If it gon’ rain in South Bend, who gon’ win?
Was looking at the forecast for the game on Saturday... looks like it could be a wet opener. 60% and scattered t-storms.
If this game is to be played in those conditions, who has the edge? I guess we’ll actually get to see if Harbaugh has evolved and learned his lessons from last year (Michigan State).
August 28th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
If they’re smart, the better team will be practicing with “wet balls.”
August 28th, 2018 at 10:21 PM ^
The projection on the NWS site shows a 30%-40% chance of rain around game time right now, although as always with forecasts in and around the Great Lakes, you'll want to check it tomorrow and then sporadically until kickoff. That said, I am not worried that weather will interfere with my prediction.
August 28th, 2018 at 10:24 PM ^
Good night for a weather talk. Here in Duluth we've had a steady drizzle all evening, occasionally resolving into actual rain. It's chilly--down to 54 on the hill. The sunset is aggressively moving earlier and earlier.
It feels like Autumn.
It feels like football.
August 28th, 2018 at 11:36 PM ^
If it’s 54 on the hill it must be 35 in Superior.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:28 AM ^
Actually, for the first time in months, the temperature was warmer close to the water. Temp went up a degree as I plunged downhill to my house.
The Lake is relatively warm right now.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:55 AM ^
well up north we had epic rains and even a tornado last night. there was a 200+' pond/lake forming between the house and the barn last night. haven't been out back to see if the stream overflowed its banks. had planted 2 small fields back there this weekend and that might all be for naught now.
August 28th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
Snowed a lil bit in the mountains near Bozeman, MT last night. Yup fall is right around the corner.
August 29th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
Envy it was still like 100 here yesterday. Lovely rain took down to the 70's today.
August 28th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
If it does rain, that tends to equalize things. Since I unfortunately, sadly, painfully predict an ND win, that means the rain helps us by equalizing things.
But I'd say there are points in each team's favor.
1) Rain, especially a lightning delay, may take their crowd out of it. That'd be huge for us.
2) Rain favors a running game. If Williams is back and Wimbush is better at running anyway, taking away the passing game could hurt their offense less than it hurts ours. On the other hand, we all saw our passing game last year, so... who knows.
3) Rain makes the kicking game harder, kicks are more likely to suck, and coaches are more likely to avoid kicking. Since our kicking game is our biggest concern according to umbig11, weather essentially eliminating the kicking game helps us more. Or it makes us much more likely to make more mistakes. Either way, I guess, but I'm inclined to think it helps us by eliminating their advantage.
4) Rain equalizes, making their offense closer to our defense. The disparity between those two units is probably the best thing we have going for us, so diminishing it hurts us.
August 28th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
So which cup did he poison?
August 28th, 2018 at 10:58 PM ^
they were both poisoned
i spent the last 30 years developing an immunity to NBC ND broadcasts
August 28th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
I imagine rain would hurt us more. Patterson (allegedly) is a solid passer with a great deep ball, so that element of our offense will be removed by a storm. Based on ND practice reports and last year's season, Wimbush is an awful passer to begin with, so their offense doesn't undergo quite as dramatic of a change in a storm IMO.
August 28th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
When you go to South Bend, you're going up against the voodoo and the refs. I really don't want to go against the rain as well.
And to the person who asked earlier, I only remember wins against meh opponents in rainstorms (home and away) like 2012 Illinois, 1998 Northwestern and Iowa, 2006 CMU, 2011 Western.
Against hated rivals? All I remember is last year's MSU game and the Sam McGuffe game against ND under RichRod. Also the game where Rocket Ismail returned those two kickoffs against us at the big house. Ugh.
No rain, please.
August 29th, 2018 at 12:28 AM ^
Get yer weather blame game started!
August 29th, 2018 at 2:20 AM ^
punts are not bad with our D. unfortunately, JH didn't realize this last year against msu.
August 29th, 2018 at 2:38 AM ^
Guy who has the accuracy of JOK in Wimbush in a thunderstorm?
Gonna be good for Michigan, tho his legs in that weather scare me.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:28 AM ^
Rain would impact both teams equally IMO. However, many more Irish fans will be sitting in it and be miserable.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
And there we have it; the forecast has mildly changed 3 times this morning.
Currently, there’s a 20% chance of rain, mostly cloudy, warm, humid, and with a steady breeze of 10mph, at kick-off.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
August 29th, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
If it rains like it did against MSU last year we win 2-0. Their defense stops our o-line from getting any run support, and our defense pushes them back for a -250 yard rushing performance.
Just kidding, it really all comes down to which DC has the better mustache, and we all know who comes out ahead in that race. #BrownTownBaby
August 29th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Guys and girls, I think we're in trouble. Brian Kelly is well-known for his ability to adjust his offense to rainy conditions.