Round two of the Pregame Twelve Pack. Twelve fun facts, tidbits, leftovers, or miscellaneous musings as we into towards the Michigan game.
1. Mother Nature might be playing a factor in this one.
Maybe it was Rich Rodriguez’s premonition during his Tuesday press conference, but it looks like rain for South Bend this Saturday. Here’s what Rodriguez said about his recollection of Notre Dame Stadium.
“It’s an intimate setting, just like the Big House,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. “You’re in a confined area. It seems like it always rains when we go down there, I don’t know what the forecast is. The few times I’ve been there it seems like it’s always raining and the grass is usually high. Because of the rain, I guess.”
Tossing Rodriguez’s dig of the field aside, the weather is going to be a factor on Saturday and the Irish are already preparing for it.
“Today we did a wet ball drill in (special teams), in particular because
the snapping, punts, field goals, things of that nature,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “Wet ball in
7-on-7, we did that in camp. We have to play in the elements. You have
to practice them. but I don’t think I over-coach it. I think we have
great balance in our offense and defense that if we have to take shape
differently during the game because of the elements, we’ll do that.
Thirteen years of being on Lake Michigan at Grand Valley State, I think
I’ve seen every kind of weather pattern that’s blown through here.”
2. With Jamoris Slaughter limited, walk-on Chris Salvi is the next man in.
Much of this week has been dedicated to looking at the thin depth chart in the Michigan secondary, but with Jamoris Slaughter being held out unless it’s an emergency situation, walk-on safety Chris Salvi now serves as the primary back up for Zeke Motta.
Want the dish on Selvi? How about this blast from the past from the suburban Chicago newspaper the Daily Herald on November 9th, 2007.
Salvi is a two-year starter for the 9-2 Corsairs, who
will take on De La Salle Saturday night in the Class 7A quarterfinals. A
cornerback turned safety, he’s become a focal point of the defense with
his textbook tackling and hard hits.He ranks second on the team with 93 tackles. He also has
4 interceptions, a sack and a blocked punt against Notre Dame that he
recovered himself and ran in for a touchdown.“Last year, Chris had a good year, but this year he’s
had a breakout year,” Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. “Part of it has to
do with the fact that he switched from cornerback to safety and safety
seems to suit him a lot better. He’s great against the run and he’s the
kind of player who really loves to hit people.“But the other part of it is that Chris has worked so
darn hard to improve himself and establish himself on this team. He was
in the weight room so much over the summer that I had to practically
kick him out. I think I’ll be able to use him as an example for many
years about what you need to do to really get ahead. This is a kid who
is just extremely motivated to do his best.”
Brian Kelly’s confidence in Salvi seemed to be similar to that of Carmel coach Andy Bitto.
“I’m good with four and Salvi is a real solid player for us. He’s on all of our (special teams),” Kelly said. “He’ll be our fifth guy and we’re not afraid to put him in the game if we have to.”
3. Barry Gallup Jr. filled the role of Denard Robinson this week.
No word on whether or not Gallup actually laced up his shoes, but he did take the scout team reps at quarterback, trying to replicate the offensive prowess of the speedy Michigan quarterback. He might not have the top-end jets of Shoelace, but Kelly was happy with the work he did.
“You can pay attention to pursuit angles, how you’re working in
different levels defensively, and not have a guy who’s 4.3, 4.4,” Kelly said after practice Thursday. “Though I will say Gallup did a nice job running that offense for us, because you
get banged around a bit running the ball as much as he did.
4. The Irish just added a much more visible sign of tradition to the football offices. Seven of them.
Brian Kelly added some serious hardware to the lobby of The Gug this week, bringing in the school’s seven Heisman Tropies to be displayed alongside a National Championship trophy and a bronze bust of the Four Horseman. Kelly’s rationale was simple:
“The tradition here can be talked about all we want and it can be read
about, but you can also see it tangibly when you walk into this football
facility now,” Kelly said. “Obviously, with the national championship trophy on
display, it’s real when a recruit or an alumnus or a former letterwinner
comes in. You can tangibly see the success of Notre Dame. It’s not just
what was talked about.”
5. That tradition will be on display for some pretty impressive recruits.
The Irish welcome a nice collection of recruits to South Bend for the big game against Michigan. Irish fans better hope that the potentially stormy weather doesn’t wash a few of the uncommitted targets away.
Some of the expected visitors that are still being recruited by Notre Dame:
George Atkinson, WR
Josh Atkinson, CB
Wayne Lyons, S
Stephon Tuitt, DE
Maty Mauk, QB (2012)
Here are the recruits already committed to the Irish that will join them in South Bend.
Kyle Brindza, K
Jalen Brown, CB
Brad Carrico, DE
Jarrett Grace, LB
Eilar Hardy, S
Justice Hayes, RB
Wayne Lyons is a five-star prospect that has just about every team in the country chasing him. The Atkinson brothers are also a pair of prestigious national recruits, and Stephon Tuitt has offers from SEC powers like Georgia, Florida, and LSU. With scholarships opening up with the departure of Derek Roback and Shaq Evans, this weekend could be a big one.
