Game Time: Notre Dame

The much anticipated game is almost upon us.  I (and most of you I'm sure) have been looking forward to this since it was announced.  I've made no secret that I can't stand Michigan's jerseys for this game, but I am absolutely stoked about everything else.  I wish I was going to be there but I will have to settle with watching on TV like most.

When:  Saturday, September 10, 2011 - 8:00 pm ET

Where:  Ann Arbor, Michigan

Spread:  Michigan +3

TV:  ESPN

You'll be Listening to:  Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, and Erin Andrews

Weather: Isolated Thunderstorms, High of 74.  68 at kickoff, chance of rain = 30%

What to look for

Well, what did we learn last week?  I'm not sure.  The defense is opportunistic.  The offense can run the ball a little bit without resorting to Denard doing it all.  The rain exposure may be helpful (they also had a full practice in the rain this week, wet ball drills, etc.).  There are still a lot of questions to be answered.  The offense only ran 39 snaps last week and "didn't scratch the surface" according to Borges.  I hope not because we didn't see much last week.  Even had they played the entire game, we wouldn't have seen much though.  Not with this game looming.

Again look for the offense to run the ball early and try and set a physical tone up front, then building some play action down the field a bit.  I expect Borges to open things up a bit more this week and the kids are going to be chomping at the bit to do some fun stuff on national TV under the lights.  With Notre Dame's offense built so much on timing, look for Mattison to bring some pressure packages to disrupt that timing and quick drops into short zones.

Brian Kelly may be able to turn several different shades of red/purple on his way to making a fool of himself on the sidelines, but make no mistake, this guy knows how to win football games.  He knows the crowd is going to be going ballistic and he will be looking to take them out of the game as early as possible.  I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a very early gamble or trick play to do just that.  Even an onside kick to open the game could be possible.  Halfback pass, reverse pass, flea flicker, you get the idea.  Outside of that, I expect the ND offense to stick with short, high percentage throws and use quick completions and YAC to move the ball.  Defensively, I expect the Irish to sit back and wait for Denard to come at them.  Look for their D-line to not so much rush the passer as stay in their gaps.  I don't expect them to twist much if at all.  They will invite DR to throw the ball and wait for him to make mistakes.  Think Iowa's approach to playing Denard.  Two very deep safeties will probably be utilized in most cases.

What will happen

Michigan will sputter a little early.  Being jacked up for a game is good, but too much leads to bad things.  I think it will be all but impossible to keep the guys from being a little too excited early on.  It's natural and this has been so anticipated that they are going to be ready to burst.  Hopefully the early mistakes will lead to punts and not turnovers.  ND will try to hit a homerun early and then play defense and take the crowd out of play while being methodical offensively as the game progresses.  As M settles down, the running game will get going and Denard will regain his accuracy.  I expect a little bit of sloppiness in the first half, followed by fireworks in the second half.  Denard will carry 12-15 times at least.

Completely baseless prediction

• M turns the ball over at least twice
• So does ND
• The defense pays a ton of attention to Floyd (as they should) but he still goes over a hundred yards and a TD or two
• Denard gets into the endzone on the ground once and through the air once
• Fitz gets most of the carries, but we get our first look at Hopkins
• Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31