Game Prediction: Skunk Bear Killas

Notre Dame Fightin' Irish v. Michigan Skunk Bears

Saturday, Sep. 7, 8:00 p.m. ET, Ann Arbor, MI

Key Matchup:  Fightin' Irish DE Stephon Tuitt v. Skunk Bear OT Taylor Lewan - If Tuitt is gonna break Tuck's single season sack record, he'll have to pick up the pace starting against an elusive QB in Devin Gardner.  His ability to do so will depend on his game-long battle against Lewan. If Tuitt can beat Lewan to the outside, he'll be able to pressure Gardner into making mistakes (hopefully much like his predecessor Denard did last year) while also containing him. If Tuitt can't do it to it, then Notre Dame might be in trouble.

Fightin' Irish Offense v. Skunk Bear Defense: Tommy 2.0 must continue to rise.  I believe in the kid, and you should too. Over 110,000 retina-scarring maize t-shirts won't phase him, and neither will the Skunk Bears' swiss-cheese secondary. As long as his offensive line gives him enough time against a defensive front that has already exhibited its ability to get into the backfield (albeit against the less-than-mighty Chippewas of Central Mich.), he should be able to spread the ball around with ease.  The Skunk Bears won't be able to key in on just one receiving threat, which means either Jones, Daniels, or Niklas will be open on every single play.  All Tommy Gun needs to do is sling the rock their way.

Fightin' Irish Defense v. Skunk Bear Offense:  The Fightin' Irish front seven must contain Gardner much better than they contained the Temple QB whose name is too irrelevant to look up right now (though he did show toughness after getting knocked to the turf quite often last Saturday).  Gardner is no Denard Robinson.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing.  He won't pull off miracle moves in a phone-booth like Denard could, but he will probably turn the ball over less as well (It's pretty hard to turn it over as many times as Denard did last year).  A key to the game will be whether the Fightin' Irish can apply enough pressure to fluster him while also maintaining their contain.  If they do, expect multiple turnovers (probably not six like last year, but hopefully more than two).

Final Outcome:  Tommy Gun slings it, Gardner throws a couple picks, Tuitt gets another sack, ESPN analysts insert their feet into their mouths, and Irish eyes go on smiling for another week.

Fightin' Irish: 27

Skunk Bears: 20

Throwback Thursday: Skunkbear Edition

Irish Creed throws it back to the days of yore every Thursday 

by giving you a sample from Daniel Collins' behind-the-scenes book 

"Life as the Notre Dame Leprechaun" 

This week's throwback comes from Chapter 5, in which Collins recalls his first visit to that filthy rotten skunkbear nest they call Ann Arbor:

... I paced back and forth behind Stepan Center as dusk set in Thursday night, hoping at least a couple hundred students would choose our rally over pregaming Club Fever.  They didn’t exactly pack the house, but the thousand or so diehards who did come made up for their classmates’ lack of spirit with war paint, Irish flags, and enough toilet paper to blanket the whole state of Indiana...

... After jumping on stage I held up an old #21 Desmond Howard Michigan jersey.  With the whole crowd booing and throwing toilet paper at me I slowly tore it in half, tossing the tattered pieces to the angry mob below...

... Brian Smith didn’t want to give up the mic.  That was okay.  The crowd loved the story he told about how his dad, a fullback for the Fighting Irish back in the early 1980s, refused to buy him any Skunkbear swag as a kid.  For some reason Brian happened to like their colors when he was young, but his dad sat him down to tell him that no son of his would ever wear a Michigan jersey.  His ten-minute epic tale probably would’ve gone on much longer if it weren’t for the frenzied chant he incited.  With no adults around to scold them, the students felt free enough to belt out “Muck ‘em up! Muck ‘em up! Michigan Sucks!” Except they didn’t say “muck.”

