Game Day Preview

MY PERSONAL MICHIGAN / NOTRE DAME PREVIEW

Even though the Michigan/ND game is a rival game, it’s not our top rival.  It’s not even a conference game.  But it is a big rival game for myself.  Why?  I live 10 miles from the ND campus.  I’m surrounded by ND idiots fans.  And since it’s Michigan/ND week they are even bigger idiots fans.  I wear Michigan clothes throughout the year, for the most part, nobody says anything.  Until this week rolls around, now everyone has something to say.  A shout “Go Irish” here or there.  Cashiers telling me we were going down.  Not to mention the people who know me and know I’m a huge Michigan fan.  After the MSU/ND game last week, literally, a few minutes after it ended, I got tagged in a post from a ND fan saying let the smack talk begin.  My responses vary depending on my mood.  The Go Irish shouts I usually ignore.  The cashiers that strike up a conversation about us going down, I usually respond with well it’s about time, you haven’t done it in 3 straight years.  That usually shuts them up.

My wife lived in Virginia for 20 years and didn’t understand my hatred for ND fans, but now that she lives here and sees it, she understands.  I understand rooting for your teams and have no issues with that.  But don’t talk crap about mine to make yourself feel better.  If you want to have a conversation about our teams, that’s fine.  But don’t tell me my team sucks when we’ve beaten you 3 straight years and 5 out of the last 6.  Now after the game, if you want to talk smack, feel free.  I can take it like a man, but don’t tell me we suck before the game.  Especially when we’ve bested you for awhile.

As far as an actual preview, this game always scares me.  It doesn’t matter if we are #1 and they are unranked or vice versa, it’s almost always a good game.  It’s almost always a close game and while those games are awesome, they are nerve racking.  Last years was depressing until the 4th quarter so a lead is also never safe.  But this year, we are both supposed to be good.  It’ll probably be a blow out, hopefully in Michigan’s favor.  But this game is huge for me because it determines whether I have to deal with all kinds of BS after the game or not.  In the big scheme of things, it’s just another game.  It’s not a conference game (because ND was to chicken to join), therefore it doesn’t mean anything in our quest for a Big Ten title.

Their offensive and defensive lines are supposed to be better (from what I’ve read) and ND is actually supposed to be better in most areas of the game.  But that doesn’t mean much in the match-up.  Stats wise for us, The Alabama and the UMASS games equal each other out and the Air Force game is a kind of offensive that’s hard to stop and also won’t be seen again.  ND had a blowout against Navy, but barely beat Purdue and then handled a pretty good MSU team.  So they have had their ups and downs as well, but they have managed a 3-0 record while Michigan is 2-1.  Hopefully, after tonight, we will both be 3-1.

Now that’s funny!

All I know for sure about tonight is, I’ll will be bleeding for the Maize and Blue.  GO BLUE!!!