How to beat Michigan

[Riddickulous]

How are we going to do it? What do you think the gameplan will be?

1. Blitz, blitz, blitz. Tate Forcier is going to be taking the majority of the snaps. If one of our guys can get a good hit on him, particularly Manti Te'o, who hits like a freaking truck...look out. A terrified true freshman will begin forcing throws and making mistakes.

2. Contain Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. He had an amazing run yesterday. When he's in, you know exactly why: to run.

3. Rattle the vulnerable Michigan secondary early. That means we have to make them show us that they can stop the big play. Go deep and see how it goes.

4. Pick on the corner not named Donovan Warren. Warren is the only experienced player in the secondary. Throw a lot of passes towards the other guy.

5. Establish the running game. This opens up more deep opportunities.


What Michigan has to do to beat Notre Dame (|\/|GoBlue, I'd really like some of your input here):

1. Pressure Jimmy Clausen and force an fumble or an errant throw for a pick. Show him you mean business.

2. Contain Michael Floyd and Golden Tate.

3. Stuff the run.

4. Try to catch all of the breaks.

5. Play mistake free football.


On a positive note for us Irish:

- Tim Hiller threw for 259 yards, despite Western Michigan's 31-7 loss.

- Western's receiver Nunez had 151 yards receiving, and I'm confident that Tate and Floyd are better than he is.

1.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

How are we going to do it? What do you think the gameplan will be?

1. Blitz, blitz, blitz. Tate Forcier is going to be taking the majority of the snaps. If one of our guys can get a good hit on him, particularly Manti Te'o, who hits like a freaking truck...look out. A terrified true freshman will begin forcing throws and making mistakes.

2. Contain Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. He had an amazing run yesterday. When he's in, you know exactly why: to run.

3. Rattle the vulnerable Michigan secondary early. That means we have to make them show us that they can stop the big play. Go deep and see how it goes.

4. Pick on the corner not named Donovan Warren. Warren is the only experienced player in the secondary. Throw a lot of passes towards the other guy.

5. Establish the running game. This opens up more deep opportunities.


What Michigan has to do to beat Notre Dame (|\/|GoBlue, I'd really like some of your input here):

1. Pressure Jimmy Clausen and force an fumble or an errant throw for a pick. Show him you mean business.

2. Contain Michael Floyd and Golden Tate.

3. Stuff the run.

4. Try to catch all of the breaks.

5. Play mistake free football.


On a positive note for us Irish:

- Tim Hiller threw for 259 yards, despite Western Michigan's 31-7 loss.

- Western's receiver Nunez had 151 yards receiving, and I'm confident that Tate and Floyd are better than he is.

1.

That other guy is named Boubacar Cissoko (sp on first name?). If any of you watched the High School All American game in 2007, I believe, Cissoko and Floyd were matched up opposite of each other. Let's just say Floyd burned that guy. I don't think we'll have a problem against the secondary.

 

[jason_h537]

How many Michigan and Te'o threads do we need?

 

[Riddickulous]

That other guy is named Boubacar Cissoko (sp on first name?). If any of you watched the High School All American game in 2007, I believe, Cissoko and Floyd were matched up opposite of each other. Let's just say Floyd burned that guy. I don't think we'll have a problem against the secondary.

It's speculated that Warren will be covering Floyd, because he's 6'0" and Cissoko is 5'9".

How many Michigan and Te'o threads do we need?

As many as possible.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

It's speculated that Warren will be covering Floyd, because he's 6'0" and Cissoko is 5'9".

I'll take Floyd over Warren and Tate over Cissoko any day of the week. Any day.

 

[phork]

ND now a 5.5point fav on this game.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

That other guy is named Boubacar Cissoko (sp on first name?). If any of you watched the High School All American game in 2007, I believe, Cissoko and Floyd were matched up opposite of each other. Let's just say Floyd burned that guy. I don't think we'll have a problem against the secondary.

Yeah, I was at that game and wanted to post a similar thought on one of the Michigan threads on the ESPN boards. Decided I don't roll that way. But you are right. Floyd owned Cissoko.

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

Cissoko actually had the better day vs WMU, there could of easily been another touchdown had Hiller not over thrown his intended target, who Warren was covering. Warren also had a few legit Pass Interference calls against him.


The way, imo, we beat ND is:

fewer penalties, if we give up 75 yards in penalties to ND we're beat

A solid day from Brown and Minor, RB's, it's been said from the beginning that if Michigan is going to be successful this year it will be on Minors back.

Tate to simply play as well as he did vs WMU, he doesn't need to be better than Clausen, just make sound choices and few mistakes.

