Two things I took away from Saturday's game:

1. Our offensive line looks really good

2. Craig Roh is our best defensive player

karen lotz;473541 wrote:How did Michigan's D look? I know they were facing a completely different type of attack than ND will run, but overall did they play pretty solid? Before the season I thought this would be more of a shoot out, but I think ND will at least be able to slow down Michigan. I know Michigan is somewhat depleted in the secondary, but will their D-line be able to disrupt Crist as well as the running game without having to bring too many other bodies?

Michigan's only D is their offense. They need to have a very high 3rd down conversion percentage again. If the D has to be on the field a lot they will get carved up. They don't have anything close to a Brandon Graham who can make up for their inexperience.

dwccrew;473281 wrote:I'm not sure why some ND fans are getting so sensitive about my pick of UM over ND. I don't think either team will blow the other out, it could go either way; I just was more impressed by UM's play last week than ND. I didn't say ND didn't play well, just that I was more impressed with UM.

That being said, why is it the only people in this thread bringing up OSU are ND fans? I haven't once seen any OSU fan mention OSU.

It is difficult to make a prediction on either team since only 1 game has been played so far and neither team has much to boast about from last season. I'll give the coaching edge to Notre Dame.

Killer Ewok- as some others mentioned, I was also flipping back and forth. I watched significant portions of both games, as Mulva stated, when action was more entertaining for either game.

Michigan looked sound all around, although they did get help from UConn's receivers dropping so many passes. UConn could not stop Robinson. If ND can stop Robinson, they can pull out a close win. If not, they lose a close one. Pretty simple. RR's offensive scheme is not hard to figure out and Brian Kelly is infinitely smarter in the game of football than I am. We'll see what happens this Saturday.

I was just curious. That was all. I can honestly say that I don't care who people are picking or who thinks which team looked better. When that starts affecting the outcome of the games, then I'll be concerned. People are entitled to their opinions and for all I know.....Michigan did look far more impressive than ND on Saturday. I'm just worried about this Saturday.

As far as people bringing up OSU on this thread-I don't know why. I would guess that the same would probably happen on any thread though. Fan A picks against Fan B's team who is playing some other team and Fan B brings up Fan A's team in some effort to belittle their team/fan base as they feel that was done to their team by that fan. I'm not saying I've never done it or that I will never do it again......just saying that's my take on it.

As others have said, do WHATEVER it takes to contain Robinson. If he somehow beats ND with his arm......you've got to live with it. I was encouraged by ND's defensive performance but it wasn't overly dominating. I, like rock, am curious to see if Kelly "held back" a little bit (offensively) vs. Purdue. I guess we'll find out in 5 days.

GO IRISH

dwccrew;473393 wrote:If the injuries keep piling up for UM, they may be in for a long day against ND. Roundtree and now Johnson, not good news for UM. What are the injury reports for ND? Any key players?

They aren't "piling up". UM has 2 players not playing this week that will be back the next week. And they have 2 players coming back this week that were out (Hemingway and Toussaint). Hemingway will help fill the void left by Roundtree. They have plenty of depth at WR. Doesn't mean I'd rather not have him play, but it's not a position of great concern as far as injuries.

Was Toussaint slated to be a starter? Having watched his entire high school career I was curious.

I'm really excited about Fitzgerald Toussaint. Kid is a hard runner with blazing speed.

ytownfootball;473636 wrote:Was Toussaint slated to be a starter? Having watched his entire high school career I was curious.

No, but certainly in the mix to get some PT.

Fitz was incredible to watch in high school. I wasn't sure if his talent was a fit for the Big 10 though, though in RR system he more than foots the bill. Ike Bell (who graduated in the same class as Toussaint at the same high school) had better size as a DB. I actually thought he would see more pt earlier.

Brian Kelly vs. West Virgina:

2007: L, 23-28 in Cincinnati
2008: W, 26-23 in Morgantown
2009: W, 24-21 in Cincinnati

While Rodriguez was only the coach in 2007, they continue to run that offense, no?

