Oh Lordy, this game is going to be like going to the dentist in Moldova. Painful, painful, painful.

The offensive fireworks will rival that of a handful of wet sparklers. However, UM`s defense will be the best unit on the field, coupled with ND`s cupcake toughness, and should be enough to secure the victory for Rich Rod`s good ol` boys.

UM 20 ND 13

I AGREE WITH BUKDOW, AS USUAL.

But UM could still lose and I wouldn't be surprised.

Even I will have difficulty watching this game.

And yet, I will, holding my breath on every play screaming to the point that my daughter fears for my sanity.

I bet we're even favored

CRIPPLE FIGHT!
http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/5fffa883d077_CA7C/cripplefight_thumb.png

Why the hell is bukdow starting all these OGT's?

Because they don't let him do it at Spartan Tailgate.

Actually, I'm happy with it. His composure has been much improved since he started. He actually either ignores or accepts input from Sam Walton's followers without flying off into an unintelligible rant. (did I just curse it like a Tigers game?)

bukdow is solid, stop hating.

Michigan, Notre Dame prepare for potential rain
by John Heuser | The Ann Arbor News
Thursday September 11, 2008, 6:11 AM

The rivalry football game between Notre Dame and the University of Michigan may feature an added dimension: Nasty weather.

As of Wednesday night, the forecast for South Bend on Saturday called for high winds and scattered thunderstorms. That would be quite a departure from the clear skies the Wolverines (1-1) played under during their first two games.

"I wouldn't have minded if we had a wet day this week, but I don't think we're going to get one for practice," Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Wednesday.

To compensate for a lack of precipitation, the Wolverines will continue their Thursday habit of using water-soaked footballs during practice, to get a feel for handling a rain-slicked ball. What Michigan can't replicate so easily are the playing conditions of a sopping Notre Dame Stadium grass field.

Typically grown long - the better to slow speedy opponents - the turf could deteriorate into muck quickly if the anticipated wet weather - which is expected to begin Friday - materializes.

"It's different when it's constant rain," Rodriguez said. "There's nothing you can do about it, you can't control it, but we'll work with it and prepare for it for Saturday."

It's still Threet
Redshirt freshman Steven Threet, who started last weekend against Miami (Ohio), will be the starter Saturday, Rodriguez confirmed. But both Threet and redshirt sophomore Nick Sheridan have been getting reps with the first team in practice.

Wearing green
Several key offensive players wore green jerseys (signifying they were noncontact players) during Wednesday's practice. They included running back Michael Shaw, offensive tackle Stephen Schilling and wide receivers Greg Mathews and Junior Hemingway.

Mathews was the only one of the group to miss the last game, and he still had his injured right ankle heavily taped. Rodriguez said he expects Mathews - and the others - to play, however.

Is Weis right?
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said this week his team is preparing to see junior running back Carlos Brown play some quarterback for the Wolverines. Asked if Weis was on to something, Rodriguez was noncommittal.

"I don't know. He hasn't played any yet," Rodriguez said of Brown. "He played one snap (in the Utah game) and got hurt ... He has had very limited practice time. That's been our holdup with him."

Brown, a high school quarterback in Georgia, has rushed for 427 career yards at Michigan.


could be a 6-3 type of game.................and we had better see some Brown at QB

This is going to be gross...

"The Toilet Bowl"

Notre Dame Vs. Michigan

You would think rain would help UM. So far, defensively, they have killed the run. The pass has hurt them early, especially giving up long plays on 3rd down.
Meanwhile, offensively they have been more effective running the ball than they have throwing the ball. Their success throwing has been on very short passes. Sounds like it sets up as well as possible for their current offense.
Notre Dame was decent defensively against the run in their first game, but offensively the pass was a slightly better option for them.

The more I think about this game, the more I see Michigan winning. There is no way in fuck ND could've even hung around with Utah, and we only lost by 2, I know it's not a fair way to measure how good you are, but San Diego State is just downright brutal...and if it weren't for turning the ball over 1 yd from the end zone, SDSU would've won easily...

I can see it being close, but I think this is a very winnable game for Blue...

