Notre Dame at Michigan, Sep. 12

[NDinL.A.]

one of them already is in meltdown mode, it just hasnt hit rock bottom yet. its close, but not there yet. I'll give you a hint: its 2009, not 2007.



isnt this contradicting your own (above) statement???


[/I]

Actually Heysus, in his defense, I'm the one who said that both teams will be in turmoil if they were to lose. He just quoted me without using the quote system correctly, so it made it look like he said that. He doesn't think UM will be in turmoil should they lose, but that we will. He's right...we will be definitely be in turmoil should we lose. This is a HUGE game for CW and the boys, no doubt.

As for his team and turmoil, you know what, he's closer to the situation than I am. I will say this, IN MY OPINION FROM AFAR, a blowout loss and the wolves will be circling around DickRod. A close loss, a heartbreaker, a blown call, etc, and they will signal that as progress, which in my opinion is probably true, considering where they were last year. I remember us losing to NC last year and being pissed yet hopeful, b/c we played toe-to-toe with a ranked team on the road with many underclassmen playing huge roles. Progress. If I'm a UM fan, I'm looking for the same thing...

 

[UMrealist]

one of them already is in meltdown mode, it just hasnt hit rock bottom yet. its close, but not there yet. I'll give you a hint: its 2009, not 2007.



isnt this contradicting your own (above) statement???



Your right tho, UM wont be in turmoil:

Players leaving the program on their own
Drug dealers on the roster
Practice violations, then snitched on by HIS OWN PLAYERS (love that one)
linked to a shady booster


yea, your right...UM is fine. its just as when Bo Schembechler was coach. I remember when Bo's players snitched on him too...

That top quote was from another poster.

I'm not sure any ND fans should be barking about "not hitting rock bottom yet" when it's not clear at all yet that your (note, that's your, not you're) program is anywhere out of their long tailspin.

We've had a bad year ... you've had a bad decade.

cheers,
rob

 

[UMrealist]

Actually Heysus, in his defense, I'm the one who said that both teams will be in turmoil if they were to lose. He just quoted me without using the quote system correctly, so it made it look like he said that. He doesn't think UM will be in turmoil should they lose, but that we will. He's right...we will be definitely be in turmoil should we lose. This is a HUGE game for CW and the boys, no doubt.

As for his team and turmoil, you know what, he's closer to the situation than I am. I will say this, IN MY OPINION FROM AFAR, a blowout loss and the wolves will be circling around DickRod. A close loss, a heartbreaker, a blown call, etc, and they will signal that as progress, which in my opinion is probably true, considering where they were last year. I remember us losing to NC last year and being pissed yet hopeful, b/c we played toe-to-toe with a ranked team on the road with many underclassmen playing huge roles. Progress. If I'm a UM fan, I'm looking for the same thing...

You got the last part right ... we're looking hard for evidence that those ridiculous imposters we saw wearing the winged helmets last year were a hallucination that can never happen again. A good show, even in a losing effort, to the top teams on our schedule will be "ok".

I don't think this, or any one loss on the schedule will sink him ... doesn't help for sure, but really, if you read the UM boards all over the place, there were very few picking the team to win more than 5 or 6. The expectations going in were not that high from any corner ... by year 3, whole different story.

I think winning changes everything ... win 8 or 9, everyone shuts up and he's a hero.

rob

 

[WabashFalcon]

Really? 55-43 with Two BCS Bowl appearances with a Top Ten finish is a horrible decade? By no means is this, on paper, terrible or horrible.

Yet, as a player, it is my opinion that any decade where you don't win a National Championship is a bad one. Same goes for you, slick.

Stop conjecturing and pandering to false notions of inflated grandeur.

Cheers,
A less Cheeky Bastard

 

[irish9331]

My wife is a Michigan fan. What the hell. ND 45 UM 3.

My ex-wife was a Michigan fan

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Times are tough in Michigan. Big House still not sold out. Single game tickets still available on scUM athletic site. If I were anywhere close to Ann Arbor I'd be there.

 

[JefMaj]

I was married 20 years - 30 years with wind chill factor. But at least not to a Michigan fan.

 

[kmoose]

My ex-wife was a Michigan fan

Probably the best reason I have heard yet, to hate Michigan.

 

[BGIF]

The Irish have lost 9 of their last 12 road openers.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Michigan Wolverines Preview, September 12 2009 - NCAA College Football - ESPN

 

[BGIF]

ESPN is projecting 7 of ND's oppponents to go Bowling.

