6 - Friday, September 21, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

'M' readies for Fighting Irish

By LUKE PASCH
Daily Sports Editor
This is Denard Robinson's
favorite time of the year - Notre
Dame week.
The senior quarterback has
torched the Fighting Irish
defense as Michigan football's
signal caller each of the past
two seasons. There's something
about this rivalry that brings out
the best in him.
In the 2010 matchup in South
Bend, Robinson accounted for
502 of Michigan's 532 total
yards, with over 200 passing and
rushing yards. In the 2011 show-
down in Ann
Arbor - Mich-
igan Stadium's
first-ever Notre Dame
night game - Matchup:
he threw for Michigan
338 yards and 2-1; ND 3-0
rushed for When: Satur-
108 more, and day 7:30 p.m.
found wide
receiver Roy Where: Notre
Roundtree Dame Stadium
in the end TV/Radio:
zone for the NBC
game-winning
touchdown with two ticks left.
"Denard playing his heart
out," said redshirt junior run-
ning back Fitzgerald Toussaint
on what he remembers of last
year's game. "I think that's one
of the better games he's played
here, personally. Then you had
guys out there playing with him,
playingtheir heart out for him.
"(Notre Dame) plays hard,
and I believe when you have
competition, that makes you
bring out your best game."
Toussaint did not play in last
season's duel with Notre Dame
because of a shoulder injury.
His return to the starting lineup
for this season's episode adds
another weapon to Michigan
coach Brady Hoke's offensive
arsenal that his counterpart
Brian Kelly didn't have to deal
with last year.
Toussaint rebounded a bit
last week against Massachu-
setts, picking up 85 yards on just
15 touches following his rough
return to the lineup the week
before against Air Force. But
against Notre Dame, he'll take

Notre Dame carries
edge heading into
Saturday's meeting
By BEN ESTES phon Tuitt, a burgeoning star at
Daily SportsEditor defensive end.
Edge: Michigan

0

Senior quarterback Denard Robinson has engineered last-minute comebacks in

on a front seven with talent he
has yet to see this season.
Up front in Kelly's base 3-4
defense is formidable nose tack-
le Louis Nix III, who consistent-
ly disrupts runs up the middle,
or at the very least draws double
teams that free up space for
the ends and linebackers. And
the linebacker corps is led by
presumed 2013 NFL draft first-
rounder Manti Te'o, whose run
defense is among the best in the
country.
Te'o led the Irish defense in
tackles in both the 2010 and 2011
matchups.
"Te'o's an excellent player,"
said offensive coordinator Al
Borges. "(He's) very active,
always around the ball. Their
front is similar (to Alabama's)
in that they're both three-man
fronts, eat up a lot of gaps inside,
try to make it tough for you to
run the ball inside the tackles -
so they're similar that way. Both
of them are physical fronts that
run well and, you know, will
cause us problems if we don't
take care of business."
Behind the front seven,
though, Notre Dame's secondary

isn't very strong, and Robinson
may be more inclined to stay in
the pocket and pass than he was
in the teams' past two meetings.
The Fighting Irish secondary
features a true freshman and a
wide receiver transplant, and
starting safety Jamoris Slaugh-
ter went down with a ruptured
Achilles' tendon against Michi-
gan State last week and is out for
the season.
The Spartans lack significant
vertical threats, meaning the
inexperienced Notre Dame sec-
ondary has yet to be tested.
"I feel like, through the film,
their DBs don't look half bad to
me," said junior wide receiver
Devin Gardner. "I don't see
where people get that from. The
front seven is really good, and
the DBs are really good, from
what I can see."
On the other side of the ball,
Kelly has a new weapon this
year in sophomore quarterback
Everett Golson, who has gotten
the nod as Notre Dame's starter.
The signal caller is a dual threat,
so the Wolverines will have to be
wary of him breaking out of the
pocket.

MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daly
:onsecutive years against Notre Dame.
The inexperienced Wolver-
ine defensive line hasn't turned
many heads so far this season,
but it may be able to get a solid
push against a relatively week
Notre Dame offensive line. So
far this season, Golson has had
happy feet, but unfortunately for
opponents, scrambling has been
a strength for him.
Michigan may also have a
tough time matching up with
star tight end Tyler Eifert,
who's featured heavily in Kelly's
offense.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder is
a very reliable safety blanket for
Golson, and he'll be able to catch
passes over undersized Michi-
gan defenders.
Ultimately, though, the Notre
Dame offense is one that Michi-
gan has seen before.
"It's still the same," said
defensive coordinator Greg
Mattison. "It's the head coach -
he's still going to run his thing
and their philosophy and that's
what they've done. The thing
that maybe changes a little bit
is he has the ability to scramble
(with Golson) if something isn't
there."

