Know Your Enemy: Notre Dame
USA Today has done a pretty nice write up of the strengths and weaknesses of Notre Dame, accounting for Friday's issues. ND has a very tough schedule this year - even their 'patsies' i.e. Rice and Syracuse have a chance to beat them, and then they have road trips to ASU and FSU not to mention the traditional tilts with UM, USC, Stanford. Outside of Purdue/Navy there is not much out there in terms of 'write it down wins". It's the type of schedule where even a solid team could emerge with 5 losses.
Looks like the matchup with UM is actually going to be a strength on strength thing (ND's offense vs UM's defense) and then a weakness on weakness (ND's defense vs UM's offense) so should be a very good preview for the following month or so of UM football.
ND is switching defenses, has a new defensive coach, and is relying on some young - if very talented players on that side of the ball. They might also be relying on some walk ons, Kovacs style. Sounds like outside of WR they return some good talent on offense (their OL was very impressive last year - took some hits but has a lot of depth), and obviously their QB is the type that has given UM issues for 2 decades now. (I see you McNabb)
Jury still out on if these 4 players will actually miss time but if so, it's a stud CB and their leading returning WR... along with a "Will Campbell" type on the DL (5 star who has not really made an impact thus far in his career).
LINK.
August 18th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
Ironically I'm the rabbit's foot for UM at Rose Bowls. Only 2 Michigan Rose Bowls I went to where 89 and 93 - both UM W's.
I plan on going to the ND game this year as well, so we'll see if I remain in fact the curse of UM ball in shit hole South Bend.
August 18th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Notre Dame is not actually in South Bend, Indiana. There is a TINY little enclave called Notre Dame, Indiana that contains ND and Holy Cross. They have their own post office and postal address and everything.
It's a vestige of Notre Dame's long-running tradition of trying to disassociate itself with South Bend and it's... um... different cultural elements (read: they were trying to keep as much separation between themselves and South Bend's largely black, largely lower-middle-class population as possible).
August 18th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
+1: Informative
August 18th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
I always wondered about that when they would put the "Notre Dame, Indiana" graphic on the screen... thanks for the fact!
August 18th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
Traditional tilt with Michigan? I think you have that confused with Purdue.
August 18th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^
Well Purdue and MSU have much more consistent of a history with ND but since 1978 we have played them 31 times. So 31 out of 37 is pretty consistent. Of course that changes go forward.
The only years the rivalry has stopped (6 years) since '78 were 83-84, 95-96, 00-01.
August 18th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
Here's hoping that Golson has a "Tommy Reese" turnover game against us.
August 18th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
Didn't he throw 3 interceptions against us in 2012? Ironically, he was pulled and Tommy Reese finished the game which they won...thanks in most part to Denard throwing 35 interceptions.
August 18th, 2014 at 5:51 PM ^
August 18th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
August 18th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
August 18th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
To hell with Notre Dame!
( I knew it was...)
August 18th, 2014 at 8:24 PM ^
What amazes me is that ND fans have an amazing ability to wear blue and gold blinders no matter what recent history shows. I know every fan base has optimists, but I've heard ND insiders predict a 1 or 2 loss season consistently leading up to the season. The return of Golson will supposedly jump start the offense, but according to my memory it was Tommy Rees who bailed them out in Golson's freshman year repeatedly. Of course, according to the Irish fans "turnover Tommy" couldn't leave fast enough, but I remember Golson doing a whole lot of nothing against a Michigan team trying its best to hand them the game. I really don't know how ND gets to 7 wins let alone 8 with this schedule, but that's just me.