Staff Predictions for Notre Dame
/Tuba Says:
This is a quintessential Michigan v Notre Dame matchup (of the last 20 years). Two completely unproven teams in the midst of yet another rebuilding year of the program. But thankfully each University seems to be comfortable in the direction they're heading. There is no controversy surrounding this matchup or the teams heading into Saturday. ND has a spread quarterback to run their offense, Michigan has a dynamic quarterback to run theirs. Neither are ideal situations, ND would love Gholston to be a senior and Michigan, despite all his dilithium would love Denard to be a senior Shane Morris but the teams are on the right track, especially at that position. By 2015 this is going to be a monster matchup. Of course question marks of greater significance exist on both sides of the ball and unfortunately for Michigan, on both sides of their lines.
Much has been made about the weak Irish secondary and as much as I fight to keep the ghosts of Lloyd out of my head for this prediction, I remember being in South Bend when a soccer player returned a Michigan interception for a touchdown, I'm still taking Michigan to win. But THAT is South Bend everyone. It is the old Yankee Stadium of college football. There are ghosts in that place and we have averted their ire in recent years. The question on Saturday won't be which team is better, it will be which team can play mistake free. ND is HOT after their assertive victory over a very mediocre Spartan team. And while we're on MSU, they're so mediocre, that, on opening night against Boise St, I texted the webmaster asking if we could play the Green and White tomorrow (meaning before we got pasted by Alabama). But MSU apparently has a good defense and it didn't prevent ND from scoring so what does that mean for our defense that can't prevent anyone from scoring? It means we're going to have to smoke 'em out. It's still September and it's an election year so why not foster the type of rhetoric that worked for so many years for GDub? You're either with us or against us.
Michigan 38 - Notre Dame 35 (we're gonna have to make a field goal at some point if we want to win this one).
The Webmaster Says:
The more time passes, the more I'm convinced that we can't win this game. The formula to defeat us is readily available for download from the internet. The revenge factor will play a role as well...Under the Lights: The Reckoning. Add in the stupid magic shit that happens in that graveyard, and you have a recipe for disaster.
The antidote is a completion percentage over 50% to soften the line that made MSU look like, well, like us against Alabama. Denard will need to open things up for his legs by doing it with his arm, and if that doesn't work, I'd like to think we're going to have him run anyway. Also, ND will not want this to be close. If we're within 10 when the 4th quarter starts, expect the buttholes to pucker a bit on the Irish sideline.
But I'm pretty sure we won't be.
Irish 35 - Michigan 20