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 Michigan vs. Notre Dame- Line ND –6 ½ Kick-Off 3:30 pm (EDT) TV (NBC)
Entering the third week of the 2006 football season, players on the No.2 Ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team are probably wondering when they will catch a break in the schedule. One thing is for sure, it will not be Saturday as the 11th ranked University of Michigan Wolverines invade South Bend for a 3:30 pm (EDT) Kick-Off at Notre Dame Stadium in front of a national audience on NBC. Notre Dame (2-0) opened its season (Sept 2) on the road at Georgia Tech and escaped Atlanta with a narrow 14-10 victory. Last week the Irish hosted Penn State and came away with a convincing 41-17 win. Michigan enters the game at 2-0 but hasn’t faced the competition the Irish have. Michigan opened its 2006 campaign with Vanderbilt (Sept.2). In that game the Wolverines struggled early but came away with a 27-7 win. Central Michigan battled hard at Ann Arbor in week two but succumbed 41-17. In both games, Michigan failed to cover the line giving 24 to Vanderbilt and 28 to Central Michigan.
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Michigan and Notre Dame meet for the 34th time on Saturday. The Wolverines hold a slight 18-14-1 advantage in the all-time series and are one of only 10 teams that have a winning percentage against the Irish. The series is knotted 7-7-1 in South Bend. In close games decided by three or fewer points, Notre Dame leads by a 4-2-1 margin. Michigan will look to end a three-game losing streak in South Bend and grab the edge in the all-time series at Notre Dame. The Wolverines are looking to end a six-game losing streak in road openers when they travel to Notre Dame Stadium. Michigan has compiled a 4-7 record under head coach Lloyd Carr in road openers and has lost its last six road-opening contests by eight points or less. Leading their teams, are Heisman Trophy hopefuls Brady Quinn (Notre Dame) and Chad Henne (Michigan). In 2005 Quinn threw the ball 450 times for 3919 yards. Quinn will be looking for his top receiver Senior Jeff Samardzija who caught passes for 1249 yards. Junior Running Back Darius Walker will be leading the Irish rushing attack. In 2005 Walker carried the ball 253 times for 1274 yards. Senior Chad Henne enters the Notre Dame game after tossing his 50th career touchdown pass in the season opener against Vanderbilt. Henne reached the milestone with a 27-yard TD strike to Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter. Henne has tossed at least one touchdown pass in 24 of his 26 career games.
Fifth-year senior Steve Breaston leads the receiving core for the Wolverines with six receptions for 93 yards. Junior Running Back Mike Hart will be leading the Wolverine’s ground game. Hart leads the running corps with 432 career carries for 2117 yards and 13 TD. Hart will be looking to exceed 100 yards for the third time in 2006. Michigan is 11-1 when Hart carries for more than 100 yards in a game. This game features the two winnings programs in Division 1-A football. With a pair of victories by both teams in 2006, Michigan continues to maintain its lead in the all-time Division 1-A football annals for winning percentage. The Wolverines and Irish rank 1-2 in the NCAA in all-time victories, winning percentage, television appearances and all-time final composite AP poll rankings. The Wolverines have compiled an 851-280-36 record during their 127 seasons for football action. Notre Dame is 813-266-42 in its history. Michigan passed Notre Dame during the 2004 season for the best winning percentage in college football history. Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr wants his players to keep their focus on the game and not all the hype that comes along with it. “What I’m trying to focus on is this day, this week,” Carr said during his weekly meeting with the media. “In a game like this, of the fun things about it is all the hype; all the attention. It’ll be non-stop.” That’s part of the fun of it but it’s also a part that the players have to deal with. You want to go in with a positive frame of mind and focus on just the things that you need to do as a player or coach.” Charlie Weis wants his players to keep an even keel. “Its very easy to keep the players on an even keel when you’ve got Michigan coming in. It’s very easy because Michigan is good. We know they’re 2-0. We know they want us. We know all those things.” Writers Comment- Notre Dame is favored by a 6 ½ point chalk. History tells me to take Michigan and the points. The Wolverines played two easy opponents and seemed to be going through the motions in both games. Keep your eye on what the public does. If this line moves to –7 or beyond by all means jump on the Wolverines. Perhaps playing it at 6 ½ and buying a half point would also be a good idea.
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