ND vs Michigan (predictions)...

[Bubba]

Depending on the sportsbook you look at Michigan is favored anywhere from 1 to 2.5 points.

 

[fightinirish68]

i feel like if it comes down to man coverage and mich goes 5 wide theet can release the deep ball all day on mccarthy

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I will be there too my friend; making the trip from L.A. on Thursday w/ my fiance. Can't wait!!! You are exactly right, we need to show the recruits what we are all about. This is a HUGE game!

And there is no way our players should come out w/ no emotion like they played last week. It's Michigan, and freakin' Lou Holtz is speaking at the pep rally! They should, and will, be jacked up! And if some blue-hair behind me tells me to sit down, I think I'll light nyself on fire. The crowd needs to be jacked up as well!

NDinL.A. - I hope you represent all us So Cal Domers sitting on our couches! If you have to resort to setting yourself on fire...well, that will truly be something to hear what Hammond and Haden have to say about that. Go crazy out there my friend! I want to hear the level of noise from ND fans we generated last year at the Rose Bowl! Have a great trip!

Let's Go Irish!!!

 

[notredomer23]

i feel like if it comes down to man coverage and mich goes 5 wide theet can release the deep ball all day on mccarthy

thats sarcasm right?

 

[NDinL.A.]

NDinL.A. - I hope you represent all us So Cal Domers sitting on our couches! If you have to resort to setting yourself on fire...well, that will truly be something to hear what Hammond and Haden have to say about that. Go crazy out there my friend! I want to hear the level of noise from ND fans we generated last year at the Rose Bowl! Have a great trip!

Let's Go Irish!!!

Thanks, will do!!!

 

[NDsuperfan09]

i feel like if it comes down to man coverage and mich goes 5 wide theet can release the deep ball all day on mccarthy

Dude Threet sucks. I live around his high school I never got the hype about him. Strong arm, smart kid (like 4.0+ in HS), but his accuracy, mechanics, and ability to read defenses are way below a big 10 type level. He won't hurt us, unless our DB's play like shit. Trust me one good throw doesn't make a kid. Besides that TD throw he had against Utah he has been just as pathetic as Sheridan.

 

[Dizzyphil]

Dude Threet sucks. I live around his high school I never got the hype about him. Strong arm, smart kid (like 4.0+ in HS), but his accuracy, mechanics, and ability to read defenses are way below a big 10 type level. He won't hurt us, unless our DB's play like shit. Trust me one good throw doesn't make a kid. Besides that TD throw he had against Utah he has been just as pathetic as Sheridan.

Where do you live? My cousin lives in Sylvania! He has seen Threet in action in High School. My cousin is a UM fan (he supports Irish too!) and he can't stand Threet. He watched him in high school and he told me, if not for Threets receivers in HS, he would be nothing. He can't throw the slant, is not accurate, he just throws long and lets the receivers run up under the ball. He is tall and can see the defense well but, he will be seeing a lot of gold this weekend!!!

Go Irish!!!!

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

Okay - I have pulled out of my doldrums from being a little down this week and with all the stuff flying back and forth on the boards. I am ready for Saturday again. I am having a little Jameson as a night cap tonight to get my motor prepped for Friday. Got another keg of Guinness ready to be tapped and I am ready to go. Bon Voyage NDinL.A. - Godspeed!

CRANK ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET'S GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SteveM]

Rich Rodriguez Case History

Rich Rodriguez Case History

Rich Rodriguez has proven without a doubt (with Charlie there are doubts) that he can put a winning football team on the field starting from scratch.

Michigan is adapting not floundering. They will be a very good football team at some point in time (with ND there are doubts.)

I got my fingers crossed and Bayesian model humming.

ND better be ready.

SteveM

P.S. I turned off the "Spanked" parameter of the model. I just couldn't bear it if the model made that forecast against the Irish a priori.

 

[GREENJERSEYS'07]

i don't give a crap what the score is as long as the irish win.I'll even take a nail bitter in the 4th quarter and take a few days off my life.
Same goes for the michigan state game.Those are 2 games that i feel the irish should win going into the rest of the season.