... After a swift three-hour drive we pulled up to a sprawling campus dotted with horrid pee-yellow t-shirts. ... A multitude of middle fingers pointed our way as our police escort brought us up to the Big House.  They only pumped us up even more.  The spirit leftover from our sendoff rally juxtaposed against so much hatred concentrated in one place would surely help our boys in blue and gold flatten the Skunkbears like road kill.

... Every time someone yelled “Go Blue!” in my face I quickly added “…and Gold!”  The usual response I got consisted of nothing more than a blank stare.  To every “Where’s your pot of gold?” or “Where’d you hide your lucky charms?” I responded with “They’re safe back home in South Bend.  Where’d you leave your dignity?”  The puzzled looks continued.  Whenever anyone did anything especially obscene I just blew kisses back at them.  That did the trick by making them all the more irate.  I continued blowing kisses until kickoff.

Signed and Personalized Books available now www.LeprechaunBook.com

Irish Blogger Gathering: Michigan Weak

Much respect to HLS for the questions and especially the sweet title. Let's go!

1) You’ve now seen Notre Dame Football: The Kelly Edition, Volume 1, Episode 1. Was it everything you thought it would be? Were characters missing from this episode that you were expecting to see featured? Did it strike you as a carbon-copy of Kelly’s Cincinnati teams, or is there something discernible between the 2 programs beyond the colors of the uniforms?

tendomer: I expected the offense to be a little more crisp, especially during the first two series, but the team's improved discipline on defense and special teams met my expectations. It certainly wasn't a carbon copy of UC last year, the only Bearcats team I can really reference. But the 58-42 run-pass preference in Crist's first start distinguished Kelly's Irish from even his 2007 team that used an almost perfect balance of 50.7% run.

2) Pick one positive play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday that you feel serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. Extra points if you can stretch the metaphor to fit Kelly’s entire tenure at Notre Dame.

tendomer: Armando Allen's 22-yard shifty TD run near the end of the first quarter was a play he'd hoped to make the last three years. He always almost made it past third-level defenders. Now he did. Just as the play indicated improved WR blocking, Armando's glove-like fit in the spread offense is a good harbinger for ND's ability to produce points in the run game.

3) Pick another play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday again, but this time, make it a negative play. Tell us how that play serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. And again, bonus points for stretching it over Kelly’s tenure.

tendomer: Dayne Crist's second overthrow of Michael Floyd in the northwest corner of the north endzone is worrisome especially after the first chance minutes before. Credit to Crist for managing the game and erring on the side of the caution on throws like this. However, Crist should know that if he can keep the ball in play, a receiver of Floyd's caliber will come down with it every time, even in double coverage against a young Purdue secondary.

4) You know us, we’re stat geeks. Give us a stat that we should be watching this season that will A) Tell us something enlightening about the 2010 Irish and/or B) Tell us something enlightening about the average Top-5 teams at the end of the 2010 season.

tendomer: The defense's 3.2 YPC quantifies improvement, although bigger tests loom, beginning with Denard Robinson. Diaco's troops must finish the season near this mark to sniff anywhere near the Alabamas of the world, the true 'B.I.A.' defensively.

5) Notre Dame is currently a 4 point favorite in the coming Michigan game. You get 3 points for being at home. The AP poll actually ranks Michigan higher than ND. ND is 1-4-1 in the last 6 games with Michigan in which the Irish were favored and 9 and 6 in the last 15 games in which Michigan was favored. Does any of this worry you? Why or why not?

TheNDleprechaun: I don't usually like going into games as a fan of the team that is favored by a slim margin (maybe that has something to do with being from Buffalo...) Even so, if I was a betting man I would surely take the Irish to cover the spread as 4 point favorites. Past trends are virtually meaningless, especially now that Kelly has taken over and will definitely have his team up for this one. If I remember correctly, the Skunkbears didn't particularily enjoy their last visit to Notre Dame Stadium (6 turnovers in 2008). While I don't think it will be quite as disastrous for them this time around, the green-clad crowd will have the house that Rock built rockin' when the Fightin' Irish run away with this one.

