NOT A SHOT?

The line on the Michigan VS. Notre Dame game this week is floating back and forth between 3.5 and 4.5 points. A majority of the sports talk radio personalities like ND as well. This stems from the lopsided statistics in the ND, South Florida game. Notre Dame, in a tough loss piled up twice as many yards as South Florida but turnovers killed them in the end. After Dayne Crist left the game, SO. Tommy Rees came in and damn near brought the team from behind in a long drawn out game that lasted roughly 5 1/2 hours.

Michigan on the other hand struggled a bit early defensively, giving up a long drive to start the game against MAC school Western Michigan. Halfway through the second quarter Michigans defense threw a potpourri of blitz packages at WMU and that resulted in turnovers and points. Offensively, Michigan was productive, with some long drives of their own. No turnovers and an excellent running game buried WMU in the long run. With no fourth quarter and fresh legs coming into this week should be a plus for the wolverines. All of this and the fact that starting SLB Cam Gordon, OG Ricky Barnum and MLB Marell Evans didn't play.

Remember that Denard didn't get going by any means and had a fantastic game against the Irish last season. I see no reason why Robinson shouldn't have a stellar game again this year. Offensively Michigan will score enough points to win this game but the defense is why people are picking ND this week. Michigan must get pressure on the QB, If Rees has time then they are in for a long evening. ND has plenty of weapons and Michael Floyd is my biggest worry. Woolfolk should be on him a majority of the game, he will need safety help without opening up the field too much for Eifert, Riddick and Jones. The verdict is still out on Michigans defense and this weeks game will answer questions, not just for this week but the rest of the season. Michigans front four must be much better than last and counting on those turnovers isn't as easy as the WMU game.


Here's the deal. Michigan is tired of hearing about how loose their defense is. They are underdogs at home for the first night game ever at Michigan stadium. I wonder if they are sick of hearing how hungry ND is and that their desire to win this game has taken a backseat? Maybe people have forgotten how good Denard Robinson is? I am sure Brady Hoke will bring this to the attention of the team. I expect to see a hungry, fired up Michigan football team who refuses to lose such a huge game under these historic circumstances. There is no room for error and anything less than a victory will be a total letdown. Bring it home.