I agree with Wil, Michigan's defense will be the best unit on the field BY FAR, and will dominate the game. As if the offense wasn't going to be ugly enough, we now have the rain/mud element. UM wins maybe the ugliest game of all time. 10-6.

ESPN described this as the two most overrated teams in college football this year.

WTF? Name one person that actually thinks either of these teams are good. You can't overrate things when you know they blow.

UM has not been overrated nationally, unless persistent 6-6 predictions are actually beyond what the team could do.
ND, I've heard people saying last year was a huge learning experience and they'll win 7 to 9 games. That looks like it is overrated.

4 minutes in, and this game might be over.

Tell the return men to CATCH THE DAMN BALL!!!!!

21-0. Ballgame.

I wonder if Notre Dame even prepared for San Diego State, or if they put all of their efforts into Michigan.

I didn't know part of Rodriguez's rebuilding plan was to make everyone on the team to forget how to play football.

I'll be the first to say it - Les Miles was the better choice.

Btw, I turned the game off when Golden Taint dragged his golden taint all over Morgan Trent's face.

Let me know if Michigan loses by 50.

I AGREE WITH BUKDOW, AS USUAL.

But UM could still lose and I wouldn't be surprised.

Looks like bukdow and I might be wrong on this one.

Turnovers. Kill.

Man, turnovers were so killer here. In spite of the worst possible start of all time (giving them 14 gift points, being murdered by a bad call on a would-be TD, and a couple phantom pass interference calls on D. Warren), UM had all the momentum and looked like an 11 point lead was essentially a 1 point lead. They LOOKED like a team that could come back and turn the game into a win with a decided margin.
Then they fumbled EVERYTHING and, credit ND, the Irish gathered up the majority of the fumbles and played extremely opportunistic.

I still saw enough today to believe that if the team can figure what the fuck special teams means for return men and if they can keep Sheridan off the field, they have a chance next week. I'm so not scared of Wisconsin. Penn State and Ohio State are the only teams that worry me. I think those can still be losses of 20+ points. Every other game I think we can play with or top the opponent. Even this game, our offense outmoved them by 120 some yards. But average starting field position in the first half was about the same thing for both teams, MICHIGAN's 25 yard line. Ouch. Throw 6 turnovers into any game and it's horrible.

Despite the turnovers, the offense probably played it's best game of the season. Weather definitely played some factor into the fumbles, and I think it's clear Threet should be the only guy taking snaps from now on...

.500 may be a reach...

Without 6 turnovers I think we win this. They moved the ball pretty well (McGuffie is the man). ND got amazing field position off those TOs. They had a couple good drives, but that is it. Michigan isn't a good football team, but I still think they are improving.

This season is all about getting the youngins some playing time and experience.

Forget the W/L record.

This season is all about getting the youngins some playing time and experience.

Forget the W/L record.
This aint the lions.

Also I still hate the Rich Rodridguez era. Theres too much of a chance for mistakes with all those fakes and tricks. And when he gets the qb he wants throws will look more like Sheridan and less like threets. Threets is a qb first, he reads the defense well and makes great throws. Pat White like qb's wont survive in the Big Ten.

I only saw a little bit of the game since I was at a wedding. Anyways, if michigan gets to 6-6, they'll be fortunate. The offense looked better, but i think nd's defense probably sucks. i suppose that is the downside of playing freshmen in a new system. i don't think it is fair to criticize rodriguez this year. the players don't really fit and rodriguez never had the recruiting classes at wvu that he's having at mich. he'll be ok. he just doesn't have the horses and needs the trickery imo. anyways we'll see. i think we're looking at blowout losses to wisc, psu, and osu, meaning they would have to really improve to get a guaranteed bowl spot (7wins). probably some crappy bowl would invite them at 6-6. thus, this is a big loss to a mediocre team.

Speaking hypothetically, I think Threet, since he's got some mobility, outstanding size, and a rocket arm, that if Lloyd Carr was here, Threet would break all of Henne's passing records...

But if Carr was here, Mallett would be too, and thus Threet wouldn't have gotten a chance...

Makes you wonder why he transfered here, if he went anywhere with a pro-style offense, he'd play on Sundays a few years from now...

