Notre Dame at Michigan Spreads
September 11, 2009
There’s no second-guessing which premier matchup takes the cake in college football’s second week. USC goes to Ohio State to face off against the Buckeyes at the Horseshoe, and there will be plenty of media hype covering these two teams. If you are going to bet this game, do so at BetUS and get a FREE $500 bonus!
Even with that game on the board, we’re going to focus on another important contest, our game of the week pitting Notre Dame against Michigan. Both the Irish and the Wolverines looked great in their respective openers, and now the heat is on for the two prestigious programs to see which can avoid a costly early season loss.
Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis plausibly couldn’t have demanded a better start to the season last week against Nevada. Granted, Nevada couldn’t put upt any points throughout the contest, but it was the consistent and fatal aerial attack that flourished under quarterback Jimmy Clausen. The junior, who is finally living up to the hype, threw for 315 yards on 15-of-18 and four scores. His receivers Michael Floyd and Golden Tate look to be a very dynamic pair, while tight end Kyle Rudolph is physically talented enough to dominate at his position. The running game, though, still appears questionable, and 178 rushing yards against a shaky Wolf Pack defense still doesn’t mean a whole lot. Still, Notre Dame was able to cover as 14.5-point favorites in front of their home faithful.
Michigan, also impressed their fans, but it was the new players that did the most to capture the focus of the Wolverine sponsors. True freshman quarterback Tate Forcier threw three TDs and led the offense for most of the game, not having any errs. Another rising star coming on strong is the speed merchant Denard Robinson, who got some hype in the offseason for leaving his shoes untied when playing. Evidently he doesn’t need to, as a outstanding 43-yard dash for a score displayed he acknowledges precisely how to make things happen when he has the football. Just like Notre Dame, Michigan covered the spread, as a 31-7 victory surpassed the 13 points they were favored at home to Western Michigan.
Now breaking down this game. And the deciding component with two offenses that can both light up the scoreboard should be the defenses and which outfit is more adequate when needed. Personally, and this may be me being biased towards Michigan, the Wolverines have a swifter and fiercer defensive unit. I think they can get more heat on the quarterback, and the secondary seems more probable to slow down the passing game. And that will be the test, as Weis will certainly be determined to move the chains and see how effective Clausen can be in tearing up the back four of Michigan for some action through the air.
Notre Dame comes in as 3.5-point road favorites. However the football odds can be found at 3 if you compare between books. I would think keep steady between 3 and 3.5, and that could be important, as I see a back-and-forth game all day up in Michigan. The dog has covered eight of the past 10 games in this series, but Notre Dame is 7-3 ATS in the past 10 vs. the Wolverines. The Irish’s last win in Ann Arbor was in 2005, and Michigan has won four of the previous five at home over Notre Dame. No total has been published yet, but if I had to make out a guess, I would judge around 44 or 45.