Michigan at Notre Dame

The No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish welcome the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, September 22nd in one of the biggest rivalries in college football. Michigan has won three straight and five of the last six in this series, including a 35-31 home victory last year.

Trailing 24-7 heading into the fourth quarter, the Wolverines scored 21 unanswered points to take a 28-24 lead with 1:12 to play. Notre Dame would answer with a touchdown pass from Tommy Rees to Theo Riddick with 30 seconds to go. The Irish left just enough time for the Wolverines as Denard Robinson hit Roy Roundtree on a 16-yard game-winning touchdown with 2 seconds remaining.

We can only hope to see a rematch that is half as thrilling as their 2011 showdown. Oddsmakers have installed a line of Notre Dame -5.5 over Michigan and a total set of 51.5 points.

Notre Dame

The Irish are off to a solid 3-0 start this season as they’re finally living up to expectations. After beating Navy 50-10 in Ireland, they came back home and survived a 20-17 scare from Purdue. Notre Dame easily played its best game of the season last week with a 20-3 road win at Michigan State.

The defense limited the Spartans to just 237 total yards, including 50 on 25 carries on the ground. Everett Golson led the offense with 178 passing yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for a score. Cierre Wood returned from a two-game suspension to rush for 56 yards on 10 carries.

Golson has proven to be a solid quarterback for head coach Brian Kelly. He is completing 58.0 percent of his passes for 611 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, while also rushing for two scores. Theo Riddick has rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns, and Tyler Eifert leads all Notre Dame receivers with eight grabs for 120 yards and a score.

Michigan

After getting overmatched in a 14-41 loss to Alabama in their opener, the Wolverines got back in the win column with a shaky 31-25 home victory over Air Force the following week. There was nothing shaky about their 63-13 home victory over Massachusetts last Saturday as they improved to 2-1 on the season.

Michigan racked up 585 total yards while limiting UMass to 259 yards in the win. Denard Robinson completed 16 of 24 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns with one interception, while also rushing for 106 yards and a score. Fitzgerald Toussaint rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown, and Drew Dileo had three receptions for a team-high 91 yards.

Through three games, Robinson has completed 54.7 percent of his passes for 699 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also rushed for 351 yards and four scores, and there’s no question he’s still in the running for the Heisman Trophy. Devin Gardner, a former quarterback, leads all Michigan receivers with eight catches for 155 yards and three touchdowns.

Betting Trends

The Wolverines are 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 non-conference games, but only 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 road games. The Irish are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 vs. a team with a winning record.

The Under is 8-2 in Wolverines last 10 vs. a team with a winning record. The Under is 21-8-1 in Fighting Irish last 30 non-conference games.

The Wolverines are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 meetings. The Over is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Notre Dame.

About the Author: Jack Jones has been ranked in the Top-5 on the Overall Leaderboard for almost all of 2012 here at Betfirms. He has climbed as high as No. 2 while competing against roughly 80 of the best handicappers in the world. He finished as the No. 6 Ranked Basketball Handicapper from 2011-12, which combines pro and college hoops. His $1,000/game basketball players cashed in $22,310 last season. Head on over to Jack's premium pick page to see what he has in store for tonight!