He still will play on sunday imo. He reminds me cutler but with far better decision making skill(i still think cutler is a bad decision maker when he's forced to make them). He's actually making Rich's offense better than it is. As shown by its look w/o him.

He still will play on sunday imo. He reminds me cutler but with far better decision making skill(i still think cutler is a bad decision maker when he's forced to make them). He's actually making Rich's offense better than it is. As shown by its look w/o him.

Ok, wow. Is everyone forgetting how BAD Threet looked until Saturday? He improved a lot because he stopped overthrowing guys who were 15 yards downfield. We could have been 2-0 EASILY coming into this game had Threet played like he did against ND, but so far we've only see him be that good in one game. Meanwhile, you cannot condemn RR's offense based on how bad it looks when a WALK-ON is running it. Offenses all over the country look bad when run by a midget QB walk-on with zero arm strength.

Finally, people seem to simply assume Beaver and Forcier have the same exact arm as Pat White. That would be a bad assumption. By all accounts both are much better passers, with similar rushing ability. Remember that according to Rivals, White was a 3 star and the 55th best ATHLETE coming out of HS. There's a big difference between someone out of the top 50 among athletes and 2 guys in the top 10 among dual-threat QB's.

even in his bad game you could tell he had an arm. At least I could. and they looked worse w/o him. However you slice it anything U of M does great this year will be factored by Threets and the undersized McGuffie. Tear Threets down if you want, but he can throw the ball and is probably the only guy on the roster who can.


Beaver and Forcier? Dont know what to expect from them yet, so not really a discussion i care to have until they are on the field.

Ugh.

At least we have Barwis and adidas.

and two indoor practice facilities...

Ok, wow. Is everyone forgetting how BAD Threet looked until Saturday? He improved a lot because he stopped overthrowing guys who were 15 yards downfield. We could have been 2-0 EASILY coming into this game had Threet played like he did against ND, but so far we've only see him be that good in one game. Meanwhile, you cannot condemn RR's offense based on how bad it looks when a WALK-ON is running it. Offenses all over the country look bad when run by a midget QB walk-on with zero arm strength.

Finally, people seem to simply assume Beaver and Forcier have the same exact arm as Pat White. That would be a bad assumption. By all accounts both are much better passers, with similar rushing ability. Remember that according to Rivals, White was a 3 star and the 55th best ATHLETE coming out of HS. There's a big difference between someone out of the top 50 among athletes and 2 guys in the top 10 among dual-threat QB's.
I don`t believe Threet is not a walk-on. And, if I remember correctly, was a 4-star recruit.

I'm failing to see why everyone think Threet can't win in this system. he's shown enough mobility to make the defense honest. You won't be running options all the time with him, but is that what we really want anyway? You want a balanced offense that keeps them on their heels, not a crowded box because the QB has no arm.

The biggest thing I saw in this game, or rather didn't see, was the DL. The first play I think I saw in the backfield was in the 4th quarter. Maybe there were others, but I don't remember any runs for losses, sacks, pressure. Our DL was supposed to be the strength and they got handled in that game. Our DB's had some penalties and blown coverages, but they were on their own most of the time.

It's not that I don't think Threet can't win in this system, I just think Rich Rod would prefer somebody else...

I thought Threet played his strongest game on Saturday, and he's impressed me, he doesn't take sacks, he can take a hit, and he appears to have all the confidence in the world...

But with Forcier enrolling in January (at least thats what I heard on scout.com), I think RR's system is more cut out for him.

Of course if Threet keeps improving, RR will have no choice but to have him start '09.

The walk-on I was referring to was Sheridan. The statement was made that the offense is bad when Threet isn't in the game. Yes, it is, because SHERIDAN is playing when Threet isn't. (unless it's Carlos Brown and an obvious run play - the only way that will ever surprise people is if Carlos actually throws the ball on occasion).
I'm not trying to tear Threet down. He was bad until the ND game. He was only completing 40% of his passes, due mostly to the fact that while he has arm strength, he had no touch on the ball and was consistently overthrowing guys. He improved dramatically in this past game and was, indeed, a 4 star recruit. I'm just going to wait and see him play well in more than one game before I anoint him as much as some others are.