The Wide outs will need to help Tate as much as they can, by getting good separation and catching the ball when it's thrown their way. Which they did well vs WMU


On D

Stop the run, I doubt we'll be able to shutdown your passing game but if we limit your ability to run you shouldn't be able to have the drives needed to win.

Cover Floyd & Tate as well as possible, don't give any PI calls but don't let them just have the field to themselves.

Beat the shit out of Clausen, Stevie Brown needs to pretend he's Crable and just light him up, ah la 2007. Clausen is an accurate passer but has been proven to make bad calls when frustrated.

No stupid penalties, this one needs to be said again, as a young team we're going to make them but it needs to be limited.

Special Teams

FIELD KICKS WITHOUT DROPPING THEM!!!! that is all

 

[notredomer23]

no offense go blue, u appreciate you have been respectful, but there is no way UM is going to be the Irish. No way you can all cover Floyd, Tate, Parris, Kamara, and Rudolph. Add our defense shut out one of the best offenses from a year ago and you guys played a middle of the pack MAC team.

I am predicting 31-13.

 

[NDinL.A.]

no offense go blue, u appreciate you have been respectful, but there is no way UM is going to be the Irish. No way you can all cover Floyd, Tate, Parris, Kamara, and Rudolph. Add our defense shut out one of the best offenses from a year ago and you guys played a middle of the pack MAC team.

I am predicting 31-13.

Disagree bro. There is definitely a way. There's always a way. When players begin to think that way, Syracuse happens.

How can we lose? Let me count the ways:

1. It's a road game. Believe it or not, that's huge for several of our young players who play a lot.

2. It looks like it could rain. Ask me what happened the last time the Irish played in the rain on the road...shutout at BC, 17-0. I don't care what anybody says on other sites, there is no way rain can benefit ND more than Michigan. Our dominance over any opponent is in the passing game, and anybody who's played football in the rain knows it's much tougher to play pitch and catch in the rain. Advantage running team, which until ND can consistently prove otherwise, remains their opponent.

3. Poor tackling. We missed several tackles that could break our backs against a Michigan team that will be fielding 11 D1 athletes on offense. And you miss against that "Shoelace' kid and he'll take it to the house, best believe.

4. Turnovers. JC threw a bunch of picks in the rain at BC last year. ND MUST take care of the ball, and try to force Mich to play hot potato with the ball like they did last year.

I could go on and on (D-Line needs to get a better push, etc). The fact is anybody can anybody, and this Mich team just looked a lot better than most of us thought they'd be. I still see us winning, but in no way do i walk into this game game (or MSU for that matter) as if this is already a win in the bag. Just 3 games ago, I saw the Irish lose to a pathetic 2 win team at home. The players better not look ahead! And I don't think they will, which is why I think we'll win by 10...

 

[NDMontana]

As far as blitzing goes....Rich Rodriguez's offense is designed to beat blitzes. The reason teams install spread option offenses is because their o-lines are too small or not atheltic enough. If you blitz, you leave your CB's on an island when they are already at a disadvantage. When you take away safety help, unless you've got exceptional CB's (which we don't) then you're pretty much telling your corners that you hope they guess correctly. WHen teams use safety help they tell their CB's to play tight and follow the receivers (bite on their moves) because they won't get burned.

Don't expect us to get those jump balls against Michigan. Michigan's corners are far better than Hawai'i or Nevada's corners. Tate and Floyd are top ten wide receivers, no doubt, but Michigan's corners are far better than either of those teams.


Overall, I think the winner is going to come out of this game wildly overrated.

 

[BGIF]

...
2. It looks like it could rain. Ask me what happened the last time the Irish played in the rain on the road...shutout at BC, 17-0. I don't care what anybody says on other sites, there is no way rain can benefit ND more than Michigan. Our dominance over any opponent is in the passing game, and anybody who's played football in the rain knows it's much tougher to play pitch and catch in the rain. Advantage running team, which until ND can consistently prove otherwise, remains their opponent. ...

"ARA STOP THE RAIN!"

 

[Riddickulous]

Cissoko actually had the better day vs WMU, there could of easily been another touchdown had Hiller not over thrown his intended target, who Warren was covering. Warren also had a few legit Pass Interference calls against him.


The way, imo, we beat ND is:

fewer penalties, if we give up 75 yards in penalties to ND we're beat

A solid day from Brown and Minor, RB's, it's been said from the beginning that if Michigan is going to be successful this year it will be on Minors back.

Tate to simply play as well as he did vs WMU, he doesn't need to be better than Clausen, just make sound choices and few mistakes.