6. Looking for the last time Brian Kelly squared off with Rich Rodriguez?
November 17, 2007. Pat White and the No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers survived a fourth quarter run by Kelly’s Cincinnati Bearcats, and held on to a 28-23 victory. Ben Mauk (Maty’s older brother) led the Bearcats with 323 yards passing and two touchdowns, as well as paced the rushing attack with 52 yards on 15 carries. Pat White and Steve Slaton both had 100 yard days, with White getting 27 carries for 155 yards, and Slaton ran for 103 yards on 23 carries.
7. Looking to see how Kelly’s offense has done against a Greg Robinson defense?
After holding Cincinnati offenses to 22 and 17 points in Greg Robinson’s first two seasons coaching at Syracuse, the Bearcats exploded for 52 points in Kelly’s first match-up against the Orange in 2007, scoring double-digit points in each quarter, on their way to racking up 544 total yards.
In 2008, a week after handing Notre Dame a 24-23 loss on Senior Day, Cincinnati coasted to an easy 30-10 victory over the Orange in what was Greg Robinson’s final game as head coach of Syracuse. Tony Pike did most of the work, throwing for 272 yards and two TDs, with the Bearcat defense also forcing two turnovers.
8. ND’s offensive line vs. UM’s defensive line could be the story.
Michigan’s secondary may be a mess, but this game will be won or lost in the trenches for the Irish. The Wolverine defense played pretty stout against a UConn running attack that many thought was lethal. Mike Martin, Greg Banks, Ryan Van Bergan and Craig Roh will be the main threats battling Zack Martin, Chris Stewart, Braxston Cave, Trevor Robinson and Taylor Dever.
The 3-3-5 system of Greg Robinson and Rich Rodriguez relies on bringing pressure from different places, so if Ed Warinner’s group can identify who is coming and where he’s coming from, there should be holes up front to run between, and time for Dayne Crist to dissect a porous secondary.
9. Dayne Crist will have the opportunity to play a breakout game.
How big of a deal is Dayne Crist? Even though he only joined Twitter in June and has exactly one start as a college quarterback, he’s got over 2,750 Twitter followers already. In fact, Crist’s right arm even has its own Twitter page, with “The Cannon” starting to rack up followers all around the Notre Dame blogosphere.
Crist played a solid game, completing 73 percent of his throws for 205 yards and a touchdown, but he missed on two or three more explosive plays, including potential touchdowns to both Kyle Rudolph and Michael Floyd (twice). Crist will need to harness some of the emotions and energy that maybe had him missing some easy opportunities last Saturday. If he does that, expect a very nice day from Crist. And his right arm. (They can both tweet about it later that night…)
10. This is a big game for defensive line coach Mike Elston.
Elston played football for the Wolverines, lettering from 1994 to 1996 as a linebacker. After his playing career he worked in the football department for four years, starting as a camp coordinator his first two years, then climbing to the ranks of graduate assistant in 1999 and 2000.
Elston had to leave Ann Arbor to get a full-time coaching position, and went to Eastern Michigan, before joining Kelly at Central Michigan in 2004. The two have been together ever since. This will only be the second time Elston has faced off against his alma mater since he began coaching over a decade ago. The first was a 41-17 loss in 2006 when Central Michigan was beaten by a Michigan team that would walk into South Bend the next week and blow out the Irish.
11. Denard Robinson certainly announced his presence with authority.
In his first start, Denard Robinson set a Michigan record for most yards rushing for a quarterback, with 197 yards on 29 carries. His 19-of-22 passing moves him to second all-time on the Michigan lists for completion percentage in a single game behind Elvis Grbac. Robinson’s 383 total yards is the sixth-highest total yardage mark in Big Ten history and the top mark for the Wolverines in school history.
Even more bizarre, while Robinson may have burst onto the scene with his performance against UConn, he led the Wolverines offense in rushing last year with 351 yards on 69 carries last year, averaging 5.1 yards-per-carry and scoring 5 touchdowns.
12. Coach worth watching? Defensive coordinator Bob Diaco.
The opening performance by the defense against Purdue was impressive, but if Diaco really wants to earn the adoration of Notre Dame Nation, he’ll need to orchestrate an equally-impressive performance against Denard Robinson and the Michigan offensive attack.
Diaco discussed what the defense needs to do to stop Robinson.
“It’s a real challenge,” Diaco said. “All we’re going to do is do the best that we can in selecting from the menu of installation that we have, preparing the players mentally, focusing on the nuts and bolts of defense in terms of block destruction, tackling and effort. Then they need to just clearly know their assignment and do their assignment the whole time.”
Kelly already hinted earlier this week that the Irish wouldn’t send a lot of pressure after an option quarterback. We’ll see what Diaco has in store for Michigan Saturday afternoon.
