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Michigan Notre Dame Predictions

Written September 10, 2008 by Jack Jones

The long rivalry between two non-conference rivals continues in South Bend on Saturday, September 13th at 3:30 PM EST when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish play host to the Michigan Wolverines. Jack Jones covers the football odds on the game, which currently sits at Michigan -1 at Bookmaker, with the total coming in at 35.5.

Michigan’s struggled in their opener against Utah, and lost 25-23 in what soured the debut of head coach Rich Rodriguez for the Wolverine faithful. The team bounced back in week 2 though and was a 16-6 winner over Miami-Ohio. Notre Dame needs to bounce back strong after struggling in 2007 in which they weren’t even competitive. One of those games was against Michigan, in which the Wolverines put a 38-0 romp over the Irish. Last week it didn’t look like things had been turned around, when Notre Dame struggled with San Diego State, but came out on top, 21-13.

The Wolverines haven’t quite got a grasp on the new offense Rodriguez has put into place. Last week the team only picked up 15 first downs on 281 total yards, and more than half of those yards were gained on the two drives that ended with touchdowns. The ground attack provided for 178 of those yards, with 5.1 ypc and two touchdowns. Sam McGuffie was the top contributor with 74 yards on 17 totes. Two quarterbacks saw action, and it seems that both Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan will see time under center until one of them proves worthy to come out on top.

If Michigan’s defense hadn’t played so well last week against Miami-Ohio, the Wolverines probably wouldn’t even be 1-1 coming into this game. The team allowed just a pair of field goals and 47 rushing yards on 32 carries. The fact that Michigan allowed just 8.9 yards per pass completion shows they are improving, since they gave up 305 yards passing to Utah in week 1. The run defense though has been stout in both games, giving up just 36 yards on 43 carries against the Utes. If you want to bet on Michigan the spread is -1.5 at Bookmaker.

With ten minutes to go against San Diego State, the Irish had only put seven points on the board and fans had to be thinking they were in store with another embarrassing loss. Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen then finally showed why he was the no. 1 recruit coming out of high school and threw a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes. Clausen threw for 237 yards and three scores on 21-for-34 passing. Golden Tate was his favorite target with six receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown.

As well as Clausen played, the credit for the win has to go to the defense, who allowed the Aztecs to complete just 29 of their 59 pass attempts for less than 10 yards per catch. Last season, Notre Dame ranked second nationally in pass defense in but that was mostly because teams were content to run the ball on the 95th- ranked run defense. The real key was how the Irish defense held San Diego State scoreless over the last 23 minutes to keep the team in the game. If you think the Irish are going to come out on top then bet the Notre Dame +1.5 odds at Bookmaker and get 20% in cash on your first deposit.

Predictions: Michigan 17, Notre Dame 16

The guys at Rakes of Mallow list five reasons they are taking Notre Dame over Michigan with their college football predictions.

Post your opinion on this game in our football betting forum, or if you want some extra help in beating the spreads this weekend then sign up for the college football picks released by our expert handicappers.

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