Notre Dame absolutely must go to Ann Arbor this September and take home a victory.
Interesting take from ND Blog-
"So while I’d like to stay humble and not write a check I can’t cash, I think it’s important to note that once again Notre Dame will be the more talented team in 2011, and that we simply must beat Michigan."
http://onefootdown.fantake.com/2011/05/06/why-notre-dame-really-needs-to-beat-michigan-in-2011/
So much on the line for Hoke against ND. I hate the Fighting Irish.
There's another video by the steroid ND Fan. Those are great for response videos after we beat them.
I just hope that all their athletic endeavors fail.
Too nuanced. I just hate ND.
Down with the fake Catholics!
as he does every game. The ND game is big - nationally televised night game against a rival - but it is his second game as head coach. A win would give him great momentum going forward in many respects, but a loss would not be a big set back. He has more on the line in other games. This year, IMO, ND has more on the line than Michigan in our head to head matchup.
Especially given how the last two games went down. Think about how agonizing it must have been for ND fans to lose to us on last-minute TDs each of the last two years. The fact that we fell apart down the stretch both years can't make them feel any better, either.
worst Michigan teams EVER still managed to beat ND. I'm sure that burns Irish ass. Let's keep it going.
I had ND. So. . . seconded.
They can cry me a river. I remember our Rose Bowl team of 2004 losing by 8 in South Bend. Yes, it was Henne's first road game as a freshman after he was thrust into the starting spot the week before but that ND team was bad. They didn't make a bowl game because they lost to the likes of BYU, Pitt, UConn, Navy...and they got destroyed by a 5 loss Purdue team. Sometimes in a rivalry game, you lose to a bad opponent.
Besides, it's not like the teams were THAT different the last 2 seasons. Is there really that much of a difference between 5-7 and 6-6 in 2009 and 7-6 and 8-5 last year?
Notre Dame has lost 26 games the last 4 seasons. They have more to worry about than just us.
But every year that goes on since he passed, I allow myself to dislike ND a little more...I don't know why they bother me so much, but they do. I imagine that they feel the same towards us as they are the program most like ours in college football. Familiarity/Similarity/Contempt and all that.
Yeah, I think the ND game is one that a lot of us know will be a tough W and quite frankly, a well played close loss wouldn't be the end of the world. Hoke needs to worry more about toasting MSU and TSIO more (and not choking against his former team and letting one slip away)
Not so fast my friend.
On the second week of the season I prefer Hoke worry more about beating ND.
First night game in the Big House, first rivalry game for Hoke as head coach, first real test for our offensive line, first test of Denard under Borges and the Mattison 4-3 defense. A win this early against a superior talent is plenty to worry about right here and right now.
Desperation cologne. If your an Irish fan and you long for the glory days, then Desperation cologne is for you. There is a little drop of Weiss sweat in every bottle. Get yours today....or next year......or the year after that.
Notre Dame is a funny story, they recruit pretty well, get hyped a ton, and even when we lose to Purdue, we end up beating them, that was the case in 2006, 2007, 2009 & 2010 (our 2008 team really sucked) sometimes I struggle to find a logical explanation, I enjoy it nevertheless
If you've spent any time in the DC area, this is the exact story of the Redskins every year. Big free agency or drafting splash. All of the fans get riled up and four games into the season they end up drinking a nice warm glass of shut the hell up.
We lost to Purdue in 2006, 2007 and 2010? News to me.
Just in 2009, 2006 was a good year, but in 2007 both teams meet with a 0-2 record and 2009/2010 teams weren't great either, we still beat ND, sorry for being figurative
My only real complaint about Hoke's short tenure thus far is that he has not emphasized the ND rivalry. Countdown clocks for MSU and OSU but no mention of ND? Not good.
I hate ND as much as OSU and a lot more than MSU (I didn't even really think about them as a rival growing up in Ohio) so I am disappointed that Hoke hasn't "talked up" the ND rivalry at all.
Beat the Irish!
I think that most people at U-M see the Irish as an easy third place rival in football... It's just not as vicious as Sparty, and neither Sparty or ND are in the same league as tUoOS.
That might be a result of our recent dominance of ND. Four out of the last five ain't too shabby considering the black hole we've been in for the past three years.
Not that they're to be entirely overlooked, but I think I'm okay with the dedicated focus on the recent Rivalries O' Humilation.
I grew up in Michigan and always considered ND to be more of a rival than MSU and always will.
OSU and MSU are more important than ND because they're not just rivalries, but also Big Ten games. Losing to ND does not prevent us from going to Pasadena. Losing to OSU or MSU can. That's the big difference. If ND were to ever join the Big Ten, the game with them would be absolutely massive. As it is, it's big but still kind of has the feel of an exhibition game. The outcome of the game doesn't seem to affect our season that much.
I've always considered ND the secret 12th/13th member of the Big 10.
I agree that ND is a bitter rival but I guess some fans don't agree. All the close games over the years have made it even better.
I think the essence of the ND rivalry is simple: Comparable program in the same region... but they (and the media up until recently) think they have "unparalleled" tradition... which is horse shit. They're no better historically than we are, no matter what their irish eyes seem to tell them.
are rivals. Was hokking that the hire of Hoke and all the maniacs wouldnt settle for just another 10-3 year.
ND's coach is in his second year. Hoke is in his first. People understand that Hoke is having to re-direct the program and fix some things. I don't think an ND loss (which I expect, frankly) will be very bad for Hoke at all...Don't get me wrong, I really hate losing to ND.
team looks like. The spring game didn't show us much of anything.
