Illini beat Michigan, make football fun to watch again.

Its not a season saving win, its not a program changing win, but it sure was one hell of a fun win.

This was the sort of game that I had expected from the team, and that for whatever reason we had not seen until Saturday. Hell, the second half of Saturday.

The first half played out slowly like most of the games have this year, with missed opportunities on offense and a defense that only seemed to slow the inevitable.

You know I have made light of the fact that Zook was going out every week and saying that he was going to shift things around and try and find a "spark." Maybe I am the crazy one after all because the opening events of the third quarter seemed altered the entire complexion of the game and the team.

When Terry Hawthorne came from behind to tackle Roundtree at the 1 yard line, it somehow changed the game completely.  Four intense goal line stops later, and the game had turned.

I have not seen the defensive line play that well all year. Corey Liuget, Clay Nurse, Sirod Williams played out of their minds. Credit where credit is due, the defense played out of their collective minds against Michigan. They blanked the Wolverines in the second half, thanks to two fumbles and two turnovers on downs. Zero points. That is big.

Mikel LeShoure completed the paradigm shift soon after that key series of plays with a 70 yard run that reminded a lot of people in the press box of the last Illini running back to wear #5.There really isn't much a question anymore on who the go to guy at RB is.

The offense seemed to be energized, with the exception of a few very painful instances, the pass protection went way up and the holes for the backs seemed to get bigger.

And is it just me or did Jason Ford and Leshoure get faster in the second half? Whatever the reason, the statistics tell the tale of how gigantic the offense became in the second half.

Illinois totaled 94 yards of offense in the first half. In the third quarter alone the Illini had 200 yards, and 119 on the ground. The Illini would go onto amass 500 yards against Michigan for the second year in a row. That my friends is a 400 yard second half.

Give it up for the once embattled Juice Williams by the way who retook the reigns of this offense and reaffirmed what every Illini hoped he could be as a QB. He once again went on a tear in front of Rich Rodriguez, running his end read system to perfection and just running all over the Michigan defense. He deserves to enjoy this week, this season has been a disappointment for him to this point, and I hope this lets him relax and enjoy the rest of his senior year.

I'm sure I'll go into more about what this means overall for the team, the season and the coach later this week. But for now, just enjoy the fact that the Illini have beaten Michigan, something that doesn't happen often enough to take for granted, just yet anyway.