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ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Ticker) -- This one was not nearly as painful, but it sill had to hurt. Wide receiver Walter Cross and John Navarre threw touchdown passes in a big first half as 17th-ranked Michigan rolled to a 45-20 victory over No. 23 Illinois. Last season, Michigan took advantage of a pair of fourth-quarter fumbles en route to a 35-31 victory over the Fighting Illini. The loss denied Illinois a chance at its first 4-0 start since 1951. With an experienced team returning and with another shot at winning their first four games, the Fighting Illini (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) were again done in by their Big Ten rivals. Cross' 21-yard TD pass to fellow wide out Marquise Walker gave the Wolverines a 7-3 lead in the first quarter. Kurt Kittner ran four yards for a score to put Illinois back in front early in the second quarter. Just over four minutes later, B.J. Askew rumbled 13 yards for a score to give the Wolverines the lead for good. Navarre found Ronald Bellamy with a 28-yard TD pass 1:36 later, giving the Michigan (3-1, 1-0) a 21-10 bulge. Calvin Bell scored on a 38-yard run with three minutes left in the half, extending the lead to 28-10. "We went into the game feeling that we had to play our best game," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "I thought we had tremendous intensity and concentration today. Our defense was absolutely outstanding against an offense with a lot of weapons." Things started on the right foot for the Illini, who got a 27-yard field goal from Peter Christofilakos 8:43 into the opening quarter. Cross, one of the Wolverines' top receivers, used his arm to give the Michigan the lead with 2:20 left in the quarter, finding Walker with a 21-yard TD pass that caught the Fighting Illini defense off guard. "Our main goal was to be patient and it would eventually come to us," Walker said. "This was our first Big Ten game, so we knew it would be a fight." Illinois recovered from that miscue, moving 80 yards in eight plays on its next drive. Kittner capped the march with his run up the middle. One of the conference's top quarterbacks, Kittner completed 20-of-39 passes for 244 yards. Askew gave the Wolverines a 14-10 lead with 10:35 left before halftime, running 13 yards for a score. On the ensuing possession, the Wolverines' defense may have made the game's biggest play. On 4th-and-inches from the Illinois 29, Kittner was stopped for a loss, swingining all the momentum to the Wolvernines. "I thought they'd punt it out, but they didn't," Michigan linebacker Larry Foote said. "It was a great call from Coach (Jim) Hermann. He was anticipating a quarterback sneak." "It was inches. We took our chances," Kittner said. "I told Kurt if he liked the look, snap the ball. If he didn't, call timeout. It was dumb. It cost us a chance to win the game because we lost some confidence." Navarre made the Illini pay on the next play from scrimmage, finding Bellamy in the right corner of the end zone. Navarre completed 13-of-26 passes for 184 yards. "When you have a big play by the defense, you want to go right after them because they're down," Navarre said. "I just wanted to give Ron (Bellamy) a chance to get to the ball. I tried to put it where only Ron could catch it and he made a great play." The Wolverines continued to pour it on before halftime as Bell capped a three-play, 73-yard drive by scoring untouched on a 38-yard run to make it 28-10. Christofilakos kicked a 38-yard field goal for Illinois on the first possession of the second half but the Wolverines responded in the period as Hayden Epstein connected from 31 yards and Askew scored on a three-yard run, making it 38-13. Askew carried 19 times for 80 yards. After Dustin Ward threw a five-yard TD pass to Greg Lewis for the Fighting Illini midway through the fourth quarter, Cross capped the scoring with a seven-yard run.
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