6) Last week, Frank at UHND put the Gathering on the spot with our predictions for the season. After week 1, are there any of those predictions that you’d like to alter? Any upon which you’d double down?

TheNDleprechaun: Well... I predicted a 13-0 National Championship season, and so far I haven't been proven wrong. Again, if I was a betting man I would have to DOUBLE DOWN! C'MON LUCK OF THE IRISH!

7) Describe in no fewer than 30 words why you hate Michigan.

TheNDleprechaun: The Skunkbears should be thought of metaphorically as a bratty kid who teaches younger kids a game only so he can beat them at it over and over. When those younger kids start getting stronger and more confident, they eventually realize they can beat him at his own game. Once this happens, he runs away crying and vows to never play them again... hate is a strong word... but c'mon... no one likes that kid...

It’s Skunkbear season at Notre Dame.

In the second week of our 2010 campaign, our historical rivals enemies, the Skunkbears of Michigan, will venture to Notre Dame Staidum to continue a series that began 123 years ago. While our football program can boast a history of just as many years that includes 838 wins and a .732 winning percentage (#3 and #2 all-time in college football), Michigan is the only program that surpasses ours in both categories (#1 all-time in both). What makes our series against the Skunkbears even more compelling is the fact that we owe them all of our success on the gridiron and almost all of our accomplishments as a University. They brought the game of football to Notre Dame in 1887, thinking nothing at the time of the opportunity they had just presented to our small, independent, working-class Catholic school. Little did they know that our team, the very team they brought into being, would eventually rise to become the most decorated program in the history of college football. Little did they know that football would put us on the map as the nation's preeminent Catholic university.

After exploiting our inexperience during the first eight games they played against us, the Skunkbears slowly recognized that we were beginning to gain strength and grow beyond their control. In true Skunkbear fashion, they accordingly made several attempts to pull the plug on Notre Dame football. They blacklisted us in order to prevent us from joining a conference (thanks for our independence and NBC contract, by the way). They refused to play us, hoping we would soon fade away and they could have their game back.

As Providence would have it, though, events overseas would change the face of the world, America, and college football forever. The Great Famine in Ireland sent millions of Fighting Irishmen to our shores as they sought new opportunities in a new world. For those Irish Catholics who ventured to the Midwest, Notre Dame symbolized the pinnacle of the American Dream.

For countless families fighting to survive and prosper in their new “home,” where signs boldly stating “No Irish Need Apply” frequented storefronts in every city, Our Lady atop the Golden Dome truly was the golden standard. The mentality of these Fighting Irishmen, along with subsequent waves of hard-working immigrants from around the globe, brought a mentality to Notre Dame that would define us as a university. As the Skunkbears sat idly by, unwilling to take up the challenge and face Notre Dame under the excuse of a “boycott,” we used that mentality to fight our way to the top of the college football world.

Once we had proven ourselves as the true kings of college football, the Skunkbears had no choice but to get over their jealousy and renew the series that began so many years before. No love was lost, however, and plenty fierce battles between the two juggernaut programs have been recorded in the annals of sports history.

In the most recent chapter, the Skunkbears narrowly escaped our wrath during a last-second comeback at the Big House. This year, a new chapter will be written...

It is up to us, the coaches, players, students, alumni, and fans, to recognize the significance of the game at hand and do our part to ensure this latest chapter is written properly. We must be prepared to uphold our tradition of excellence, and we must show no mercy to the program that has hated us for so long.

As the Skunkbears step timidly onto the hallowed ground inside Notre Dame Stadium this Saturday, let us remind them that we are the Fighting Irish, and we will protect our house like we did last time they attempted to enter it in 2008.

As fans of the greatest college football team of all time, we can fulfill our duty this week by: wearing GREEN, arriving early, getting LOUD, and teaching the Skunkbears a history lesson they will never forget.