Michigan Football: Notre Dame Preview

Contributor Written on September 12, 2009

ANN ARBOR, MI - SEPTEMBER 05: General view of Michigan stadium during the third quarter as Western Michigan Broncos plays the Michigan Wolverines on September 5, 2009 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 31-7. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Saturday afternoon will match-up two of college football's most storied programs; the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Michigan Wolverines.

This game may not have the same hype build-up that the 2006 game did, when Michigan hammered Notre Dame 47-21 in South Bend, but this game definitely has some major headlines leading to kick off.

I'll highlight some of those headlines throughout this preview, so let's get right down to it.

Notre Dame (1-0) @ Michigan (1-0) 3:30 PM Saturday. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Offense: With many questions unanswered heading into their season opener last weekend, the Wolverines were able to answer just about all of them in the first half of their 31-7 win over Western Michigan.

Starting a freshman quarterback for only the third time in school history proved to be the right move for coach Rich Rodriquez. Tate Forcier led four scoring drives, throwing three touchdown passes en-route to a 179-yard day through the air.

His audition, as many called it, was passed with flying colors, and coach Rodriquez has given him the keys to the offense. Forcier will have to face a more experienced and better-coached defense this week, so we'll get to see what the freshman is really about.

Carlos Brown got the call at running back for the injured Brandon Minor, who looks to return to the field on Saturday, and rushed for 54 yards. Seven other players contributed to the run game, including speedy-freshman quarterback Menard Robinson, who scored on a 43-yard run after reversing his field and making people miss on his way to the end zone.

Michigan ran up 240 yards rushing last weekend, so the run game this week will be a huge key to setting up the passing game and opening up holes in the secondary for Forcier to find open receivers.

For Notre Dame, they return 10 of 11 starters from the 2008 team including quarterback Jimmy Clausen and wide out Golden Tate. Tate was the team top receiver last year, and he was only a sophomore. He has the potential to be Notre Dame's next great receiver.

Along with Tate, the Irish return eight of their nine top receivers from last year. Michael Floyd will be a player to watch Saturday, as he lit up the Nevada defense last weekend for three touchdowns of 70, 24, and 88 yards.

Clausen will undoubtedly look to light-up a young Michigan secondary and spread the ball around to a talented and experienced group of receivers. The ND wide receivers have a clear-cut advantage over Michigan's secondary, so that is an area that the Irish will look to exploit early and often.

Defense

Brandon Graham, Ryan Van Bergen, and the rest of the Michigan defensive line held the Broncos and 1,000-yard rusher Brandon West to only 79 total yards rushing for the game. They also put tons of pressure on quarterback Tim Hiller, forcing bad throws and not giving him time to set himself to throw.

The linebackers and secondary have a very tough-task ahead of them this weekend. They faced a talented quarterback with inexperienced receivers last week, but now they face a veteran quarterback with explosive wide outs.

Golden Tate and Michael Floyd, two of Notre Dame's top receivers, could have a monstrous day if Michigan's front four can't get pressure on Clausen.

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written on September 12, 2009 Preview/Prediction