#14 Michigan 45 Illinois 28 - September 28, 2002 - Champaign, Ill.
Chris Bray's Record (5-1)
CHAMPAIGN, Illinois (Ticker) -- Michigan found its offense just in time
for the start of conference play.
John Navarre tied a career high with four touchdown passes as
the 14th-ranked Wolverines cruised to a 45-28 victory over Illinois
in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams.
Michigan (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) struggled to hold off Utah, 10-7,
last week after falling to Notre Dame the previous week.
But the Wolverines took advantage off five turnovers - three in
the first half - to blow out the Fighting Illini, the defending
Big Ten champions who have dropped four of their first five
games.
The game was not as close as the score indicated as Illinois
scored a pair of late touchdowns after Michigan had opened a
41-13 lead.
"John Navarre had his best game since coming to Michigan,"
Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr said. "Five or six times he hit his
third receiver. I think he's playing extremely well. Quite a few
plays were when John audibled us into the right play."
Illinois is off to its worst start since going 0-11 in 1997 and
has allowed 30 or more points in three of its five games this
season.
Navarre, who also threw four TD passes earlier this year against
Western Michigan, completed 22-of-37 passes for 264 yards.
Chris Perry rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries
for the Wolverines.
"Illinois had played a lot of zone in the games before this, but
they came in and played man-to-man with eight or nine guys in
the box," Carr said. "We got some good pass protection early on,
and that gave us some confidence the rest of the game."
Illinois grabbed a 10-7 lead on Jon Beutjer's 51-yard TD pass to
Walter Young, but Michigan went up for good on Navarre's
six-yard TD pass to Ronald Bellamy.
Peter Christofilakos kicked a 39-yard field goal to pull the
Illini with 14-13 after the first quarter.
The Wolverines took control in the second period as Navarre
threw TD passes of six yards to Braylon Edwards and 27 yards to
tight end Bennie Joppru to make it 28-13 at the intermission.
Navarre and Joppru hooked again for a six-yard TD in the third
quarter, giving Michigan a 35-13 advantage.
"The thing about moving the football in games is that a tight
end is easy to take out of a game if you choose to, but Benny's
just been tremendous," Carr said. "He's a guy with great hands
and he's played the last two weeks with a lot of discomfort.
He's the real deal and he just needs to keep on doing what he's
doing."
Joppru matched a career high with seven receptions for 74 yards
and scored two touchdowns in a game for the first time.
Beutjer completed 25-of-49 passes for 368 yards. His favorite
target was Brandon Lloyd, who had 10 receptions for 156 yards
and a touchdown.
Michigan has won 21 straight conference openers and 34 of its
last 35. The Wolverines are 7-0-1 in their last eight visits to
Champaign.
Scoring Summary (Final)
Michigan (4-1,1-0) vs. Illinois (1-4,0-1)
Date: Sep 28, 2002 Site: Champaign, Ill. Stadium: Memorial Stadium
Attendance: 69249
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:34 ILL - Christofilakos 44 yd field goal
8 plays, 35 yards, TOP 1:24, MICH 0 - ILL 3
08:43 MICH - Perry, Chris 1 yd run (Nienberg, Troy kick)
3 plays, 15 yards, TOP 0:22, MICH 7 - ILL 3
07:26 ILL - >Walter Young 51 yd pass from >Jon Beutjer (Christofilakos kick)
4 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:17, MICH 7 - ILL 10
05:39 MICH - Bellamy, Ronald 6 yd pass from Navarre, John (Nienberg, Troy kick)
6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:47, MICH 14 - ILL 10
04:12 ILL - Christofilakos 39 yd field goal
8 plays, 58 yards, TOP 1:27, MICH 14 - ILL 13
2nd 09:01 MICH - Edwards, B. 6 yd pass from Navarre, John (Nienberg, Troy kick)
5 plays, 24 yards, TOP 2:22, MICH 21 - ILL 13
01:12 MICH - Joppru, Bennie 27 yd pass from Navarre, John (Nienberg, Troy kick)
10 plays, 69 yards, TOP 3:36, MICH 28 - ILL 13
3rd 04:43 MICH - Joppru, Bennie 6 yd pass from Navarre, John (Nienberg, Troy kick)
12 plays, 88 yards, TOP 6:07, MICH 35 - ILL 13
4th 12:01 MICH - Perry, Chris 2 yd run (Nienberg, Troy kick)
3 plays, 10 yards, TOP 1:30, MICH 42 - ILL 13
10:27 MICH - Nienberg, Troy 21 yd field goal
4 plays, -3 yards, TOP 1:20, MICH 45 - ILL 13
07:51 ILL - >Brandon Lloyd 46 yd pass from Jon Beutjer >Walter Young pass from Jon Beutjer)
7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:36, MICH 45 - ILL 21
00:11 ILL - Jon Beutjer 1 yd run (Christofilakos kick)
9 plays, 84 yards, TOP 2:25, MICH 45 - ILL 28
Kickoff time: 2:37 pm End of Game: 6 p.m. Total elapsed time: 3:23
Officials: Referee: Jim Lapetina; Umpire: Percy Mun; Linesman: Ed Peters;
Line judge: Tom Krispinsky; Back judge: Jack Lyman; Field judge: Denny Fruend;
Side judge: Joe Duncan;
Temperature: 80 deg. Wind: SE 7 mph Weather: Sunny
Team Statistics
Team Statistics (Final)
MICH ILL
FIRST DOWNS................... 20 29
Rushing..................... 6 9
Passing..................... 14 20
Penalty..................... 0 0
Rushing Attempts.............. 40 35
Yards Gained Rushing.......... 162 198
Yards Lost Rushing............ 19 23
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 143 175NET YARDS PASSING............. 272 368
Passes Attempted............ 39 49
Passes Completed............ 23 25
Had Intercepted............. 0 3
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 79 84TOTAL NET YARDS............... 415 543
Average Gain Per Play....... 5.3 6.5
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-1 4-2
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 2-20 5-55
Number of Punts-Yards......... 6-248 3-119
Average Per Punt............ 41.3 39.7
Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 2-12 1-2
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 2-49 3-63
Interceptions: Number-Yards... 3-67 0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 1-23 1-3
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 -10
Possession Time............... 32:09 27:51
Third-Down Conversions........ 10 of 17 5 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 6-7 2-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-22 2-12
Individual Statistics
Individual Statistics (Final)
Michigan
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Perry, Chris 22 92 2 90 2 15 4.1
Underwood, Dave 6 29 0 29 0 15 4.8
Askew, B.J. 4 15 0 15 0 6 3.8
Bracken, Tim 5 18 5 13 0 9 2.6
Bellamy, Ronald 1 8 0 8 0 8 8.0
Navarre, John 2 0 12 -12 0 0 -6.0
Totals... 40 162 19 143 2 15 3.6
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck
-------------------------------------------
Navarre, John 37-22-0 264 4 42 2
Brinton, S. 2-1-0 8 0 8 0
Totals... 39-23-0 272 4 42 2
