On Saturday Night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be in Ann Harbor, Michigan to play the Michigan Wolverines in the first night game in the history of the "Big House." The Wolverines and Irish are among the most storied programs in the nation, but in recent history neither have manned the pedestal they once enjoyed as the standard barriers in college football. However, both universities have recently hired new coaches, which have been able to inspire hope in their proud and faithful followers that a new era of excellence is right around the corner.
Brady Hoke is in his first season as the head ball coach of the Wolverines after Coach Rich Rodriguez was fired for not meeting Michigan expectations. In his first game against Western Michigan, the Wolverines seemed to have already made major strides from a year ago. Before the game was called off due to overwhelming rain and massive lightning storms in the 3rd quarter, Hoke's team was in control of the game 34 to 10 although they had not completely dominated their opponent. The Broncos had already gained 279 total yards on offense; only 9 less than Michigan who had a total of 288. What was promising though is the defense made plays when they needed to and kept the Broncos from scoring on several drives. This is something that was missing during the Rodriquez era in which the heralded Michigan defense had become a laughing stock.
On the other sideline, 2nd year Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly will be trying to get his team to bounce back after an unfortunate loss to the South Florida Bulls. The Irish dominated every facet of the game except for one...turnovers. They had 5, which were the direct cause for their loss. The Irish gained 508 yards and only gave up 254. The reason they didn't have more points is because several of their turnovers occurred in the red zone.
The performance of the Irish within the Red Zone visibly frustrated Coach Kelly, and he was caught on camera berating one of his athletes and using curse words. This has somewhat upset the Notre Dame faithful and has been the topic of the media all week. However, the Notre Dame AD, Jack Swarbrick forgave his coach saying "There are times we get frustrated in what we do and that boils over. And we had a little bit of that. We understand that we have to do a better job on the field and on the sidelines, and we're committed to doing that. But I think it needs to be kept in the context of an unusual day and circumstances, and I have every confidence that as we move forward we'll do better both on the field and on the sideline."
Having put this distraction aside, I believe the Wolverines are in for a tough night against Coach Kelly and the Fighting Irish. Michigan was very opportunistic against the FCS Broncos causing 3 turnovers, including returning one 94 yards for a touchdown. However, unlike Notre Dame, they did not dominate. The Irish had the turnover bug and I expect Coach Kelly to have that cleaned up by Saturday night. If they can avoid the turnovers, I think they are in a better place as far as talent and for having a better understanding of their system than are the Maize and Blue.
However, the 3 point underdogs could easily pull the upset over them at home. The Big House is going to be as crazy as it has ever been, and this could play a major factor in the game. Having a ruckus crowd at the first night game like that helps with momentum and disrupting opponents play calling and snapping the football...often, such noise can be credited as the cause of false starts by visiting offenses. If this extraneous factor was not present, I would say the Irish would have no problem.
Notre Dame vs Michigan: Can the Fighting Irish go into the Big House at night and beat the Wolverines?
Larry King
March Madness
Natasha Fame Leslie
Ryan Seacrest
Sanu Dellafiore
John Armstrong
Fred Hanna
Georgia Hester
