ANN ARBOR — Points were abundant Saturday in Michigan Stadium as the Wolverines and Illinois amassed 132 total points to substantially surpass the stadium record in a triple overtime 67-65 Michigan victory.

The point total is also a new record for the Big Ten Conference.

The points scored were more than the last three basketball games between the two schools and the exhibition opener for the hoop team the night before.

The first play of the game for Michigan (6-3, 2-3) indicated the scoreboard would be busy as sophomores Denard Robinson and Roy Roundtree connected on a 75-yard pass.

“Quarterbacks have reads to make and they read pretty good, because they (Illinois) left me open,” indicated Roundtree, who fumbled last year at the one-yard line in a defeat. “This game reminded me of last year, but I made sure nobody was going to catch me this time.”

Roundtree broke a reception record that stood since 1966 (Jack Clancy) with 246 total yards on nine catches for the afternoon. He scored his second touchdown in the second stanza from 33 yards from Robinson after Illinois had taken a 14-7 lead to tie the score.

“The opportunity was for me to catch and run with the football, so that is what I did,” said Roundtree. “I work hard at practice to have a game like this, but never expect it.”

The two offensives would trade a pair of touchdowns and a field goal in the remaining 12 minutes of the first half as each team scored 31 points at intermission. A total of over 700 yards were accumulated with Michigan gaining 394 and Illinois 312 yards.

“Our backs were against the wall many times, but the kids never gave up,” stated Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez. “Our receivers made a lot of big plays, which turned out to be the difference in the game.”

An 18-yard run by junior Michael Shaw provided the only points in the third quarter, before sophomore back-up quarterback Tate Forcier had to step in for a “dizzy” Robinson the rest of the game to begin the fourth but not final quarter.

Forcier fumbled on his first possession before redeeming some of last year’s heroics with a tying strike to junior Darryl Stonum from nine yards with less than two minutes remaining for a 45-45 regulation score.

“I will do whatever it takes to win and coach Rodriguez emphasizes all the time to win for Michigan,” stated Forcier. “The offensive line did great and am so proud of them.”

Forcier forced a pass to junior Junior Hemingway in the second overtime, but luckily the ball bounced up in the air off a defender and the Wolverine fell in the end zone with the ball to force the third and final extra session.

“I was sure excited to see the ball knocked up in the air for me to catch it,” noted Hemingway

Michigan had first possession and Forcier with the help of a couple personal foul penalties moved the ball to the one and it took three running plays before Shaw scored and then Forcier found Hemingway open on the required 2-point conversion for a 67-59 lead.

It took Illinois (5-4, 3-3) four plays to cross the goal line, before their 2-point try was unsuccessful with the defense rushing seven players to stop freshman Nathan Scheelhasse from completing a pass to a wide open receiver on a play used earlier in the contest.

“Defensive coaches Robinson (Greg) and Gibson (Tony) told me that they wanted to send everybody on that final play and after saying “that’s good” it was nice to see it was a perfect ending with the defense making the play to win the game,” noted a relieved Rodriguez. “I am very happy for the seniors on this team, who are now able to go to a bowl game and our younger players are making mistakes, but they love to compete.”