 

[JefMaj]

I've said it before and I'll say it for the rest of my life - and it will be true.

When all things rebalance in the universe - and they will soon:

We will win again!
We will dominate again!
Because?
WE ARE ND and they're not!!!!!!!!!

 

[BGIF]

I think my "antagonistic" comments were both mild and brought out only is response to low brow gaks aimed at me from others.

...

Contrary to your misdirection, there were no "low brow gaks aimed at me from others." There were two hackneyed @$UM references to Michigan, the school/team, neither one was ad hominem.

I read your post shortly after you put it up but decided to wait before commenting. It's been more than a day. I've reread the entire thread and to paraphrase the Bard, "you protest too much".

What started your hissy fit was Junkhead's post:

I root for Big Ten teams in the bowl games and all, living in the region, but being near the Michigan state line, I get tired of the UM jockers. They are mostly redneck goat-ropers. Thanks to the UM fans here being civil though, nice to see.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

He characterized people he knew and was complimentary to the UM fans posting here with civility, "Thanks to the UM fans here being civil though, nice to see."

We've been having enjoyable dialog with ]V[goblue. Junkhead apparently mistook you for someone also interested in dialog.

Instead of acknowledging his welcome you responded to his compliment with a finger poke to the eye.

Hmmm ... thought it might be fun to talk about the upcoming game with college football fans who know something about the game. But I find that the "droolers barking moronic insults like 8th graders" outnumber the "signs of intelligent life" type posters on this blog about 10 to 1. Even your moderators talk like idiot teenagers ...

boring, boring, boring ....<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Only two moderators had posted in that thread, Junkhead and my post of the NCAA '09 stats for ND and UM, yet you felt it appropriate to denegrate all the moderators with your global smack and well as all the board members.


]V[goblue recognized the hostile tenor in your posts and noted:

So I’ll just pick up where my brother in arms left off, but with a little more respect as I am in your house.

Actually, I don't think you are a Michigan fan. I think your simply a smarmy provocateur getting your jollies going from board to board generating animus between genuine fans.


I won't debate the subject with you. I abhor censorship but I'm willing to make an exception in your case.

Consider this your yellow card warning.

Keep to football, and take the pseudo-erudite smack somewhere else.

Your next ad hominem will be your last!

BGIF,
Community Moderator

 

[BGIF]

Tale Of The Tape

Tale Of The Tape

IN THE TRENCHES:​

Average weight of the offensive and defensive lines:

Notre Dame OL 315.0 lbs. vs. Michigan DL 275.3 lbs.

Notre Dame DL 273.8 lbs. vs. Michigan OL 288.8 lbs.​

ND's OLine has a 40 pound advantage/man over the UM DLine. (Will ND's bulk or UM's speed prevail?)​

UM's OLine has a 15 pound advantage/man over the ND DLine. (UM will need speed abd athleticism lacking a significant weight advantage.​

​

IN THE AIR:​

Average height of the receivers and the secondaries​

Notre Dame WR/TE 6’ 2 2/3” vs. Michigan DB 5’ 11 1/4​

Notre Dame DB 6’ 1” vs. Michigan WR/TE 6’ 3/4”​

ND Offense has a 3+" average height advantage.​

ND Defense, height is a push.​

 

[Irish in Hudson]

UM board posts

UM board posts

Sorry if already discussed, but I saw a thread of posts copied from a UM site on another ND site. In particular I noticed the friction between actual graduates and non-alum die-hard fans. One called the other a "Wal-Mart Wolvereen." I have always enjoyed the fact that ND embraces the "Subway Alumni" and I have never noticed a difference in treatment here.

BTW, if the UM fans are anything like the MSU fans we encountered last year, keep your heads on a swivel for flying objects and your skin thick about how bad ND sucks (a fan favorite yet not much thought process), that Quinn is gay (again, not something they would have the guts to say to his face), etc.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BGIF]

I won’t debate the height difference between your receivers and our dbs, there is a definite advantage with ND. But our O line needs to be smaller to work in the system we have, an example would be Navy, while not the same system its O line needs to be quick and athletic to run the system they use. Most of our O line was much larger coming in, our strength and conditioning program has since slimmed them down to a weight that will benefit our style of play.

Also the Gators O linemen on their roster weigh an average of 280, just saying.*

I understand your OLine needs to be smaller that's why I added the notes in parentheses about speed and athleticism.