The Wide outs will need to help Tate as much as they can, by getting good separation and catching the ball when it's thrown their way. Which they did well vs WMU


On D

Stop the run, I doubt we'll be able to shutdown your passing game but if we limit your ability to run you shouldn't be able to have the drives needed to win.

Cover Floyd & Tate as well as possible, don't give any PI calls but don't let them just have the field to themselves.

Beat the shit out of Clausen, Stevie Brown needs to pretend he's Crable and just light him up, ah la 2007. Clausen is an accurate passer but has been proven to make bad calls when frustrated.

No stupid penalties, this one needs to be said again, as a young team we're going to make them but it needs to be limited.

Special Teams

FIELD KICKS WITHOUT DROPPING THEM!!!! that is all

No offense, but our secondary is much, much better than Western Michigan's. Tate Forcier is not going to have a wide open receiver on every play.

To me, Forcier looks a little inaccurate. His first touchdown pass to Hemingway was off target, as Hemingway had to turn around to catch the ball. He had a couple of passes where Matthews caught the ball a few inches from the ground.

Your defensive line is undersized. Martin is your only defensive lineman over 270. Our line might just be able to manhandle the battle up front. It's true that Brandon Graham is a weapon at defensive end, but so was Nevada's Basped. We neutralized Basped early on by running four or five plays in a row to his side of the field to get him frustrated.

Clausen's not a freshman, anymore. Getting in a couple of good shots isn't going to do a thing to shake his confidence, especially if he's already thrown a completion.

How do you plan on covering Tate and Floyd without a couple of PI calls? You have to be physical to stop those two.

"ARA STOP THE RAIN!"

WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO RAIN AGAINST MICHIGAN? WHY CAN'T JIMMY AIR IT OUT, FOR ONCE?

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

Oh I never said Tate was perfect or that we would do the things wrote. I simply stated what I thought we needed to do to win. I'll give you that ND is the more talented team right now, and they have the upper hand going in. But I wouldn't be a true fan if I didn't think we were going to win, I go into every game thinking we'll win, I'm not unrealistic tho.

I know ND is not WMU, but we're no Nevada either. I feel our running game will help keep the game closer than the opinions of those here, but you're going to get that.

 

[Swash]

3 things I want the Irish to do on Saturday:

1) Not miss sacks like we did against Nevada. I can think of 3 sacks that we should of had but missed.

2) Not slow down in the 3rd, but mainly 4th quarter when we will have a convincing lead. I was upset that we didn't do this last year, and hope we do it against scUM. don't slow down speed and go for the endzone every drive, not slow down and take it easy.

3) I want Te'o to take out Forcier and the rest of the scUM offense several times. 2 sacks and an interception would be great, but I can settle with a few hits that knock the wind out of the small euorpean car on the unfortunante recieving end of this freight train.

 

[GoIrish41]

I know ND is not WMU, but we're no Nevada either.

On an average year, I would completely agree with this statement. This year, however, I would argue that you aren't as good as Nevada. The victory against WM is not even close to a victory over Nevada. Nevada had a big-boy offense last year that ranked near the top in a bunch of catagories. That we held them scoreless is impressive. Everyone thought they would put up points against ND, but they got stuffed. That Michigan put up 31 points on that dreadfully slow unit they played is not at all impressive.

Hanging your hope on a frosh QB going against a bloodthirsty Tenuta D in a rivalry game is a huge mistake. Jimmy will torch your questionable secondary just like he did Nevada's IMHO.

 

[Irish4Life09]

How To Beat Michigan?

Show up to the game on Saturday......... LOL

 

[Junkhead]

Clausen is an accurate passer but has been proven to make bad calls when frustrated.

Proven by who? Consumer reports? lol Every QB makes mistakes when pressure is on, that's a given. Most of your post makes sense, but that part make me wonder.

 

[jason_h537]

Oh I never said Tate was perfect or that we would do the things wrote. I simply stated what I thought we needed to do to win. I'll give you that ND is the more talented team right now, and they have the upper hand going in. But I wouldn't be a true fan if I didn't think we were going to win, I go into every game thinking we'll win, I'm not unrealistic tho.

I know ND is not WMU, but we're no Nevada either. I feel our running game will help keep the game closer than the opinions of those here, but you're going to get that.

Reps for not being a troll. still thing ND is a better team but i ain't mad at you

 

[fightinirish68]

i wouldnt say theres not a way we wont lose to michigan. errors on the field happen man. our defense is easy to beat. u know we will blitz alot so throw screens. quick slants will open fast