Notre Dame must contain Denard Robinson to remain perfect
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Correspondent
Notre Dame will be looking to pull off the hat trick Saturday night when it entertains 18th-ranked Michigan.
A win over the 2-1 Wolverines would give the Irish their third straight victory over a Big Ten team and mark the first time they’ve swept their season series against that conference in a decade.
A victory for the 11th-ranked Irish would also snap their three-game losing streak to their heated rival to the North and move it to 4-0 on the season, marking the best start for Notre Dame since 2002.
In order to remain undefeated, the Irish must do a good job of containing quarterback Denard Robinson, who has been lethal to Notre Dame during his career.
As a sophomore, Robinson lit the Irish up in Notre Dame Stadium. He finished the 2010 game with 502 yards of offense, a Michigan game record, sealing the outcome with a late rushing touchdown that resulted in a 28-24 triumph for the visitors. On the afternoon, Robinson rushed 28 times for 258 yards, the fifth-best rushing effort in Michigan annals.
One year later, the ultra-talented and fast signal-caller was the catalyst of a dramatic comeback. Robinson’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree with 2 seconds left was the difference as the Wolverines beat the Irish, 35-31.
In the last two games against Notre Dame, Robinson has amassed eye-popping numbers. He has thrown for 582 yards, rushed for 366 and has engineered the game-winning drives in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
As expected, Irish coach Brian Kelly remembers very well how Robinson has basically been a one-man wrecking crew against his team.
I thought we did a pretty good job for three quarters, said Kelly reflecting on his team’s effort against Robinson a year ago.
Last year Kelly employed a strategy of stopping Robinson from killing the Irish on the ground at all costs. It worked well somewhat, “holding” Robinson to 108 yards.
On Saturday night expect to see plenty of Robinson running, something Wolverine coach Brady Hoke is just fine with.
I’m pretty much OK with him 95 percent or 99 percent of the time tucking it and taking it, Hoke said. He’s got such a gift, most of the time when he plants his foot and goes north and south, it’s going to be pretty productive for you. So I’m very comfortable with him doing that.
You know the Irish will have a similar game plan against Robinson this time around. Although they know if they overload the box too much, it could spell trouble to its inexperienced secondary.
In the 2011 game against Notre Dame, Robinson completed just 45.8 percent of his passes. The problem was his 11 completions went for 338 yards and four touchdowns. Robinson did throw three picks in a game that was marred by turnovers (eight total with Notre Dame having five).
I think there were a couple plays we’d like to have had back in the passing game, but we liked our plan, said Kelly of last year’s showdown.
We think that we are physically a better football team than we were the previous couple years.
Kelly knows there’s a fine line to defending Robinson, knowing if his Irish go crazy and think only about stopping him, Michigan has plenty of other offensive weapons that could do serious damage.
Wolverine junior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint rushed for more than a 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago.
After serving a one-game suspension to start this season, Toussaint hasn’t gotten off to the start he would’ve liked. Toussaint averaged 46 yards rushing (4.0 yards per carry) in Michigan’s last two games. He has one rushing touchdown and a long run of only 13 yards on the season.
If the ground game isn’t working like they would like or they want to keep the Irish off guard, the Wolverines have their usual weapons to throw to.
Devin Gardner and Jeremy Gallon have emerged as go-to receivers with eight catches each. Gardner has a season-high 155 yards receiving to along with three touchdowns, while Gallon has 146 yards receiving.
Tight end Devin Funchess is also proving to be dangerous. He’s averaging 23.3 yards per catch and has scored twice. Don’t forget Roundtree either. The senior has only had five catches in three games, but he’s capable of big games as he showed during his breakout sophomore season. In Roundtree’s defense, he suffered a knee injury during the first week of fall camp and missed most of the preseason.
You go into the game knowing you can’t defend every element, Kelly said. We have to tackle well. I don’t want to lose sight of the fundamentals that we have to execute and get caught up in so many things in a game plan.
They’re going to hit some plays and you have to minimize the big plays. That’s what we’ve focused on this week.
Defensively Michigan is relying on some inexperience at key positions after defensive linemen Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen graduated.
But you know defensive coordinator Greg Mattison will have his group among the Big Ten’s best when all is said and done after the Wolverines boasted the nation’s sixth-best scoring defense a year ago.
Jordan Kovacs and Thomas Gordon, a pair of safeties, are the team’s top two tacklers.
What is concerning for Michigan is the fact that it has yet to intercept a pass and has just three sacks on the season.
The Wolverines have not been good defending the run this season, allowing 211 yards per game. However, remember those numbers are slightly skewed since they played defending national championship Alabama and run-happy Air Force.
From Michigan’s perspective, the Wolverines are concerned about that Irish defense and rightfully so.
You knew they were good, Hoke said. But they are really good.
Of course Notre Dame is coming off its 17-point win at Michigan State, holding the Spartans to just a 50-yard field goal and just 50 yards rushing. In addition, Michigan State’s offense was really stymied in the second half when it managed just one snap in Notre Dame territory.
For the season, the Irish find their defense ranked eighth nationally allowing a mere 10 points a game, while registering 11 sacks in three games.
You can tell they’re more comfortable with their defense and everyone’s moving faster, said Robinson about Notre Dame’s defense. They’re a more physical team. You can see the difference when you watch from my sophomore year to this year and last year. They move real fast to the ball, and (Manti) Te’o is one of the guys who is probably one of the best linebackers in the country.
My Take
The key to an Irish victory is to contain Robinson. That’s obvious and certainly doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out.
If Notre Dame’s defense can control the line of scrimmage and force him to make plays from the pocket and force him into passing situations, the Irish will win and may do so going away.
However, if Robinson breaks contain and the Irish over-pursue him, he will create running lanes and that would spell big trouble for Notre Dame.
The Irish have lost the last three years to the Wolverines because they haven’t been able to keep Michigan’s big plays to a minimum.
Notre Dame’s defense is better than Michigan’s, but the Wolverines will have the best player on the field in Robinson.
Look for the Irish to finally get the job done against Robinson.
Notre Dame 24, Michigan 14
ND Nuggets
– Prior to the Notre Dame-Michigan game, legendary coach Ara Parseghian, along with his wife Katie, will present the colors in a pregame ceremony at Notre Dame Stadium.
John Huarte, the 1964 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame, will also be on the field for the ceremony.
– Honors just keep rolling in for Te’o.
He is one of 30 student-athletes to be selected a finalist for the 2012 Senior CLASS Award. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.
The award recognizes student-athletes who excel both on and off the gridiron and has notable achievements in four areas of excellence ” community, classroom, character and competition.
– Notre Dame’s student section and probably other sections in the Stadium will be wearing leis as a tribute to Te’o, who lost two loved ones last week.
Students will be given 7,500 white leis at tonight’s pep rally. On Saturday, WSBT will give away about 10,000 leis to fans.
– The Irish defense has not been scored upon in the first quarter this season. Notre Dame is outscoring its opponents 20-0 in the opening 15 minutes. It is nearly as dominant in the third quarter, outscoring foes 23-7 on the year.
– Since the start of the 2007 season, the Irish are just 18-16 at home.
Related: Is Denard Robinson the best running QB in college football history?
Related: Griffiths’ Big Ten picks
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