By the way OSU had a 40 pound/man advantage over Navy's "D" and couldn't run them out of the Shoe.

While ND's OLine is still on the plus side 300 a number of them dropped 10-15 pounds in the offseason due to ND's new OLine coach. They're leaner than last season but would I wouldn't use the word nimble in the same paragraph. ND is a better pass blocking team than at road grading run blocking.

The DLine weight program was mixed some had 15 pound gains, DE Kapron Lewis Moore while interior DLs Williams (Ian and Hafis), and Cwynar lost up to 15 pounds to increase speed and conditioning.

Nevada only gave up 6 sacks last season. ND had 2 sacks Saturday.

 

[phork]

Cupcake schedule! We need to schedule more Charleston Southerns imo!

 

[GoIrish41]

IN THE TRENCHES:​

Average weight of the offensive and defensive lines:

Notre Dame OL 315.0 lbs. vs. Michigan DL 275.3 lbs.

Notre Dame DL 273.8 lbs. vs. Michigan OL 288.8 lbs.​

ND's OLine has a 40 pound advantage/man over the UM DLine. (Will ND's bulk or UM's speed prevail?)​

UM's OLine has a 15 pound advantage/man over the ND DLine. (UM will need speed abd athleticism lacking a significant weight advantage.​

​

IN THE AIR:​

Average height of the receivers and the secondaries​

Notre Dame WR/TE 6’ 2 2/3” vs. Michigan DB 5’ 11 1/4​

Notre Dame DB 6’ 1” vs. Michigan WR/TE 6’ 3/4”​

ND Offense has a 3+" average height advantage.​

ND Defense, height is a push.​

These are the kinds of stats we've been talking about before ND games for the past few years when we played (and lost to) teams like Navy, Air Force and Syracuse. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. At least that's what Mike Vick told me.

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

I understand your OLine needs to be smaller that's why I added the notes in parentheses about speed and athleticism.

By the way OSU had a 40 pound/man advantage over Navy's "D" and couldn't run them out of the Shoe.

While ND's OLine is still on the plus side 300 a number of them dropped 10-15 pounds in the offseason due to ND's new OLine coach. They're leaner than last season but would I wouldn't use the word nimble in the same paragraph. ND is a better pass blocking team than at road grading run blocking.

The DLine weight program was mixed some had 15 pound gains, DE Kapron Lewis Moore while interior DLs Williams (Ian and Hafis), and Cwynar lost up to 15 pounds to increase speed and conditioning.

Nevada only gave up 6 sacks last season. ND had 2 sacks Saturday.

How many returning Nevada O linemen are back? This being the second game of the season it's going to be VERY difficult to try and compare our two programs and where they are on the road of improvement. I was happy as hell with our victory and the way they handled themselves with WMU, does that mean we’re ready to go to a BSC bowl or win the Big10? No. But it did show that we can field a punt, we have two very elusive QB’s, and a O line that can make it to the blocks they need to make. One of those was a big reason the game last year was lost, not the only, but a big reason.

BTW I tried to delete my post after I reread your post I realized you noted the O line sizes after the fact.

 

[tankjeep]

another long week of waiting for the game.....bgif you going to be online again with your one guinness (great beer btw)?

 

[nlroma1o]

Hey whose going to A^2 for the game!?

 

[UMrealist]

Really? 55-43 with Two BCS Bowl appearances with a Top Ten finish is a horrible decade? By no means is this, on paper, terrible or horrible.

Yet, as a player, it is my opinion that any decade where you don't win a National Championship is a bad one. Same goes for you, slick.

Stop conjecturing and pandering to false notions of inflated grandeur.

Cheers,
A less Cheeky Bastard

Wabash ... are you saying you're happy with that record? And confident that Willingham and Weiss were great choices?

I can't believe a barely above .500 record sits well with the ND faithful, and I can tell you without hesitation that UM faithful would have had the AD's head on a platter by now.

Hell, we just about fired Carr when he had three 8-4 win seasons in a row.

I can see Syracuse or Rutgers or other mid-level programs being OK with that record ..... not ND, not UM.

best,
rob

 

[UMrealist]

These are the kinds of stats we've been talking about before ND games for the past few years when we played (and lost to) teams like Navy, Air Force and Syracuse. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. At least that's what Mike Vick told me.