ND has a way of performing below expectations.
It would be sad to lose to ND due to TOs. That loss a couple years back was hard to take. The Clausen to Tate connection was not enough to win that game without our 6 turnovers.
Kelly doesn't exactly have a history of underperforming (which is what makes him scary at ND). That said, I think the game is 50-50; every year I put up some kind of bet on that game with a ND friend of mine. I won't be backing out this year just because they're better than they were last year.
It all depends on what the rivalry is about.
The OSU rivalry is the best of the best competition. It's for the Big10 championship. It's for the Rose Bowl bid. Thats the most important.
The MSU rivalry is about yearly bragging rights. If you lose to MSU, every day in your life for the next year is painful because there will be daily reminders of the loss.
The ND rivalry is all about who is #1 and #2 in Div I wins and win %. It's more about longevity legacy.
The MSU rivalry is about yearly bragging rights. If you lose to MSU, every day in your life for the next year is painful because there will be daily reminders of the loss.
Those of us who are UM fans outside of Michigan for the most part don't give a tiny rat's a** about MSU. The only reason I want to start beating them like a drum again is because they are annoying when they acutally beat UM. In the grand scheme of things, though, MSU is irrelvant.
I agree with this. I don't have to worry about Sparty co-workers or Sparty fan HS friends hanging around me to care about that game nearly as much. The last few years that they've beaten us have changed that slightly, but for the most part I don't care about Sparty. I certainly hate ND more.
as an alum not from michigan and not residing in michigan after my four years there, i couldn't give two sh*ts about sparty. i take beating them for granted and its too bad when we do lose to them like twice a decade or whatever on average. i don't see how a team that will never be held in the same breadth as UM and has no national relevance whatsoever is somehow a rival.
MSU is like the annoying mosquito who bites you once in a while (if mosquitoes can have an inferiority complex)
i as well hate ND a lot more
its the only time yhey can talk to their boss.
I have familial ties to ND, but when we play them, there's only one other team that i'd rather beat. My biggest problem with ND is I think Brian Kelly has serious character flaws that contradict the very essence of " Notre Dame". Take the concussed Crist as example #1. "Win at all costs." I can't stand him.
Crist's brain. It's incredible any parent would let their kid play for that sort of leadership. Good school, great tradition... but Swarbrick and Kelly are not great leaders IMO.
A little contrition would go along way to mend that opinion. But it seems to be all about the dollars with them. They should go work for ESPN. Juxtapose Brandon's mea culpa in practice gate with Swarbrick's take on Declan Sullivan's death...this gives me new revel in victories over ND.
I'll just leave this here.
They are always one of our biggest rivals (I put them right behind OSU). But this year in particular it will be huge -- first night game, likely college gameday, likely retiring Desmond's jersey, first real test for Hoke and crew, likely tons of recruits there, etc.
Losing wouldn't end our season, but winning would make everything seem possible.
Michigan won't beat ND this year. They won't be fully-acclimated to the offense yet, and ND will be two years into the spread. If the defenses are equal, which is a stretech, ND will win by being far better on offense. This could be a blowout if things start going south early. ND is the only game that really scares me on the entire schedule.
I think ND is an auto-loss and Nebraska is close to an auto-loss because Nebraska will be fired up while Michigan will think they are fired up but will be looking ahead to the following week. It could still turn out to be a very good year, though.
... And the spread offense is gauranteed to defeat all?
Generally speaking, I hate tosu the most. But for awhile there, when ND beat us in some close games and we were beating tosu, the insufferable ND fans came out of the woodwork and silencing them became critical. The bottom line is you have to beat all of them enough of the time to keep their fans quiet, or at least respectful. And when you have a bad run (last three years with MSU, and last 10 with tosu) winning becomes absolutely imperative.
Year in and year out, though, nothing is better than beating the buckeyes.
The annual Notre Dame for the BCS article is up on ESPN. I think every year one or more of these are written.
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6540338
I went to a catholic high school that, shall we say leaned heavily towards ND. You know the one; the same one Rudy went to in Joliet, IL.
In that high school everyone was a ND fan, except for me. When ND played MI, everyone in high school got so emotional. It was really obnoxious! To them, ND's biggest rival is Michigan.
I was probably one of the few that opted out of going to school at ND and chose MI instead. So even though I was not raised in MI, going to MI taught me the importance of the rivalries with Ohio, MSU, and every other B10 team that just wanted to beat the best; Michigan of course.
So to those who say that beating or losing to MSU is irrelevant, I offer this: Winning or losing to MSU is relevant! Perhaps a more adequate description is that it is "not as significant". In the grand scheme of things, all wins and loses are relevant. Beating Sparty maybe not as significant as beating ND or ultimately as significant of beating Ohio.
They are more talented though.
Our DC and defensive staff is more talented.
Mattison might be more accomplished, but I can tell you that there will be no more Denard 500 yard games this year. Diaco is absolutely killing it. And you have to wonder what would make an accomplished DC on arguably the NFLs most feared defense want to bail out and jump back to college, hello retirement package!
It's not X's and O's, it's Jimmys and Joes.
Our DC also doubles as a magnet for top Jimmys and Joes.
......post this same thread again after we beat Notre Dame. I agree, they should absolutely beat Michigan to keep from embarrassing themselves this way.