IBG: giver er, then you git UM

Her Loyal Sons (who are definitely loyal in their hatred of Michigan) had the IBG questions for this week - thanks, domer.mq!
1) Being that you're a ND blogger, and thus follow a Catholic university's football team religiously and/or are Catholic yourself, you're probably very familiar with the notion that bad things happen to good people. For a concrete example of that, look to every Irish player, coach, and fan who had to suffer through the last 2 seasons. But never forget that bad things can happen to really rotten people too. For a really fun example of that, look to Rich Rod going 3-9 in his big debut season in Ann Arbor. Now let's mess with your heads a bit: Give me one very good reason why great things might happen to very bad people by explaining to me A) How and why Michigan (sucks!) might beat ND this weekend and B) How Michigan (sucks!) will compete for a BCS berth in 2009.

Although Notre Dame shut out Nevada, the Irish allowed 6.3 YPC to the feature back, and while considered a team strength heading into the season, the secondary did not play up to expectations against the Wolfpack receivers. Add into the mix that our tackling was inconsistent at best to fundamentally bad at worst, and it is easy to develop a scenario where a grind it out / dink and dunk UM offense could spring a big play or two and upset the 18^th ranked Irish on Saturday.

Outside of the matchup against ND, Michigan returns its three leaders on defense in rush end Brandon Graham (UM defensive MVP in 2008), Obi Ezeh at LB, and Donovan Warren at CB. Leadership in these three positions can maximize production out of newcomers. Michigan’s O-Line went through trial by fire in 2008, and now four starters return, and the youngest player on the line is a RS Sophomore. The freshman quarterback combination of Forcier and Robinson can both run (3.3 ypc not including Robinson's 60 yard outlier), and perhaps DickRod can figure out how to use the two together a la Tebow and Leak in 2006/2007. Lastly, all UM needs to do to reach the BCS is win the Big Ten, and with OSU struggling against Navy, perhaps this is their year.

2) After week 1, just as in 2008, the leading tacklers for the Notre Dame fighting Irish are both safeties: Kyle McCarthy with 7 and Harrison Smith with 5. DE Kerry Neal isn't even on the stat sheet, Brian Smith, while making 2 very big plays, didn't make a single other tackle, and Ethan Johnson had 1 tackle all game. Convince me that Michigan (sucks!) wont just run a "9 yards and a cloud of dust" offense against ND all freaking game.

UM’s O-Line in 2008 was similar to ND’s line in 2007, so theoretically, we could expect out of Michigan this year what our line produced last year. Also consider that their running quarterbacks each only averaged 3.3 YPC against Western Michigan’s vaunted defense and that Brandon Minor is banged up, and suddenly the scary spread offense doesn’t seem that bad. This game will come down to ND’s defense containing Michigan’s offense; without the benefit of the big play, I feel that we will keep the skunkbears from scoring more than we will.

ND must contain Robinson on Saturday
3) We've now got the concrete data of 1 game to bat around. Aside from any answers involving T'eo, tell me what position changes/depth chart engineering you hope to see the staff at least tinker with during the Michigan (sucks!) game.

I was curious about BGS’s tracking of the offensive line rotation and the use of our tight ends not named Kyle Rudolph. Rotating three linemen into the game should keep legs fresh and injuries to a minimum while using multiple TE sets will allow Weis to get back to his favorite formations from 2005/2006, granting ND full access to the sweet spots of the playbook. More than anything, I hope the coaching staff keeps this up.

How could I not include this picture?

4) The state of Michigan has decided that they've ripped off the Rudy soundtrack long enough and need a new advertising scheme to attract people to their state and support tourism. "Pure Michigan (sucks!)" is so two-thousand-and-late. Give me the new hotness. Give me your best new tourism slogans for Michigan (sucks!).

Michigan… Better than Detroit

5) Navy took tOSU down to the wire, Washington actually looked like a team that's coached to play football games, WSU put up some fight. After Week 1, do you now feel like the Irish '09 schedule is tougher or easier than you felt heading into last week? Why?

I really feel that the schedule is about the same. The majority of our opponents beat up on 1-AA patsy teams just like every other season, and teams like LSU and OSU, who are used to beating up on 1-AA teams to open the season, showed signs of struggle against more formidable opponents. I told my OSU friends all summer that they would understand that playing the Academies every year is harder than everyone thinks; Navy’s discipline (except for one unfortunate 2 point conversion) and hard work gave the Buckeyes more than they expected, and as a result, OSU was playing on its heels. The benefit that the Irish get when facing all three of these opponents is that Navy, Wash, and WSU do not have the entire offseason to prepare for Notre Dame, and as long as the Irish don’t get caught looking ahead, we should be able to pull Ws in all three games.