RELEASE DATE- Friday, September 21, 2012
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After two weeks of play-
ing against subpar opponents
- though Air Force certainly
didn't play like one - the No. 18
Michigan football team returns
to stiffer competition this week
with a primetime tilt against
Notre Dame on the road.
And if recent trends hold true,
it should be a barnburner. Each
of the last three games in this
series have come down to the
final minute, with the Wolver-
ines successfully leading last-
ditch drives each time to come
away with the win.
Senior quarterback Denard
Robinson has been the story
for the last two seasons, single-
handedly acting as the Fighting
Irish's bane with back-to-back
dominant efforts. But Robinson
and his teammates appear to
have a more formidable oppo-
nent this time around - No.
11 Notre Dame is off to its best
start since 2002 - and they will
square off under the lights for
the second straight year.
Michigan rush offense vs.
Notre Dame rush defense
Bad news for the Wolverines:
they've still yet to get a domi-
nant effort from their running
backs. (Last week's mutilation
of Massachusetts doesn't real-
ly count.) They need redshirt
junior running back Fitzgerald
Toussaint to return to his 2011
form, when he became one of
the conference's better run-
ners. He'll be hungry to perform
against Notre Dame after miss-
ing the matchup last season with
a shoulder injury.
Worse news for Michigan:
the Fighting Irish front seven is
as effective as its been in recent
memory. At 326 pounds, Louis
Nix is a strong anchor at nose
tackle, and Manti Teo is one of
the best middle linebackers in
the country.
In the past two weeks, the
Fighting Irish held Purdue to
just 90 rush yards and Michigan
State to 50 yards on the ground.
Notre Dame also did a solid job
last year against Michigan, hold-
ing the Wolverines to a 4.4 yards
per carry.
The X-factor, of course, is
Robinson. But like Alabama,
Notre Dame will likely do its
bestto force Robinson to beatthe
Fighting Irish through the air.
They should be well-equipped to
stymie his ground game.
Edge: Notre Dame
Michigan pass offense vs.
Notre Dame pass defense
This might be the biggest
mismatch of the game - which
might come as a surprise, since
most observers don't see Robin-
son's arm as a strength.
But the Deerfield Beach, Fla.
native has shown much better
accuracy and decision-making
so far this season. The receiv-
ing corps, which was a question
mark going into the year, has
been solidified thanks to quar-
terback Devin Gardner's posi-
tion switch and the emergence
of freshman tight end Devin
Funchess. Their athleticism
makes them mismatches for
opposing defenses and big tar-
gets for Robinson.
More importantly for Michi-
gan, the Notre Dame second-

ary is in rough shape. Safety
Zeke Motta returns from last
season, but fellow safety Jamo-
ris Slaughter ruptured his Achil-
les' tendon last week against
Michigan State and is out for
the season. Starting cornerback
Lo Wood is also out for the year
after injuring himself during fall
camp.
Their replacements - Mat-
thias Farley and KeiVarae Rus-
sell - are both inexperienced,
former wide receivers. The unit
hasn't been bad this season, but
it will still be plenty vulnerable.
Robinson should be ready to
exploit it, though he'll have to
watch out for Notre Dame's Ste-

Notre Dame rush offense vs.
Michigan rush defense
The Fighting Irish have a
hydra of sorts at running back.
Former receiver Theo Riddick
and George Atkinson III split
snaps with Cierre Wood, who'll
be playing in his second game
after serving a two-game sus-
pension at the start of the season.
While the team's rushing
attack hasn't been great this
season, Wood's addition helps
matters. (He had 60 yards on 10
carries against Michigan State).
And plenty of questions sur-
round Michigan's front seven.
True freshmen James Ross and
Joe Bolden are talented, but their
extensive playing time raises
questions about the reliability of
fifth-year senior Kenny Demens
and health of sophomore Des-
mond Morgan.
Additionally,nobody on the
defensive line has done much to
distinguish himself for the Wol-
verines.
With a veteran offensive line
operating for Notre Dame, this
is the matchup that could decide
the game.
Edge: Notre Dame
Notre Dame pass offense vs.
Michigan pass defense
The Wolverine back seven
is probably disappointed to see
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy
Rees on the bench, given how
many mistakes he made against
them the past two seasons.
Instead, Michigan will square
off with Everett Golson. The
redshirt freshman is a much
better fit for Notre Dame coach
Brian Kelly's spread offense
because of his athleticism, but
Golson is by no means a star
yet. He's completed nearly 60
percent of his passes and in pri-
metime captured the national
spotlight against Michigan State
last week.
While star receiver Michael
Floyd is gone, Golson has a solid
threat to throw to in T.J. Jones,
and Tyler Eifert is one of the best
tight ends in the country. Though
he hasn't done it much so far, the
quarterback is always a threat
to take off and run, meaning the
Wolverines will have, to keep a
careful eye on him.
The jury is still out on the
Michigan secondary, which
hasn't really been tested since
the first game against Alabama.
Junior Courtney Avery and
sophomore Raymon Taylor will
have to play big in sophomore
cornerback Blake Countess' con-
tinued absence.
Edge: Push
Special teams
Both teams have solid kick-
ers. Notre Dame's Kyle Brindza
is 4-for-5 on field goals, while
redshirt junior Brendan Gib-
bons has made his lone attempt
for Michigan. Neither team has
gamebreakers in the punt return
game.
Give the Wolverines the slight
nod in this category for two
reasons: freshman Dennis Nor-
fleet seems poised for a big kick
return, and junior punter Will
Hagerup has been booming his
punts this season, with an aver-
age of 48.5 yards, though he's
often outkicked his coverage.

Edge: Michigan
Intangibles
While the Wolverines have
Robinson and his ability to oblit-
erate the hopes and dreams of
Notre Dame fans, the Fighting
Irish have a lot more going for
them in this one. They're playing
at home at night, which is always
a big advantage, and they're the
more confident team. In fact,
spirits haven't been this high in
South Bend for a while now.
Edge: Notre Dame ,
Final score: Notre Dame 31,

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