Total 6-3 +3.30 units
Favorites 2-1 +0.90 units
Dogs 3-1 +1.90 units
Totals 1-1 -0.10 units
Exotics 1-2 +0.60 units
I?ll be heading to the Big Mausoleum to take this all in this week and am excited for this game for the first time in a long time. I saw the highlights of the game and, just like everyone else, came away really impressed with both Michigan frosh QB?s. While some have said that their success was caused, in part, by facing a WMU defense with almost no one returning, I learned in 2007 that if your offense sucks, no degree of a bad defense is going to make it look competent, and Forcier looks pretty hard to defend if he can continue to make good decisions quickly. Michigan will have success on the ground to some degree because the Irish are going to try to pressure them and sometimes the blitzing won?t guess right. But, sometimes they will guess right and Michigan will have trouble sustaining drives because there will be negative plays based on the pressure.
When Charlie had everyone believing that he did have a schematic advantage, it was when he had a team just like this ? an experienced QB, strong TE and 3-4 receivers that couldn?t be covered effectively one on one. And while Clausen still may be a douchebag, he is a legit starting QB now and has thrown more TDs than incompletions in the last two games and while those stats are against WAC teams, his precision would be effective against anyone.
Just as I thought that there were some similarities between the 2007 Notre Dame squad and the 2008 Michigan squad, I think that the 2009 Michigan team will be similar to 2008 ND. They have competence, but don?t have the experience to turn field goals into touchdowns, convert the critical 3rd downs and stop the critical 3rd downs from being converted. It should be a hard fought game, but I think the Irish put it away late and Michigan wondering how they lost when their stats look so comparable
Notre Dame -3 2 units
I?m keeping the other picks as well except for Oregon which I?m buying back at +12.
Maybe I?m shell shocked from getting smacked by Pete Carroll teams for so long, but I just can?t get last year?s game out of my head. Pryor came in and USC was having a ton of trouble containing him and Pete Carroll got asked what he was going to do about the freshmen. He looked right at the announcer and said ?We?re not getting our splits right ? we?ll fix that at halftime? and then Pryor was a non-issue in the second half. It?s a program that always comes to play in the spotlight and I?m jealous of what they?ve built there. I?d rather not pay the players, but the results on the field in these games is unparalleled.
Purdue and Indiana are just slow and they?re not all that physical either, but Oregon still has to show me that their line can provide a push