 

[JeremyND07]

I am amazed that the Mich fans on other sites make some of the koolaid drinkers on here look like fair weather fans! I saw A LOT of 31-10 Mich type of predictions. Seriously, if there is a score like this someone better get fired by Monday morning period!!!!! OL coach...someone that would be inexcusable against a team that is rebuilding and basically starting from scratch!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thoughts?

 

[GREENJERSEYS'07]

I am amazed that the Mich fans on other sites make some of the koolaid drinkers on here look like fair weather fans! I saw A LOT of 31-10 Mich type of predictions. Seriously, if there is a score like this someone better get fired by Monday morning period!!!!! OL coach...someone that would be inexcusable against a team that is rebuilding and basically starting from scratch!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thoughts?

OKAY, in a lot of ways I want to agree,but am not at this time because I want to have faith in the current program at this time and it is only one game (so far) in the season.I do feel and expect notre dame to win this game,but at the same time SCum has several seasoned players and they have played two games under their new system and rodriguez isn't a slouch for a coach.Let's see how the defense(notre dame) handles this new system with it's coaches and players.Maybe michigan won't score that much and the offense can pull one off in the 4th if they are EVEN behind.
I don't know how old some of your guys/gals are,but holtz was a great coach and I never missed a game in the late '80s, early '90s.Those 2 stanford games will always stick in my mind tho.



31-10 had better turn out to be quite ludicrous and ridiculous.I wouldn't even read such a post...laughable.

 

[VictorsValiant]

Funny thing about this game is that most Michigan fans I know think we're going to lose. There just isn't much optimism here, at least not until Threet learns to plant his foot before throwing the ball.

I do think this game means more for ND though. Watching them play last week reminds me of the business term "culture of losing." It happens when a company loses money and then cannot regain their footing because they've completely lost confidence. You could sense that last week, from the coaches, the fans and the players. It's one of those things where you work hard all summer and when you hit the field you're thinking about last year again. Normally, the way you overcome this culture is to change leadership. You simply cannot lose confidence. A win over Michigan would give the ND players and coaches the confidence they need to forget about last year. A loss, and I predict the beginning of the end for Charlie Weis.

It's all going to depend on whether or not the ND offensive line has improved or not.

 

[GREENJERSEYS'07]

victorsvaliant, I see you are online reading this thread.Any thoughts on this weekends game?


sorry...a tad late on my post.Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Steve]

i really see nothing that would lead me to believe that michigan is gonna score alot of points.

 

[Mattmags]

Dude Threet sucks. I live around his high school I never got the hype about him. Strong arm, smart kid (like 4.0+ in HS), but his accuracy, mechanics, and ability to read defenses are way below a big 10 type level. He won't hurt us, unless our DB's play like shit. Trust me one good throw doesn't make a kid. Besides that TD throw he had against Utah he has been just as pathetic as Sheridan.

I listened to the Mike Frank radio show the other day and Mike had a sportswriter on from Michigan. The Michigan Sportswriter admitted that he thinks Threet will never compete with the quality of the Big Ten Quarterbacks and he never really see's him blossoming to much more than an average QB. I found this to be interesteing coming from the other side of the fence.

He also said that this game is more important for ND than it is for Michigan. Now, THAT is the truth.

 

[NDsuperfan09]

Where do you live? My cousin lives in Sylvania! He has seen Threet in action in High School. My cousin is a UM fan (he supports Irish too!) and he can't stand Threet. He watched him in high school and he told me, if not for Threets receivers in HS, he would be nothing. He can't throw the slant, is not accurate, he just throws long and lets the receivers run up under the ball. He is tall and can see the defense well but, he will be seeing a lot of gold this weekend!!!

Go Irish!!!!

Blissfield, Michigan. I have played AAU basketball with several of his HS teammates and they all say the same thing. He has an abover average arm and he is tall. He only started playing football 5 years ago. But he isn't a big 10 QB.

