Michigan Game Preview

Michigan and Notre Dame square off in South Bend this weekend. This marks the first meeting between coaches Rich Rodriguez and Charlie Weis, while its Weis' 4th time against the Wolverines. Kickoff is at 2:30pm central time - here is a quick rundown of what to watch for on each side of the ball, with some of my predictions mixed in via bullet points below.

• When Michigan has the football . . . the key here for the Irish will be stopping the spread offense running game. Michigan will play both QBs (Threet, Sheridan), as well as 3 or more RBs, Minor and McGuffie being the main guys. Both RBs are improving and are different types of backs, Minor being more power inside, with McGuffie being more speed outside. Michigan's passing game has been abysmal through 2 games, so that should help us allocate defenders to the run. Notre Dame must stop the running game and let our defensive backs matchup with the Michigan WRs man to man. This will give us the best chance to leave more guys to defend the run and pressure the QB.
• Prediction: Michigan will have 150 yard rushing, 75 yards passing
• Prediction: Notre Dame's pressure will cause at least 2 turnovers from Michigan QBs Threet or Sheridan (both will play).
• When Notre Dame has the football . . . its a line battle, plain and simple. If Michigan's very talented defensive line - headlined by all 4 returning starters from last year - can cause even close to the destruction it caused against the ND offensive line last year, then this game will be over before it starts. ND's line will be improved, but getting 100 yards on the ground will be a necessity - Michigan's average yards rushing given up so far this year is 45 yards, through 2 games. At the minimum, the Irish must protect Jimmy Clausen. Anymore than 3 sacks given up will make this game difficult to win.
• Prediction: The Irish rush for 75 yards, while passing for 250
• Prediction: Michigan's defense will have 1 fumble, 1 interception, and 1 sack
• Blitzing Irish Defense >> One thing that people have harped about this week is whether the Irish should keep blitzing last week, since we only got 1 sack and San Diego St. was able to move the ball. I think the blitz caused San Diego St to make shorter passes and allowed fewer big plays than our prior years defenses. The Aztecs passed 60 times, only completing 29, for an average of 4.2 yards. That's not even a great rushing average! I say the defense played fine outside of a few bad third down shovel passes, as well as two third down penalties that continued drives that had ended. Hopefully we saved some of the more exotic blitzes for a very green Michigan Offensive Line this week.
• Screen Passes >> I will know the Charlie Weis offense of 2005-2006 is back when we start executing screen passes to perfection. Last year the screen game was a complete joke, and that took away a huge piece of the Weis offensive arsenal. Screens can be extremely effective against a blitzing defense, or one where the defensive line is running rampant through the Offensive Line. However, its a very difficult play to execute for the offense, down to the timing, tempo, and all the things that have to go right at the same time. But when it does work, man is it pretty. I think we are gonna have to execute the screen play well against Michigan to have a chance.
• Prediction: The Irish will run 4 screen plays for 50 yards, with plays of 3, 5, 30, and 12. 3 passes to Armando Allen, 1 to Robert Hughes.
• Enjoy this screen play from the Pittsburgh game, the first game of 2005 and of Weis' coaching career. This, my friends, is how you run a screen play.

Prediction Time: The Michigan defensive line's dominance over the Irish OLine is the unavoidable roadblock for many trying to pick the Irish to win this one. Even the corners for Michigan are very experienced and are going to cover our young WRs much better than San Diego St. Michigan's offense has looked bad through 2 games - I'm betting they don't look any better on Saturday either.

I am a completely biased homer of a moron. I cannot fully explain why I am predicting this, because logic and matchups discussed above would denote otherwise. I think the Irish are going to come out swinging against a punchless opponent. Electricity and confidence and hope and fire and passion and pure adrenaline will return to Notre Dame stadium for the first time since 2006. The Irish will start fast . . . and end fast. We won't run over Michigan, as they will hand us the game with 3 major turnovers, all 3 of which are converted into touchdowns. The Irish will look much better than reality, which is better than reality slapping us in the face like all last season. Notre Dame is still an average or slightly above average team, at best - but the scoreboard will say otherwise on this day:


Notre Dame 38 Michigan 14