Throughout this football season, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has said over and over again that his extremely young defense would have to grow up quickly if the Michigan football team was going to be successful. But for weeks, the progress of the young players, especially in the secondary, has been painfully slow.

On Saturday, in Michigan's 67-65 triple-overtime victory over Illinois, they finally grew up.

The Wolverine defense got major contributions from many underclassmen, especially from redshirt sophomore linebacker Kenny Demens.

Demens, who took over the starting role from senior linebacker Obi Ezeh against Iowa, made some huge plays against the Illini, most crucially when the defense was playing on a short field because the Michigan offense turned it over, which happened four times on the day.

"I want to be the guy who takes the stress off my teammates' shoulders," Demens said after the game. "I want to be that guy, and I feel like just doing my role to my ability, I can really do that."

But it's been the secondary that has experienced the most trouble this season, and it was two of the youngest defensive backs who made some of the biggest plays.

Freshman cornerback Courtney Avery, who made his first start against Illinois, has been preyed on by opposing quarterbacks all season. But early in the third quarter, he hunted some prey of his own, making a terrific open-field tackle on Illini freshman quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase on third down to force a field goal, which was missed.

"There are three true freshmen in the secondary, and redshirt freshmen underneath," Rodriguez said. "They battled. They learned some lessons."

Another freshman, safety Ray Vinopal, made a few plays of his own. With just over a minute left in the game, Vinopal teamed up with redshirt freshman Cameron Gordon to charge in from the backfield and stop Illinois running back Mikel Leshoure for no gain to force a punt.

"Ray, he played a great game," redshirt sophomore safety Jordan Kovacs said after the game. "That was a huge stop for us. I was just so proud of the way he played, and Courtney. All those other young guys played well."

FIVE TURNOVERS AND A VICTORY: It's very unusual for a team to turn the ball over five times on offense and come away with a win.

But very little about Saturday's game could be considered usual.

Michigan's five turnovers included back-to-back interceptions in the first quarter by sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson and a fumble on sophomore Tate Forcier's first play of the game.

"My hands were moist when I was out there," Forcier said after the game, adding that he had redshirt junior wideout Junior Hemingway open for a touchdown.

"That's what made me mad," he said.

The turnovers often put the defense into tough spots, but the unit came through with flying colors, especially after the two picks. The defense forced a fumble after the first interception and after the second held the Illini to a field goal.

And while the offense made up for these lapses later in the game, players on the defensive side took pride having the offense's back for once, and not the other way around.

"It was amazing," sophomore defensive end Craig Roh said. "I felt like we were finally paying them back a little bit."

But even though it all worked out on Saturday, the coaches know Michigan can't expect to make that many mistakes and win.

"We can’t turn the ball over," quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said. "I preach it everyday. Our coaching staff preaches it everyday. We cannot turn the ball over and win on a consistent basis. It’s not going to happen, and that’s going to be corrected."

INJURY REPORT: Robinson was not made available to the media after the game, but when he was injured at the end of the third quarter, speculation turned from a hand injury to a concussion.

After the game, Rodriguez said the coaches decided to keep Robinson out of the game because he did show concussive symptoms.

"Denard got hit somewhere on that last drive. I don’t know if it was the helmet-to-helmet – that’s probably where it was," Rodriguez said. "He was dizzy, had a little headache. He had those symptoms so certainly for his safety, you’re not going to put him out there."

There is no official policy on when Robinson would be allowed to return if he did indeed suffer a concussion.