I operate under the moniker “Love Without Nagel” for one main reason. A friend of mine created a song with the same title about me and asked to contribute something to his “band’s” web presence. For a year or so, I have been previewing and reviewing NCAA Football and NFL games for his website. In my opinion, I am probably one of the top 50 most dangerous pro bono sports writers on the Internet. Now that’s saying a lot! While I enjoy talking about sports, I find myself also delving into the worlds of pop culture, movie reviews, making fun of friends, etc. I am The Sultan of Similes, The Marauder of the Metaphor, the Overlord of Onomatopoeia, and much more. I am also a quite immature 27 years young. My most popular columns usually deal with my rants or personal attacks made about athletes, with some to little factual evidence. Think of me as Gregg Doyel with talent.
I have a degree in Sports Management, and have worked in the basements of both professional and amateur sports, the Philadelphia Soul (Arena Football) and the Indiana Heat (summer baseball all-stars) respectively. I got out of the sports game until the time it can actually provide me with a liveable wage. So hopefully I will land my dream job in 40 to 50 years. I typically enjoy writing very crude things, mostly because it’s funny.
Anyway, that’s me. Back to the match-up of the two sleeping giants. Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis was quoted in the pre-season as saying, “One thing that I didn’t do a great job in the first two years is I wasn’t as familiar with everything we were doing on defense.”
Enter Corwin Brown from the New York Jets. A guy who was supposed to an attitude to South Bend with his 3-4 defense. Well the attitude through two games this season has been, “hit us in the mouth so we can fold.” Against Georgia Tech, the Domers surrendered 265 yards on the ground and 33 points. Against Penn State, the Golden Boys gave up 164 on the ground. What’s really scary is that the Lions offense was shaky throughout the entire game.
Even worse has been the offense, which has negative-8 rushing yards this season. I understand this stat can be misleading since sacks count as negative rushing yards, but that is your best effort? This is supposed to be a potent offense. Year Three is when Weis’ recruits begin playing. I will no longer listen to Dome Nation wax poetically about recruiting rankings. When do these numbers really mean anything?
The upside for the Irish this year is that Jimmy Clausen signed his letter of intent at the College Football Hall of Fame this past offseason. I presume Beano Cook handed him three Heismans before his first snap and enshrined him in the Hall.
The football gods have no tolerance for this indiscretion, Clausen. The only thing worse than your arrogance is your terrible hair.
At least the pundits assumed that Notre Dame would be “rebuilding” due to the terrible job the evil Tyrone Willingham did. Michigan, on the other hand, ran out of excuses before the first loss even happened.
Ranked a lofty #5 in the preseason, Michigan has truly underwhelmed observers coast to coast. With Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Mario Manningham leading the offense, this was supposed to be a cupcake walk. While Appalachian State should have been a breeze, Oregon presumably would have been Oregon. Start off like gangbusters in the first half, then crumble like PAC 10 patsies they are supposed to be. Only no one told this to Dennis Dixon and Johnathan Stewart. Dixon shredded Michigan with 292 yards passing and 76 on the ground. Stewart averaged a lofty 7.6 yard per carry.
Still, I thought Michigan would have made a game of it in the second half. The Wolverines failed to answer the bell in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Lloyd Carr must have thought he was the University at Buffalo’s defensive coordinator when he said “When you give up big plays with a three-deep zone, you have problems.”
MY GAME PREVIEW
Mike Hart “guaranteed” a win this week for Michigan against the hapless Notre Dame squad. Personally, I think this should be considered more closely. Chad Henne being out hurts Michigan, but I will go out on a limb and say that Michigan’s defense, at home, will be better than Notre Dame’s defense in Ann Arbor. I say this specifically because of Hart. The Irish are giving up a whopping 4.8 yard per carry this season. Is there anything better than pounding the running game with an inexperienced QB at the helm? Hart has been the bright spot for the Wolverines, if such a thing exists this season.
Notre Dame already played against an inexperienced QB this year in Taylor Bennett. You saw how that played out. The 3-4 alignment has not been successful thus far in stopping the run, and I don’t think it will be now. Look for Michigan to pound the run to set up the pass. They will try to bring the linebackers up with the run, then dink and dunk them over the middle until the UM braintrust lets Ryan Mallett turn it loose a couple of times in Manningham’s direction.
The Irish will probably come out with a similar plan, but have no running game to speak of. Additionally, Michigan has been shredded this year by teams that utilize the spread offense. Since Notre Dame typically lines up in a basic pro-style, this will not create the same mismatches that has given the Wolverines fits. I don’t think Weis is ready to turn the keys over to Clausen and his bruised ego just yet. TE John Carlson needs to be Clausen’s security blanket in this game.
Notre Dame has used the spread this year against Georgia Tech, but that was to capitalize on Demetrius Jones’ speed. Clausen is more of the traditional pocket passer that Weis so desperately needs - see Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady, and Brady Quinn for evidence.
PROJECTED STATS
MICHIGAN
QB Ryan Mallet 12/22, 165 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
RB Mike Hart 22 rush, 153 yards, 3 TD
WR Mario Manningham 5 catches, 98 yards 1 TD
NOTRE DAME
QB Jimmy Clausen 28/42, 225, 1 TD, 2 INT
RB Travis Thomas 12 rush, 52 yards
WR John Carlson 4 catches, 65 yards 1 TD
MY PREDICTION
Michigan comes out on fire, realizing they can still win the Big Ten this year. Mike Hart scores early, then often. Notre Dame makes a game of it, but loses in the end. Weis gets the itchy trigger and abandons the run in early quarter 2. Odds are there is at least two tricky, tricky plays utilized by Notre Dame. Hey, at least the Irish are predicted to score their first offensive touchdown of the year!
Post-game: After the game, Lou Holtz still contends Notre Dame can win the BCS championship game due to strength of schedule. Michigan barely covers the line (7.5) for anyone who cares.
Michigan 34
Notre Dame 26
of the week in college football is……………… 0-2 Notre Dame @ 0-2 Michigan. It is not a goal that I personally achieved, a deadline I met, or anything significant that I did. What this is, however, is a nation repaid in full for something that was a long time coming. Like a boss who steals credit for something his underlings did, I personally have nothing to do with these two annoying sports brands in peril, but I certainly will revel in it. We will get back to this in a minute, but first I feel compelled to introduce myself.
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