After Tonight: More Wary of ND or Less Wary of MSU?

Yes to both. I think we will be able to pass better against ND than MSU but may not have as good of a defensive performance. Whether that passing will be enough for a win.... who knows?

And for MSU, this made me a little less scared of them, but still worried about them for sure.

A little of both.

I think MSU has been overrated and ND has been underrated (as hard as that is to believe). I would have said the same a month ago or 24 hours ago.

That may all be reversed after yesterday.

ND turned MSU one-dimensional with strong front seven. Unfortunately, even against UMass we did not look good up front. I don't think our D will be able to take away Bell and force Sparty to throw, although I did take heart by seeing the success ND had in the zone-running game towards the end of the game.

Flip side of that is I'm more wary of ND's front seven, and I don't think they'll be easy to stop (although our D matches up better against them than against Sparty). I'm nervous in turn about Purdue since they played ND so tough and I didn't get to see that game. Basically, this game managed to make me worry about 3 of our next 4 games. I'm not so worried about Illinois.

This probably doesn't make sense, but I'm slightly less wary of ND since this probably means we'll be the underdog. When was the last time a road favorite won the Michigan - ND game?

That was the best D I have seen ND play in a while.  They were very quick to the ball and really exposed Sparty's passing game.  Hoke is telling it like it is every time he is interviewed where he says that our lines are a work in progress.  Very nervous about next week in South Bend.  They are going to load the box and dare us to throw.

Notre Dame was gonna be tough to beat regardless. The one thing i did realize, we would rather face gholson than rees. I believe that if rees woulda been playing vs sparty they score more points and the game is even more of a blowout.

Let the ND Hype Machine Commence:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8386638/college-football-...

Michigan wins by 4... in the last minute...

I think Michigan is more than capable of beating them both.  I do worry a bit more about ND's offense though.  Their front 7 looked good against MSU, but I suspect that will be a theme for most teams playing MSU.  They did not look that strong against Purdue. 

If Denard is on and the play calling is not terrible, we could cause ND some serious problems.  Their front seven got after Maxwell tonight, but teams are not going to pin their ears back and come after Denard that way for fear of his legs.  He will have more time to pass and I don't think their DBs will be able to keep up with our WRs at this point.  Especially if we use Funchess more.

I suspect Michigan will beat both of them.

The MSU game didn't change my view as much as Penn State blowing out Navy did. I was impressed with ND's victory over Navy, but now not so much. I think our offensive speed will play into the game drastically.

ND looked like they were just playing way faster than they have in recent years. It will be an interesting game that is for sure. But our lines offensive and defensive are not good right now. 

I always thought MSU's offense would be garbage, and the defense played pretty well given the fact it didn't get a rest for most of the second half.  

ND surprised me because that front 7 was getting pressure on Maxwell and shutting down the running game virtually all night.  The offense is weaker than I expected, but with a young QB you figure it will only get better.  I definitely see the ND game being a tough out for UM, especially on the road.

But right now, MSU doesn't look like the class of the B1G.  That Boise win was unimpressive in hindsight, and ND thoroughly dismantled Sparty on the road, at night, in their biggest game of the year so far.  I know that Alabama is another level above everyone in CFB, but parts of that game yesterday looked like ND was just toying with MSU's offense.

ND's offense could give us a lot of problems. MSU's defense could give us a lot of problems. I would expect some let down from ND's defense next week for a variety of reasons.

So, I'm not sure anything has changed. Michigan is capable of beating both and both teams are capable beating themselves. Just depends who shows up to play and that's coaching.

More wary of Notre Dame for sure. They have improved every year under Kelly. Their front seven on D looks good and Golson looks competent.

Howeva... Our O-line should give Denard time to throw. If he is halfway accurate with his throws it should open the flood gates for the run. 

It really helps you look good when you are playing a new starting QB. Maxwell is okay he is not gonna be a all big ten guy.

ND isnt a power team there not going to run the ball down our throats. Even though they should they going to spread us out and the secondary will have the better day. They are playing into the strength of our D. Also ND's first TD is an insane catch and not a routine play that game coulda been 13-3 as a final or 16-3. Michigans D-line will be fine. Denard can easily have more yards than the entire ND offense. (178Pass 122Rush) Will it be enough though? Golston was 14/32 last night I mean make him beat you with his arm please...ND's D is built to stuff the run they have awful DB's. Te'o is a top run stuffing LB. I like Michigans chances.

We're a qualitatively different team in several important respects, particularly on offense. It would be difficult to predict certaintly, though the front seven of ND looked really good once they neutralized Bell. I would dare say we have a more diverse rushing game than MSU, so we should still be something of a headache for ND ideally. Going by ND's performance last night, we still have a tough game ahead though.  

That being said, if I am wary of anything, ND showed some bright spots in the rushing game, I thought, in Cierre Wood and George Atkinson. Golson was 14-32 for 178 total passing yards, but it seemed like MSU had trouble stopping the run once in a while (that might have something to do with the fact that ND kept them out there forever on  defense sometimes). It's not mind-blowingly impressive and ND will not run it all day or even  well  enough to get past us necessarily, but it is better than I thought when it is allowed to develop.

I am somewhat less wary of MSU only because they sort of telegraphed the road to potential victory in their own way - clearly, if you can stop Bell (which would be a must, I think, or this is a difficult game for us), you can really bog them down on offense, and it seems like they try to control the parameters of the passing game rather meticulously because Maxwell is trying to take three years of learning into games now. On defense, it seemed like you could throw all day on MSU in that game, but they have a month to work on that before we seem them. Still, the MSU defense seems exploitable in the air. 

I am going with both. ND looked good but MSU's offense did not look good at all. If our corners do not play 10 yards off the reciever (see Greg Robinson D) we will be fine against their O but who knows how our defense will play. Before this season I really thought we were a one loss team, even with the gaps on the D-line. That may be crazy but I really believe in our coaching staff but now we seem to be at the 8-4 or 9-3 range. Go Blue!

Their offense looks geared to do the things that our defense has had some trouble with so far; however, Kelly looks quick to back off the gas so i assume that he has some fear of youthful mistakes. ND never had to score because MSU's offense was pitiful. A good offense next week might be our best defense.

In the first half i was fearing ND. By the second half i couldn't tell if i was watching two really good teams or two teams that weren't very good at all.

I'm less concerned about MSU at this point because there's time for the D line to gel and our inexperience to get some. The only thing that will change that is if MSU's O line improves drastically, Maxwell learns how to throw, and the MSU receivers learn how to catch. Two out of the three would be cause for concern.

ND and MSU will be ready to play. The question is if Michigan will be ready. With the O line not up to snuff and Denard's unpredictabe passing, ND and MSU can easily take out Michigan. We will see what Michigan is really made of next week.

And ND now has a QB. Golson has the tools to do some serious damage. Mich's D is going to be busy trying to contain him.