Wolverine247 Board

I like Your chances vs ND they beat a ok MSU team that wasn't hard to do stop the run win the game and they had the big boys up front to do it. It will be alot harder vs you guys more play makers and D Rob will b hard to stop. I think You guys go in there and beat them. The D will need to step up tho and play better.

agreed, I think a big key will be getting a running game going early with Denard and the backs, if we can get ND to stack the box I like the mismatches we'll have with our tall receiver 1-1 with much smaller db's. We definetly have some playmakers that msu does not. Our DL will struggle to stop the run but I think with ND's inexperienced wr and qb will be able to commit 7-8 guys to the box most of the game and use blitzes to slow down the run and force golson to beat us with his arm. Likely does come down to who can score last in this one.

I don't know how you don't give the QB edge to Michigan. I think Denard is still gaining yards on the Irish defense somewhere.

ND is better in the trenches than Michigan, but if Denard runs around and makes a lot of plays like he always does against ND, that could be enough to turn the tide.

Also, ND has had to play well three weeks in a row. It's tough to keep performing at a high level week to week. Not sure ND can beat Michigan unless they play a good game. Not saying they're not capable of playing well for a fourth Saturday in a row, but I agree with kaisercash that the timing of the game works in the Wolverines favor.

Victor I think lost in last years 4th quarter debacle was the fact that UM had only 1 drive of 5 plays through 3 quarters. ND's D was actually pretty effective at stopping Michigan. The rest of Michigan's drives were either 3 and outs or TO's. ND's offense didnt cash in to make the game a blow out and our 5 to's were devasting. I dont see Golson throwing 3 ints and fumbling on the goal line. As for the DL Tuitt hadnt broken into the starting line up when we played Michigan last year and I think he might have only played a couple snaps against Michigan. He didnt have his coming out party to late in the season last year. This year he's having an All American season and not my words but Mel Kiper's (which you can take with a grain of salt) said Tuitt might be the best DE in the country. The kid is legit.
As for the secondary we're young but we are lot more athletic than last year. Jackson, Russell, Shumate, Farley have exceeded expectations to this point. Michigan is the best WR group they will have faced this year. Denard is the best QB so far. Its what Michigan's fans are banking on to be the difference. I understand the rationale I just think ND is a better team and I think the players want to send seniors like Teo and Eifert out with a win against Michigan. Were both fans so we are going to be alittle bias on our teams. I stand by my score prediction but totally understand why you see it the way you do.

Notre Dame looked awfully impressive upfront getting after the QB. I would think Notre Dame's emphasis in their game plan is to stop Denard Robinson on the ground. So expect Notre Dame to load the box and make Robinson use his arm like he did last year against Notre Dame. If Robinson can make some plays in the passing game, it could be a long night for ND.

Last year's game was #2 under Coach Hoke. We were a much, much better team on both sides of the ball by the end of the season than when we played you and the fundamentally improved team is the one you will be facing this year. Our only significant questions right now are run defense and RB production. IMO the run defense question is an open one because anyone who plays Alabama and AF to open the season is going to give up some extra rushing yards. And Denard almost always can step in and provide production on the ground when our RBs are struggling. Using the RBs is better because it limits wear and tear on Denard, but he will be fully available to run as needed this Saturday. Bottom line: our offense is much better than MSU's and it is also better than Purdue's. And your defense is not nearly as good as MSU made it look this weekend. The UM-ND game this weekend should be another classic. Both teams will score plenty of points.

Yeah I see no way we only score 16 after scoring 14 against Bama... I know it's a different week, but I can't imagine that ND's D is even in the same ballpark as Bama's.

What is Eiffert's status/health for the game?

He's a guy I don't think Michigan has an answer to, and could be ND's best offensive weapon.

Thank, I didn't even know he was concussed. Yea those things are messy, who could play but not even make an impact.

Got a mild concussion in the 3rd, didn't return. He didn't do anything anyways though.

Thanks. Didn't know that. I think he also suffered a mild concussion in the Purdue game. He probably shouldn't have even played against MSU.