Saturday Spotlight
(14) Michigan Wolverines at (12) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Michigan– It’s been a very interesting time in Ann Arbor, Michigan since Jim Harbaugh was hired as the team’s head coach in 2015. He’s had some loaded rosters, but the disappointing thing is that this football team has yet to make the playoffs and that amazes me because they always seem to get off to a strong start, then struggle when it matters down the stretch and that’s what stands out to me. When you look at Harbaugh’s track record in big games against Penn State, Michigan State, and Ohio State, he has a total of two wins combined against the Nittany Lions and Spartans and he’s yet to beat the rival Buckeyes in almost four years. I look at this team and I like what they have. Karan Higdon returns as the starting running back, Donovan Peoples-Jones is back after his first full season in the blue and yellow in 2017 and at quarterback, Shea Patterson has transferred over to the Wolverines from the Ole Miss Rebels. I have no issues with them whatsoever and this has been extremely consistent under Jim each year he’s been there and that’s their defense. Although they lost some big-time names from the 2016 team, they regrouped well and this was a much more athletic unit that defensive coordinator Don Brown was working with. With Maurice Hurst gone, this defense will be led by Rashan Gary and I am beyond excited to watch this kid play. A new season begins and it starts in South Bend, Indiana tonight when they kick-off the new season against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Notre Dame: Coming into the 2017 season, Brian Kelly appeared to be on the hot seat because they’ve experienced some down years in South Bend as a program. I can sit here and say last year may have been the best they’ve looked since 2012, the year where they were on top of their game and made it to the national title game only to fall short to the Crimson Tide of Alabama. At one time in 2017, they were ranked third in the first set of rankings for the College Football Playoff and it was well deserved because they were playing consistent football on both ends. Their offense was able to balance things out and control the line of scrimmage and the defense was physical and hard hitting. Their offense ran the ball with Josh Adams, now he’s gone and he was the guy their offense was built around and it’s tough to replace a guy like that. They lost him to the NFL, but they still have Brandon Wimbush and I’m ready to see the next step that this kid is ready to take as his senior year approaches. During the off-season, the Irish lost their defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to Texas A&M and to keep the same scheme defensively, Brian promoted linebackers coach Clark Lea to defensive coordinator which I understand because hiring someone from the outside means they’d want to implement their own system, but this could be a good thing for them staying in-house. There will be some major changes and the first starts with moving Jerry Tillery from the nose tackle position to the three-technique to help attack the opposition’s ground game. and bumping LBs Drue Tranquill and Te’Von Coney down a spot, with Tranquill moving from nickel LB to the weakside LB position and Coney from there to middle LB. This will be a fun game to play in on Saturday night.
Michigan Player To Watch: Tarik Black– Prior to him getting injured, he was having an immediate impact as a freshman and I look for him to continue that as we begin a new season and he’s ready to make up for lost time. He’ll give Patterson a nice, yet reliable weapon on the outside and give them that play-making threat to provide balance.
Notre Dame Player To Watch: Chase Claypool– He became a nice piece for their passing game last year and with Equanimeous St. Brown playing professionally, he’s now the number one receiver. When you see Chase, you notice he’s bigger than your normal possession receiver and when I first noticed him, I thought he was a tight end. He enters his junior year and will be counted on as a veteran to this offense.
Final Analysis: I’ve been beyond fortunate to preview many games in my career from Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady a handful of times, to national championships, Super Bowls and last year, Notre Dame and Miami. This is my first time ever previewing Michigan and Notre Dame. For Notre Dame, I want to see what Wimbush does and is he comfortable more so from the pocket because defenses will expect him to try and use his feet. I’ll also have my eye on the offensive line of the Fighting Irish, especially with facing such a physical and dominating front seven. This is a retooling offense for Brian Kelly and their first test is against one of the best defenses in the country. We always discuss Michigan playing in big games and they start off with a rivalry game and it gets no bigger than this. We will learn a lot more about both these teams after this game tonight and what direction they’ll each be headed in.
Prediction: Michigan 26 Notre Dame 16
