MICH (1-0, 0-0) vs. Notre Dame (1-0)

Are you ready for a rivalry game? Well dudes I hope you are, because the “Season” kicks off for real this Saturday in South Bend. Michigan, who I might add, holds a 21-15-1 record vs. the Fighting Irish (whoa racist much?), makes the trip into the LoLoosier State looking to give RR that elusive second road win. Can it be done? Well some charts and graphs and pictures make everything all right.

Notre Dame Offense:

Can you say yikes? Our young secondary has the tough task this week of trying to cover Michael Floyd. If we had Charles Woodson playing corner for us, I would probably feel a little bit better about this matchup. Instead we have JT Floyd and James Rogers. This game will test how well these guys are ready for the big stage. Notre Dame is going to be able to throw the ball, make no mistake about it. Notre Dame’s run game comes in after turning a very good performance against Purdue. Armando Allen played well rushing 18 times for 93 yards. Cierre Woods also played well rushing 7 times for 58 yards.

Crist had some problems hitting his receivers down the field. All of the trademark Brian Kelly short stuff was executed well, but there were a couple of times that he went down the field to Floyd and came up empty. I know that ND will test the Michigan secondary this week, and will take plenty of shots down the field. This will be a HUGE challenge for them. If Michael Floyd finds holes in the zone 20 yards down field look out.

Keys to stopping the Irish:

First of all we have to stop the run. Jordan Toddman ran the ball 20 times for 105 yards and a score against our D. We must do a better job against the Irish. If we can force ND to become one dimensional, this really improves our shot at winning. The second key is to put pressure on Crist. Whether it is by blitzing, or just with normal pass rush, this has to be done. We cannot afford to let him have all day in the pocket.

Notre Dames offense didn’t looked completely gelled against Purdue. While I have no doubt Brian Kelly is going to make ND a winner again, it takes time to install a new system and get your pieces in there. Here’s hoping the offense hits a bump in the road Saturday.

Notre Dame Defense:

Well the news is somewhat more optimistic when the Irish are on defense. Although Notre Dame racked up 4 sacks and a couple of interceptions in the win against Purdue, Purdue moved the ball pretty well. This included a 24 yard touchdown run by Robert Marve, and we know how fast Marve is (LOL). ND did put good pressure on the Boilermakers QB as I said earlier getting 4 sacks on the dude.

Purdue moved the ball well though, or at least through the air they moved the ball well. Marve finished the day 21/42 for 220 yards and 2 picks. If he doesn’t turn the ball over we probably have a very close ball game. Purdue’s ground attack wasn’t nearly as effective as the passing attack. They ran the ball 32 times for 102 yards. Not a great day was to be had by the Purdue running backs. What impressed me the most about the Irish defense was the tackling. They really seemed to wrap the ball carrier up well.

Keys for moving the ball on the Irish:

First key is to take some shots down the field. Notre Dame is going to put 8 guys in the box knowing what Denard Robinson can do. This means we are going to have some shots to go down the field. With all of the speed that Stonum has, we need to go over the top to him at least a couple of times. The second key is to do what we did against UConn, let Denard hum this offense right along. If he makes good decisions on the Zone Read, we should be able to gash Notre Dame for a lot of yards on the ground. The third and final key is to HOLD ON TO THE GODDAMN BALL!! Turnovers have killed us these past couple of years, so do that and we should be okay.

GRADES?

Prediction:

Okay I’m gonna try and be fair about this as I can, even though I am a huge homer. I expect Michigan to win this game, but its gonna be close. Notre Dame will rack up some yards on us, but hopefully they find a way to score one less point then we do. MICH 38 ND 27