Michigan Wolverines at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Saturday, September 11, 2010, 3:30 pm, TV: NBC
Opening Line: Notre Dame -6
Current Line: Notre Dame -3 1/2
Opening Total: 52
Current Total: 52
Money Line: Notre Dame -175/ Michigan +155
Lines Take From Bookmaker Sportsbook offering a 20% bonus to all new football bettors.
Last week both teams started off with convincing victories. Michigan throttled Connecticut 30-10 and Notre Dame beat Purdue 23-12. If you ask the fans of these two traditional powerhouses, you might as well book them for the National Championship game in Glendale, AZ in January. I am being sarcastic of course, but Michigan fans are already talking about going to the Rose Bowl. Michigan and Notre Dame renew their rivalry this week.
Coach Rich Rodriguez might have finally found his quarterback in Denard Robinson. Robinson was unstoppable throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown and he rushed for 197 yards and another touchdown. Robinson was so brilliant that Michigan didn’t even play Tate Forcier as planned. Robinson was also bestowed with a great nickname, ‘shoelace’ for his habit of leaving his shoes untied. Expect to see plenty of t-shirts and fans carrying shoelaces for Michigan’s next home game. The defense for Michigan was pretty solid as they gave up only 343 yards total to UConn. The also forced a turnover. The Wolverines biggest problems on defense is a thin secondary hampered by injuries, transfers, and ineligible players. Connecticut is more of a run first team but Notre Dame could exploit the depleted secondary this week.
Coach Brian Kelly won his debut against Purdue 23-12. Purdue scored late to make the game appear closer than it was, but the Irish led 20-3 at the end of the third quarter. The offense wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either. Quarterback Dayne Crist threw for 205 yards and a touchdown in his debut as the Irish quarterback. Armando Allen Jr. led the rushing attack with 93 yards and a touchdown. The Irish had to settle for field goals three times and that made the game a little closer than it needed to be, but Purdue never really threatened Notre Dame. Michigan is more talented than the Boilermakers, so it will be a great game. On defense, The Irish only gave up 322 total yards, and grabbed two interceptions. I look for a tight defensive struggle between two long time rivals. Both of these teams need this game pretty badly. Sure that sounds like hype, and both teams could certainly end playing in major bowls even with a loss, but with both teams struggling in recent years every game takes on added importance. Especially when you are playing against one of your biggest rivals.
Rain is expected and the temperature will be in the low 70’s or high 60’s. A few years ago this would have been the biggest game of the day, and there will still be plenty of interest of course. However this particular Saturday is filled with monster match-ups between traditional powerhouses, including Alabama-Penn St, Ohio St-Miami, and Oklahoma-Florida St. Fans of these two teams want to go back to the days when this game would not be overshadowed by any match-up.
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