass from Navarre, John (Epstein, Hayden kick) 1 plays, 33 yards, TOP 0:07
ILL 10, MICH 28
MICH - Bell, Calvin 28 yd run (Epstein, Hayden kick), 3 plays, 66 yards, TOP 0:56
ILL 13, MICH 28
ILL - Christofilakos 38 yd field goal 10 plays, 50 yards, TOP 3:27
ILL 13, MICH 31
MICH - Epstein, Hayden 31 yd field goal 10 plays, 37 yards, TOP 4:40
ILL 13, MICH 38
MICH - Askew, B.J. 3 yd run (Epstein, Hayden kick), 3 plays, 34 yards, TOP 0:48
ILL 20, MICH 38
ILL - Lewis, Greg 5 yd pass from Ward, Dustin (Christofilakos kick) 5 plays, 50 yards, TOP 1:23
ILL 20, MICH 45
MICH - Cross, Walter 5 yd run (Epstein, Hayden kick), 9 plays, 46 yards, TOP 4:09