So your point would be?

WebFire;473178 wrote:A lot of people picked UConn over Michigan. Michigan won by 3 touchdowns. I can't wait until Saturday!

I can't wait until Sunday when every Wolverat is scurrying back into their holes. You really can't even begin to understand how much it pains me to say ND will walk the dog on scUM. Thank God I can get back to hatin' on the Shamrocks next week.

Tiernan;474657 wrote:I can't wait until Sunday when every Wolverat is scurrying back into their holes. You really can't even begin to understand how much it pains me to say ND will walk the dog on scUM. Thank God I can get back to hatin' on the Shamrocks next week.

Your mother is a whore.

sjmvsfscs08;474671 wrote:Your mother is a whore.

This.

Last year I'd be worried that Denard Robinson would run all over us. After last week I have a slight glimmer of hope that maybe our defense isn't the sieve of the past and we can contain him enough to slow down the Michigan offense. Also, I think we'll see a lot more from the offense this week. Last week seemed to be a combo of Crist getting up to speed/Kelly not having the whole play book installed for Purdue. I'm sure we'll see things next week that we didn't in Week 1.

Kelly just held his weekly press conference. He said the Purdue game was more of a feeling out/installation process in regards to what they will do offensively. Basically he needed to see what they can do successfully against live competition, so he was trying a lot of different things. Expect this week to be more concentrated on what he perceives to be strengths scheme and personnel wise. He specifically mentioned getting Riddick more involved and getting Tyler Eifert on the field more.

Also, defensively ND did have a solid week but Robinson is a completely different type of athelete than Mavre was. The schemes Michigan and Purdue run are different as well. We didn't see any QB iso's outside of the one drive where Purdue went to the second QB. Robinson will present a different challenge and ND's defense will again need to be very disciplined and assignment correct to slow him down. They showed it could be done against Purdue, now that just needs to be carried over and improved as the season progresses. They do have the personnel to do it it would seem.

sjmvsfscs08;474671 wrote: Ann Arbor is a whore.

^^^
fixed

I don't believe we've seen all of UM's playbook either. They obviously cannot win games all year by running Robinson 29 time per game on the same 3 plays. RRod said himself that 29 carries is too many, but if it's working, they'll do it.

My biggest concern is UM's secondary.

Duplicate post.

WebFire;474946 wrote:I don't believe we've seen all of UM's playbook either. They obviously cannot win games all year by running Robinson 29 time per game on the same 3 plays. RRod said himself that 29 carries is too many, but if it's working, they'll do it.

My biggest concern is UM's secondary.

Agreed 100%. It's just too much for him, or any QB in the nation to do.

As far as our playbook is concerned.. a lot of people forget just how many different formations and plays there are in RichRod's spread offense. We didn't see Denard run the option at all, led alone option passes etc. I'd say we've only saw about 40% of the Wolverine playbook.

I REALLY hope Fitzgerald Toussaint gets some PT this week.

WebFire;474946 wrote:I don't believe we've seen all of UM's playbook either. They obviously cannot win games all year by running Robinson 29 time per game on the same 3 plays. RRod said himself that 29 carries is too many, but if it's working, they'll do it.

My biggest concern is UM's secondary.

Agreed 100%. It's just too much for him, or any QB in the nation to do.

As far as our playbook is concerned.. a lot of people forget just how many different formations and plays there are in RichRod's spread offense. We didn't see Denard run the option at all, led alone option passes etc. I'd say we've only saw about 40% of the Wolverine playbook.

I REALLY hope Fitzgerald Toussaint gets some PT this week.

If they try to get Robinson 29 carries, Manti Te'o will rape him in my opinion.

sjmvsfscs08;475208 wrote:If they try to get Robinson 29 carries, Manti Te'o will rape him in my opinion.

I'd settle for a tackle.

tackle for loss and you have a deal!

sjmvsfscs08;475216 wrote:tackle for loss and you have a deal!

Deal for sure. LOL