Notre Dame-Michigan Preview

 I’m feeling under the weather so this preview is going to be a little short. Notre Dame and Michigan go head to head for the 40^th time in their storied rivalry. The game will also mark the 30^th anniversary of the first night game in Notre Dame Stadium history. The opponent for that first night under the lights was also the Michigan Wolverines. Recently this rivalry has been all Michigan. They have won every year since 2009 and that comes down to the athleticism of quarterback Denard Robinson. The Fighting Irish have had no success in slowing down Robinson whether he’s throwing or running the ball. That changes this year. Notre Dame has one of the best corps of defensive lineman and linebackers in the country. They have held their first three opponents to 289 rushing yards, which is less than 100 per game. The combined unit has also contained the opposing offenses to scoring only 30 points combined.

Keys to Victory

1) Stop Denard Robinson- This is the matchup for the Irish. They will have to stop Robinson from completely dismantling for them four quarters if they expect to send the Wolverines home with a loss.  In three games so far Robinson has averaged 233 passing yards and 117 rushing yards. Bringing down those gaudy numbers is the stat that Robinson has also thrown four interceptions. In the past, Robinson has looked like a Heisman contender and nearly unstoppable. This season, he has not looked as great.

2) Develop a run game- This will be the first time since the Week 1 Navy game that the Irish will face a run defense that is mediocre. Michigan has a run defense ranked 80^th nationally and this should finally give Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Chuck Martin a chance to take some pressure off quarterback Everett Golson. Against Purdue, Notre Dame running backs ran for a measly 52 yards. That number increased to 122 against Michigan State. I expect the Irish to put up over 150 yards against Michigan.

3) Don’t get caught staring into the lights- I mentioned earlier that this will be a night game. It’s also the only night game at Notre Dame Stadium this season so there is a lot of hype and excitement on campus. Last season, Notre Dame played at night against USC as well. There were tons of events going on that week on campus and off. It seemed like all everybody cared about was seeing the lights turned on than actually watching a game. Not surprisingly, The Fighting Irish looked flat on both sides of the ball and lost 31-17 in a game that really was never even that close. They didn’t tackle well, they didn’t execute on offense, and they made bonehead plays. Kelly said his players and coaches learned a lot from that defeat and have used lessons learned a year ago in the game plan for this week.

My prediction: #11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish- 34. #18 Michigan Wolverines- 16

UPDATE 9/23/2012: Notre Dame wins 13-6

Around the Country

There are some great games that are worth taking time to watch on Saturday. It’s a shame too because many Irish faithful were hoping ESPN’s “College Gameday” would be in South Bend. If you have chores to do make sure you get some done in the morning and early afternoon because the big matchups are all at night.

Missouri Tigers (2-1) at #7 South Carolina Gamecocks (3-0)

Oregon State Beavers (1-0) at #19 UCLA Bruins (2-1)

South Florida Bulls (2-1) at Ball State Cardinals (2-1)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0) at Arkansas Razorbacks (1-2)

#18 Michigan Wolverines (2-1) at #11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-0)

#15 Kansas State Wildcats (3-0) at #6 Oklahoma Sooners (3-0)

#10 Clemson Tigers (3-0) at #4 Florida State Seminoles (3-0)

San Jose State Spartans (2-1) at San Diego State Aztecs (2-1)

Syracuse Orange (1-2) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0)

#22 Arizona Wildcats (3-0) at #3 Oregon Ducks (3-0)

Another week of picking 6-3 has me at a season record of 25-6 so I think it’s safe to say I’m an expert, huh? I’m going with most of the favorites but I think the Missouri and South Carolina game will be really close. The USF and Ball State is intriguing too as both teams seem pretty equal. Arkansas has their back against the wall but Rutgers is having a great season. It’s unfortunate that the three biggest games all start at within 30 minutes of each other. ND-Michigan is at 7:30, KSU-OU is at 7:50 and Clem-FSU at 8:00.