Michigan at Notre Dame
Time: 3:30 EST
Location: South Bend
TV: NBC
Weather: 60% Rain and a high of 70 degrees
Line: ND-4
Remember when the Michigan - ND game was a defensive battle? Where a winning score would be 14-10? Not these days, last years 38-34 Michigan win was the highest scoring battle in the history of the series. Most media members are expecting another shootout between these two historic college football programs.
Similar to last week, this is another match up between 3 former Big East head coaches with Kelly at UC, RR at WVU and Greg Robinson at Syracuse. Both QB's on each side don't have a ton of playing experience: Denard Robinson got spot playing time last year and Dayne Crist is a junior but really made his debut last week as well.
So how do they match up? Lets go to the tail of the tape:
Michigan Offense vs ND Defense = Michigan
Michigan has advantages at both running and passing the ball against the ND D.
ND Offense vs Michigan D = ND
Michigan Run D vs ND Running game is close to a push in my mind. The big advantage comes with the ND Passing game vs Michigan secondary.
Special Teams = Push
Neither one is especially strong. Hopefully Darryl Stonum can repeat his strong kick off returns against ND like he did last year.
Intangibles = ND
Something strange always happens when Michigan visits ND. Some examples: wind stops on and ND winning field goal, It rains so hard that Michigan fumbles a 100 times, Lou Holtz plays for a tie, a ball ends up a shoulder pad of a defender on a pass play, and so on.
Here is what scares me being a Michigan fan.
#1 Michael Floyd - Michigan could not stop him or Golden Tate last year at all. (that was with Woolfolk, Boubacar and Warren)
#2 Denard's first road and rivalry game - That is a lot to handle for the guy making all the headlines this week.
#3 South Bend has been a house of horrors for Michigan. There is a 10% chance of rain today in South Bend and Sunday there is a 0%. Saturday 60%.
#4 Michigan has one road win under RR.
This game is another clear example of which team gets the most stops will win. Pretty basic right? I think Michigan will do a decent job against ND's run game. My biggest concern is if Dayne can get the ball down field to the ND's WR's. Michigan has to protect the ball and can't visit fumbleville like they did during their last visit. Neither team can afford to give the other free points or short fields.
Sing Hail to the Victors if:
- Michigan gets a lot of pressure on Crist.
- Michigan shows some new wrinkles in the passing game (like the deep ball).
- No turnovers.
- Someone can catch a punt.
- Greg Robinson's past success against ND can even out Michigan's bad luck in SB. Remember his Syracuse teams weren't very good but were pretty successful in South Bend.
- Dayne turns into Joe Montana on Saturday
- ND runs the ball effectively with Armando Allen
- Brian Kelly has a solution to stop Denard's run game
Brian Kelly feels that Denard is just a running back playing QB. Michigan fans disagree and hope he can showcase his passing skills against ND. The run fake, then pass should be effective in moving the ball down field against the ND defense. Picks and fumbles concern me in this game. The game two years ago is still fresh in my mind and worries me even more if it rains again. I sort of have a strange feeling we may see Tate for a few series, mostly if Michigan gets behind and has to pass. There are many questions on both teams coming off week one wins. I think RR knows what type of team he has, not sure Brian Kelly knows his fully yet. I think this will be a close game and one mistake might be the difference. I wouldn't want to prepare for Denard and that "running back comment" should be plenty of motivation for Saturday. I'm going with Heart! Michigan 28 ND 21
Go Blue!
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