Michigan Tuesday: ND Keys

Michigan has played 3 games now has enough data to know where they need to improve on both sides of the ball.  This weekend Michigan will go into their first "hostile environment" to play a solid Notre Dame team that pretty much blanked the Spartans in East Lansing on Saturday night. 

Since it's ND week and Michigan just came off a 50 point victory, let's look at some Keys to the Game this weekend. 

#1:  ND will try to stop Denard from running.  Brian Kelly and crew will try to employ the Alabama defensive strategy and force Denard to beat them with his arm and not his legs.   The problem is that ND's secondary is very young and has taken two big injury hits with both Lo Wood and now Jamoris Slaughter (Achilles injury MSU game) both out for the year.   Denard will have to throw a ton and target guys like Gardner, Roundtree and Funchess for big plays down the field.

#2: Pressure the QB:  Michigan's Dline and Linebackers need to have their best game to date.   Everett Golson ND's new QB is a dual threat and has been managing the offense nicely in the  first 3 games.  Kelly will want to run the ball and not put a ton pressure on his redshirt freshman QB in a bunch of 3rd and longs.  The Michigan D line has to get some pressure and the LB's have to make more tackles.   Where are Kenny Demens and Craig Roh?  We need some leadership and better play from those two seniors.  Michigan's two leading tacklers are it's 2 Safeties.  We need a LB to make some big plays on Saturday.


#3 Night Game Hype:  Michigan started terribly against Alabama.  Sure, most of it was because the Wolverines were playing the best team in the country.  The other part was Denard was hitting Bama CB's like open wide receivers.  Michigan has to play solid ball from the start and don't give ND easy scoring opportunities.


#4 Better Offensive Line play:  I have to admit, I expected much better play from the O Line this year.  I thought they had a solid group of experienced guys coming back and would be a strength of the team.  I think this "unit" has been one of the most disappointing groups so far this year.   Michigan has struggled to run the ball from the RB position in all 3 games.  I would say their pass blocking has been pretty good but we will need solid run and pass blocking against ND to win.   Their front 7 is pretty good and could be the difference in the game.

#5 Turnovers:  Michigan will need some turnovers in South Bend.  Last year, Michigan's defense improved because they were getting a good number of turnovers.  This year that hasn't been the case and I hope that trend doesn't continue in South Bend.  The Wolverine defense has 0 interceptions through 3 games.

Brian Kelly has witnessed too many Denard "highlight reel" games and this game has been circled for about a year.  ND left East Lansing 3-0 and is feeling like they might be able to do something good this year with this team already ranked 11th in the country.  Michigan has to play their best game to date to win and will need another "Denard ND day" to get this one on the road.   I hope Big Al and Greg Mattison have something good cooked up.