Well said ... under L. Carr, we had a long series of losses against notably smaller O and D lines ... it wasn't so much the App State loss that horrified UM in 2007 (well, yes it did horrify us) ... but the real shock was seeing the Oregon Ducks come in 2 weeks later and just blow UM off their home field with smaller, faster, extremely well conditioned players all over the field.

WMU had a huge offensive line, all over 300 lbs, and the UM D line blew by them throughout the game. NO, I'm not saying WMU is ND, but I think the point's still valid ... if you're comparing lb. for lb. comparisons of units (so to speak) like the previous poster, you're likely to be very surprised with how that plays out on the field.

best,
rob

PS: From my philly friends: "Hide your Beagles, Micheal Vick's an Eagle".

 

[UMrealist]

Times are tough in Michigan. Big House still not sold out. Single game tickets still available on scUM athletic site. If I were anywhere close to Ann Arbor I'd be there.

They always retain a few single game tickets for sale ... and they always sell out the big house and play before the largest college football audience in the nation. Sold out every game since some time in the 70's ... times are tough? Not so much.

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

IMHO Toledo was a far worse loss than Appy state.

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

They always retain a few single game tickets for sale ... and they always sell out the big house and play before the largest college football audience in the nation. Sold out every game since some time in the 70's ... times are tough? Not so much.

Yup, while Penn State now has the largest stadium capacity Michigan still had the most attendance last year out of anyone. Every game is a sell out.

 

[UMrealist]

Yup, while Penn State now has the largest stadium capacity Michigan still had the most attendance last year out of anyone. Every game is a sell out.

My understanding was that Penn State's 108K capacity (roughly) was ahead of UM Stadium only last year while segments of the stadium were under construction. This year, the official capacity is back over 110K (will be over 113K next year) and is again larger than Penn State on both a game by game and total season basis.

I don't have a handy link/reference for that, but this is what I've read.

best,
rob

 

[Riddickulous]

Notre Dame is better than Michigan.

You want proof? I got banned from a Michigan board because I was talking about Notre Dame.

Can Boubacar Cissoko cover Golden Tate? Will he cover Golden Tate?

 

[UMrealist]

IMHO Toledo was a far worse loss than Appy state.

Really? I would have to disagree.

Appy State and the Oregon debacles were under the traditional UM regime, recruiting, condition, coaching and playing style. (Pretty much the same thing that ND is still pursuing now.) Huge lines, tall wideouts and a pro style offense/QB.

To me, those games clearly showed that "the formula" UM had used for decades was growing stale and could be easily beat by more athletic teams running more spread and shred, speed oriented styles on offense and defense.

As such, they were to me a hugely uncomfortable awakening.

The Toledo game? Not too much of a surprise ... new coach, new regime, big graduation of seniors, players mis-cast in their new system .... a fundamental transition to a new style and philosophy Coach Carr would have easily lost 5 or 6 games with that team (assuming Mallett stayed).

A humbling loss, no doubt. But I saw clear reasons for it and believed a transition, as painful as it was, had to happen.

best,
rob

 

[UMrealist]

Notre Dame is better than Michigan.

You want proof? I got banned from a Michigan board because I was talking about Notre Dame.

Can Boubacar Cissoko cover Golden Tate? Will he cover Golden Tate?

hahaha! I was wondering when that was coming out.

I think Clausen (Claussen?) will be able to make completions and move the ball ... I think he'd be wise to head away from Donovan Warren.

I think the UM D will play it like they did WMU, solid positional defense with some fast players and solid open field tackling. WMU, other than a couple of breakouts after the game was a blowout in the 4th, had almost no YAK going on Hiller's completions.

The UM linebackers covered underneath very well and showed speed. The D line looked better and faster than expected and with Brandon Graham coming from the defensive end, I think Clausen will be hurried more often than against Nevada and will have to be smart with his check downs to avoid the turnover.

I don't see UM shutting down this offense by any stretch, but if they can keep them somewhat slowed down, we'll have a chance.

best,
rob

 

[NDinL.A.]

The funny thing is that anybody who gets pissed at these Mich guys has to realizse that they're not going to convince us, and we're not going to convince them, period. No chance. But it's OK to hear the 'enemy's' point of view, as long as it's civil. Many of us have tried to do it on other fan's boards, and some teams can handle it, and some can't. Let's e the board that can handle these a**holes (just kidding guys...can't wait 'til Saturday!!!!).

Regardless of the outcome, you gotta come back on Sunday, just to say hey. We lose, I'll be the first to give props. Scoreboard. You lose, come back and give props (then duck LOL). Peace...