 

[fightinirish68]

thats sarcasm right?

haha yes it is. i was hoping yall'd catch that

 

[irishandy]

ND needs to come out strong with a big win to give us some confidence against Michigan State. I am not a fan of running up the score for no reason, but ND needs to get some yardage and score some points to prove the nation we have weapons on offense. Play Golden Tate, play Michael Floyd and ditch Kumara!! Use the tide ends more!!

 

[Steve]

ditch kamara? that's nonsense.

 

[VictorsValiant]

You hit the nail on the head. Any Michigan (or ND fan for that matter) who thinks Michigan will score a lot of points is delusional. We don't have a single QB who can complete a pass beyond 10 yards right now. Scary, but true. I hope Threet learns how to plant his foot, but you can't expect that from a QB who apparently didn't learn how to do that at GTech and still can't do that here. And this is his first road game. And (I just thought of this), Tenuta probably knows a lot of his tendencies because they were together at GTech. And apparently it's going to be wet. So, there ya go.

I just think this game has the potential to embarrass both programs. The most likely scenario is that ND can't move the ball, Clausen gets sacked a lot because the O-Line can't protect him, they can't run "smashmouth" (which plays right into our hands, as opposed to the spread). But then our offense probably stalls. ND stacks up 10 on the line because Threet can't throw. Maybe there will be a turnover or two by a frosh (many playing) and the score ends up being 6-3 or something really ugly. If that happens, then the NCAA should simply give both teams a L because that's what they'll deserve.

The most realistic best case scenario from our end is that the offense doesn't make mistakes, the D dominates like they did last year and the offense finally wears down the ND defense (esp. the paper thin D-Line) and starts running the ball late in the game. For ND, the best case scenario is if the offense manages the game (you can't expect a quantum leap after last week) and the defense creates some turnovers that lead to points and then ND withstands a late charge (I think ND has some serious personnel problems up front on D). So, there ya go. I'm not really looking forward to this game.

 

[phork]

I don't care what happens.. Last minute ticket score == priceless. SO yes, I will be wet, and happily at the game.

 

[NDsuperfan09]

You hit the nail on the head. Any Michigan (or ND fan for that matter) who thinks Michigan will score a lot of points is delusional. We don't have a single QB who can complete a pass beyond 10 yards right now. Scary, but true. I hope Threet learns how to plant his foot, but you can't expect that from a QB who apparently didn't learn how to do that at GTech and still can't do that here. And this is his first road game. And (I just thought of this), Tenuta probably knows a lot of his tendencies because they were together at GTech. And apparently it's going to be wet. So, there ya go.

I just think this game has the potential to embarrass both programs. The most likely scenario is that ND can't move the ball, Clausen gets sacked a lot because the O-Line can't protect him, they can't run "smashmouth" (which plays right into our hands, as opposed to the spread). But then our offense probably stalls. ND stacks up 10 on the line because Threet can't throw. Maybe there will be a turnover or two by a frosh (many playing) and the score ends up being 6-3 or something really ugly. If that happens, then the NCAA should simply give both teams a L because that's what they'll deserve.

The most realistic best case scenario from our end is that the offense doesn't make mistakes, the D dominates like they did last year and the offense finally wears down the ND defense (esp. the paper thin D-Line) and starts running the ball late in the game. For ND, the best case scenario is if the offense manages the game (you can't expect a quantum leap after last week) and the defense creates some turnovers that lead to points and then ND withstands a late charge (I think ND has some serious personnel problems up front on D). So, there ya go. I'm not really looking forward to this game.

We can't expect a quantum leap? Why can't we? We had 4 turnovers, two in the redzone, and the other two after we had gained some momentum on drives. We also botched two FG's. We left a maximum amount of 34 points on the field. Your right though we can't improve (sarcasm).

