Michigan endured two losses and a pair of quarterback changes before its bye last week. Now, the Wolverines’ schedule gets even more difficult.
The defending national champions will play four teams currently ranked in the Top 25 among their six remaining regular-season contests, including a road matchup against No. 22 Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
No. 24 Michigan (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) is coming off a 27-17 road loss to unranked Washington on Oct. 5. Wolverines first-year coach Sherrone Moore benched starting quarterback Alex Orji in the second quarter. Orji had replaced opening-game starter Davis Warren after the latter struggled with turnovers.
Orji’s replacement, Jack Tuttle, completed 10 of 18 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, although he was intercepted once. Tuttle’s college career began at Utah in 2018, but he never appeared in a game for the Utes. He spent four seasons with Indiana before transferring to Michigan before the 2023 campaign.
Tuttle will start against the Fighting Illini (5-1, 2-1) in a pivotal game for the Wolverines. Michigan still has games against No. 2 Oregon (Nov. 2), No. 16 Indiana (Nov. 9), and No. 4 Ohio State (Nov. 30).
“It’s not time to panic, but we have to evaluate what we need to do and how we need to operate,” Moore said.
The 25-year-old Tuttle will start against Illinois. Tuttle was recovering from an elbow injury during the offseason, which limited his practice time until the start of the regular season.
“They (his teammates) call him Uncle Jack, the seventh-year guy that’s done it, seen it, been in the big game, been in all the games,” Moore said. “So he’s done a really good job, and he’ll just continue to progress and do those things right now.”
There’s no uncertainty about the Fighting Illini’s quarterback situation. Luke Altmyer has been razor sharp, throwing for 1,426 yards and 14 touchdowns with just one interception this season. Altmyer had 13 touchdown passes and was intercepted 10 times last season.
“He’s gotten so much better,” Moore said. “He’s just progressed from last year to this year.”
Illinois survived a 50-49 overtime thriller against one-win Purdue last weekend. The Fighting Illini needed a 38-yard field goal from David Alano as time expired to force overtime.
Illinois has dropped its last six meetings with the Wolverines, with its most recent victory coming in 2009. Illinois lost 19-17 in Ann Arbor two seasons ago.
“The last one was pretty big. I thought we had a good enough football team to go up there and win. Unfortunately, it didn’t,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “There’s a lot of things that went into it, a lot of things we could have done better. We didn’t get to rematch these guys last year, so we get a chance to rematch them this year. Those things mean a lot. I think our guys know the growth they’ve had.”
Bielema said preparation has been the key to the team’s success. The Fighting Illini already have matched last season’s win total.
“I learned this from (former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez), you don’t get ready for Michigan, you don’t get ready for Ohio State, you don’t get ready for Penn State in one week,” Bielema said. “”You do it 365 days a year.”
–Field Level Media
