I hope everyone is enjoying Michigan Sucks week as much as I have. While being out on a river for a few days is quite a bit of fun, it doesn’t help me study the Skunkbears too well. Like my last mobile post, this one too will be a bit briefer than usual.
Despite not being able to study up on Michigan, it doesn’t take much to realize the key matchup will be how the Irish defense handles Denard Robinson. While I’m sure NBC will beat everyone over the head with Robinson’s shoe-tying abilities (or lack thereof), here is what should pop out: 186 passing yards, 197 rushing yards, 0 INTs, and a 86.4 completion percentage.
Dual-threat QB is an understatement.
The Irish front seven will definitely have their hands full. Last week against Purdue, the pass rush had a bit of a hard time adjusting to Marve’s constant bootlegs and Henry’s rushes for the brief time he was in. Robinson will be a whole other animal (and a much faster one at that) and will be a true test to see where Notre Dame’s front seven is at.
I’m honestly not too worried about our secondary, although they will face a much faster WR corps. If we do have some holes, they will be exposed Saturday.
On the other side of the ball, the Irish should be torching the ever living hell out of Michigan’s piss-poor secondary. While UCONN only put up 10 points, they did manage to throw for over 200 yards against a secondary that I swear is being held together by duct tape this season. ND has many more options with far greater talent than UCONN had. If the Skunkbear secondary is being embarrassed repeatedly, I will be shocked.
Of course, this means the onus will be squarely on Crist to make plays and be accurate. The only way I can see Michigan surviving ND’s offense will be to put mountains of pressure on Crist and pray he panics.
The final thing to watch is ball security. The Irish were playing hot potato far too often against Purdue. Thankfully, only one of these fumbles resulted in a turnover, but a couple turnovers could spell disaster for the Irish in no time.
Best case scenario is that the Irish defense shuts down Robinson and roll all over Michigan. Worst case scenario is a straight up shootout. In the end though, Michigan still sucks, Ann Arbor is a whore, and my prediction is an Irish win, 38-27.