If we take care of the ball we should be able to score enough points to give us a chance to win. Other than Warren your DB's don't scare anyone one bit. If our OL gives Clausen a chance we could definitely move the ball on your defense through the air just like Utah did. Dink and dunk across the middle thats if Haywood and Weis decide to utilize this which they have neglected the past couple of years. However if Clausen doesn't get time to throw we could get blown out. Turnovers and the play of our OL are the two biggest factors in this game. We aren't going to run the ball on you guys very well IMO. It's going to be ugly. If either team scores more than 17 points I would be suprised. Threet is going to get rocked though. McGuffie, or Odoms is going to have to take one the distance on a screen or sweep if your going to score on offense. Oh well best of luck to you and your team let the ugliness commence.

 

[BeatSC]

Good Post, I think ND had been one play here or one play there from breaking out. I think the D was really close alot of the time last week and with just a few breaks, better play calling, better decision making we might experience our first blowout. I think we kept most of the playbook in the cupboard last week. We have alot of weapons we just need to use them. IF ND can get up early we can win big. We have yet to experience going up early and playing crazy D except at UCLA last year. That was our best D game in 4 years. SDSU played over their head lastr week and got the breaks. If we play them 10 more times we beat them worse eavery week.

 

[ojo_223]

I think a lot of people have overlooked Michigan's D this year. They are still pretty damned good! I hate to say it, but I don't see our offense putting up many points Saturday. If we can keep from turning the ball over we might be okay, but judging from the lack of rushing yards last week against a team playing 2nd string linebackers up on the D-line, getting run blocking against Michigan will be difficult to say the least. I hope that the O-line was just off and I don't like to pass judgement after just one game, but I have a bad feeling that we are going to struggle running the ball again this year. I hope that I am wrong, but that's the feeling.

The good news is Michigan's offense doesn't look so good and our defense looks pretty good. Maybe we can get some turnovers here and make a difference. If it is a rainy game, I think that we are still going to have to air it out and take our chances because I don't think that we will rush for over 80 yards.

Thoughts??

 

[Easton Pa ND Fan]

Two sites to give you some ammo...

Two sites to give you some ammo...

I use their evaluation of power rating accuracy to pick
services for my spreadsheets. The only fancy program is
an Excel add-in called Neurlyst. It compares historical
data and applies it's conclusions to the selected power
ratings. I've tried other prediction programs, but their
outputs are too complicated for this venue...Tom

ThePredictionTracker NCAA RESULTS

College Football Ranking Comparison

 

[JeremyND07]

I keep going back and forth on this game and I came to this conclusion...it is going to be a blow out one way or another. Either ND really shows up or does not either way we win by a lot or lose by a lot. No offense to Michigan but it is all about which ND team shows up for this game!

 

[MUGSY]

I keep going back and forth on this game and I came to this conclusion...it is going to be a blow out one way or another. Either ND really shows up or does not either way we win by a lot or lose by a lot. No offense to Michigan but it is all about which ND team shows up for this game!

I really hope that you are wrong about this. If it is a blowout, I don't think that will be going in ND's favor. UM's D is pretty solid. The Irish need to play solid, no mistake football on offense just to compete and hope that our D can help us out. We definitely aren't blowing them out though. I would love to be proven wrong though.

Go Irish!

 

[mick2]

I keep going back and forth on this game and I came to this conclusion...it is going to be a blow out one way or another. Either ND really shows up or does not either way we win by a lot or lose by a lot. No offense to Michigan but it is all about which ND team shows up for this game!

wow... yeah i hope you are wrong too, this is mich's first year with this system and it looks like they are really struggling without the right personnel, i dont think it will be a blowout per say, i think their defense will be on the field way too long, it will be competitive for the first half and then we'll put them away in the second.

Even though i am the biggest charlie supporter out there, if we get blown out by this mich team i might be ready grab my pitchfork and storm his office...lol, any loss is not good but a blowout will be really bad.

the only blowout tomorrow is sc trampling the suckeyes

 

[irish4ever]

I hate to say this too because I hate scUM more than ANYTHING!

Michigan 26
Notre Dame 13

Me too!!! IF your prediction is correct I'll have to start considering suicide! Damn, I can't take the Irish getting 'beat like drum' year after year by scUM! I hate those bastards!!!!!!