ND Currently a 4/4.5 Point Favorite for Saturday
Not sure if this is thread worthy, but I heard the line moved from ND -3.5 earlier today to where it is currently.
IMO, this is the perfect situation.
ND lost last week, which I was thrilled about.
But they are still the favored team coming into the Big House and a particularly hostile environment.
The pressure is on ND more than ever now, considering they are still favored, can't afford to go 0-2, don't want to drop 3 in a row to us, and have a coach that may murder them in their sleep if they make a mistake.
Michigan on the other hand has the home-field advantage and can continue to feel like they aren't getting any respect. I'm really hoping that they come out and play fast and loose on Saturday.
I think the game will come down to whoever makes the fewest big mistakes. And hopefully all of these intangibles will result in that team being Michigan.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^
coaching staff will bottle Denard up against ND? It seemed like they were keeping things vanilla against Western and the offense only had 39 snaps, which was a contributing factor to Denard having a low yard total. Also keep in mind the staff wants to spread the wealth around a little bit more this year, and get the RB's more involved . Hopefully Denard won't have to be a one man show with the RB's picking up more of the slack. With that said if the game dictates it and ND is taking away the other players, Borges will most likely utilize Denard more, if that is what it takes to win.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:39 PM ^
I would suspect that Borges didn't show all his cards for the Western game.
September 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
Game openned at ND -1.5. People must be high on ND. I'll be taking Michigan and will be happy to take the 3 extra points
September 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
Game openned at ND -1.5. People must be high on ND. I'll be taking Michigan and will be happy to take the 3 extra points
September 5th, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
Forget about covering; chalk rarely wins this game.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:56 PM ^
I'm not sure about last year, but I know every year before that the team that was favored lost the ND-Michigan game.
September 5th, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^
The players probably don't pay attention to the Vegas lines week to week. Seems like the talking heads on ESPN are being vague on who they think will win. They are more or less pointing out weaknesses for each team.
September 5th, 2011 at 6:55 PM ^
http://detnews.com/article/20110905/SPORTS0201/109050378
Essentially, Vegas saved a small fortune because they didn't have to pay out the Michigan game. Apparently betting was 20-1 on the Michigan side of the ledger.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
Not that it matters, but it's kind of cool that we had the betting public massively behind us.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^
Speaking of pressure being on ND, many Irish fans seem to be looking at this as a make-or-break game for Kelly:
http://ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=football;pid=228712;d=this
September 5th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^
The I only thing sloppier than that line are he words that come out of Lou Holtz's mouth. Easiily the stupidest college analyst alive.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:31 PM ^
September 5th, 2011 at 8:37 PM ^
It will explode on either the second or third Pick 6, or when we go up three touchdowns before the half. Just a guess.
September 5th, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^
which by the way love the pre-game player introductions which were eliminated 3 years ago.
The pressure is all on Brian Kelly and nd. 0 - 1 with very poor execution ... total yards as we ALL know by now means little. I think Hoke and Co. can use the "vegas" disrespect as motivation for the week and preparation for the game Saturday should be stronger on U of M's side than a team that is changing QB's and questions about Kelly's sideline conduct can't help either.
Go Blue!
September 5th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^
Clearly the gamblers are not convinced our defense or kicking game exist. Which is fair, honestly.
Won't break my heart when people who bet on the Irish are crying into their beers!
I think Rees gets hurt, Crist goes in and plays poorly until he's actually sobbing on the sideline while being berated by BK, and we grind ND's third QB into the ground.
September 5th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
I have a hard time believing ND is favored by 4 to 4.5. By design, Denard showed very little against WMU and the defense, although slow in the first quarter, only gave up three points the rest of the game. UM will improve throughout the season as they become more familiar with Hoke and his schemes. But this is Michigan and to think that an ND team that has QB issues and O-line issues is poised to win this game by a touchdown (+3 for home field) is a little unrealistic.
September 5th, 2011 at 10:52 PM ^
The money line...if you dare jinx us.
September 5th, 2011 at 11:07 PM ^
I would have made it ND by 4 (1 TD minus M home advantage) last week, but now I think Michigan should be favored by three (toss-up plus M home advantage). I'm even more surprised the public hasn't bet the line toward Michigan.
Cliche James and MIke Patrick pulled out forty years' worth of "Michigan is playing power ball and therefore is back" cliches, and ND looked terrible. ND's performance even made me change my mind. I can't imagine more of the general public looking at this and changing their minds, too.
The current spread made sense last week, but not this week.
September 6th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^
Bodog has Michigan 3.5 underdogs. Get your money in quick before it changes! You know I did...